Genre:

News-Commentary

Subjects:

Light, Health, Medical Treatment, Sanitation, Architecture, Human Development, Evolution, Morality

    Discusses a lecture by David Brewster at the Royal Society of Edinburgh 'On Light as a Sanitary Agent' (a version of which was published as Brewster 1869). Notes how Brewster argued that since light 'contributed to the development of human form and lent its aid to art and nature in the cure of disease', then it was a national duty to construct buildings that would maximise exposure to light. The author does not doubt Brewster's authority and suggests that his argument would force houses to be constructed like 'conservatories and greenhouses', and that the humans who will 'spring up' in such abodes will have greater morality.