POPULAR MISCELLANY. 



573 



hall for public speaking is, that it should 

 bo, as to its dimensions, in harmonic pro- 

 portions. By this is meant that the length, 

 breadth, and height oi' the room should bear 

 some simple, easily determinable propor- 

 tions to each other; generally one corre- 

 sponding with the commensurate ratio borne 

 by the intervals between the tones of the 

 musical scale, which is expressible by the 

 numbers from one to six. Harmonic pro- 

 portions may be represented by the com- 

 binations 6 : 2 : 8, 6 : 5 : 3, 2 : 5 : 3, 2 : 

 2 : 4, 2 : 3:4, or others as simple. An- 

 gles, being a disturbing element, may be ob- 

 viated by adopting curved surfaces, but 

 these must not be circular, for we should 

 then have a whispering gallery, nor elliptical, 

 for then the sounds would be concentrated 

 in the foci ; but they should be in the shape 

 of a parabola having its focus very near the 

 contour. The seats should rise toward the 

 back of the room, to correspond with the 

 tendency of the sound to rise with the, as- 

 cending currents of air, and to prevent its 

 being caught in the clothing of the audience. 

 A system of ventilation should be adopted 

 that will rather carry the sound toward the 

 audience than in the other direction. When 

 the amount of space for each person ex- 

 ceeds one hundred and ninety - five cubic 

 feet, the walls and ceilings should be fin- 

 ished with resonant material ; where the 

 amount of space is less than this, the finish 

 should present a repellent, hard, and unsym- 

 pathetic surface like plaster, or like stone 

 if the space is less than one hundred and 

 fifty feet. The obstructions presented by 

 the supporting-posts and the acute angular 

 recesses of galleries may be avoided by 

 constructing the gallery upon a system of 

 curved iron supports beginning on the floor- 

 line against the wall and rising with a grad- 

 ual parabolic curve outward, the spaces be- 

 tween which should be filled in with wood or 

 plaster surface. In the light of these prin- 

 ciples, Mr. Oakey can " see no excuse for 

 building an apartment so that its acoustic 

 properties shall not be as much a matter 

 of course as keeping out the weather." 

 Mr. Oakey also considers the sonority of 

 party-walls, for which he suggests furring, 

 with lathe and plaster and the removal of 

 the bearings of floor-joists from the walls, 

 as cheap and efficient remedies. 



Float and Health. A sufficiency of heat 

 is one of the most essential requisites to 



health; and in the administration of heat 

 we have one of the most powerful curative 

 agents. The sun furnishes a constant sup- 

 ply of beneficial warmth, of which we make 

 much less use than we might and ought. 

 Indeed, we too often shun that which we 

 ought to seek, as when we deliberately and 

 at considerable cost darken the rooms into 

 which we ought to welcome the sunshine, or 

 carefully exclude its life-giving rays with 

 umbrellas and parasols. The idea of a sun- 

 cure, which was proposed by one of our 

 physicians several years ago, was one of 

 genuine merit, and has been strongly com- 

 mended, after several years of observation 

 in the East, by the late Mr. David Urquhart, 

 M. P., and secretary to the British embassy 

 at Constantinople, who has related many 

 incidents illustrating its efficacy. Among 

 them was that of a person who had been 

 advised, at the baths of Gastein, to try air- 

 baths in the neighboring forests. He re- 

 ceived considerable benefit from lying un- 

 dressed in the shadiest part of the forest, 

 but finally concluded to expose himself in 

 the full sunshine. Although he had always 

 supposed that the rays of the sun gave him 

 headache and derangement of the stomach, 

 he found that when entirely exposed he was 

 not unpleasantly affected in any degree, but 

 felt agreeable sensations of genial warmth. 

 If, however, he covered any part of his 

 body, the disagreeable feelings returned, 

 and the covered part became intolerably 

 hot. Occasionally a pricking and itching 

 sensation and redness of the skin suggested 

 the suspension of the baths for a day or 

 two. Dr. Scanzoni, of Wurzburg, explains 

 the freedom under these baths from the 

 pains in the head and stomach which com- 

 monly follow exposure to the sun by the 

 fact that the action is diffused equally all 

 over the body, and the circulation is deter- 

 mined in a corresponding manner, instead 

 of being drawn in excess to the head. Dr. 

 Gosse, of Geneva, wrote in 1S26 in high 

 praise of the curative properties of heat, 

 which he regarded as working by restoring 

 the action of the skin. The hot-air bath 

 has been used for twenty years in the New- 

 castle Infirmary with satisfactory results, 

 and has been introduced into several luna- 



