Mr. Mackain on VentUation of the Glasgow Fever Hospital. 26 



with holes in a certain ratio of number to the distance, so as to insure 

 an equal diffusion of quantity at every place. This conduit was made 

 of wood, from it being a non-conductor of heat, so that the air dis- 

 charged at the further extremity of the conduit into the ward, should, 

 as far as possible, have the same temperature as tliat at the beginning, 

 — the instructions of the Medical Committee preventing the use of any 

 woollen, or other fibrous substance, as a coating, to prevent the radia- 

 tion of heat from a metallic conduit. 



As a further aid to the equable diffusion of air, another conduit 

 was placed along the ceiling of the ward, perforated with holes, and 

 communicating ^with a tube of considerable capacity, (also of wood,) 

 which passes through the entire height of the hospital, and terminates 

 above the roof. The column of heated air in this tube, by its levity, 

 creates a continuous draught of air from the wards by the upper con- 

 duit; consequently, from the exterior air through the warming appa- 

 ratus into the wards, — and thus independent of the attention, and 

 beyond the control of the nurses, a perpetual change of air is maintained. 



In regard to the ventilation of hospitals, there are circumstances 

 hot sufficiently known, but essential to the formation of a design, which 

 shall not merely embrace an ample supply of air, but the proper tem- 

 perature at which this air should be transmitted. 



When the quantity of air required by a person in health, is esti- 

 mated by weight, it appears that not less than 55 pounds per day is 

 consumed or vitiated by each individual ; and there appears a strong 

 probability that the weight vitiated or rendered poisonous by a person 

 in the height of a fever is much greater. If the most important con- 

 sequences in medical treatment be obtained by a slight alteration in 

 the quantity or description of food, which, estimated in like manner 

 by weight, is but a fraction of the quantity of air, there is ample 

 room to imagine that any alteration in the circumstances of air, may 

 have a proportionate influence on the patient. The extent of ventila- 

 tion, the temperature, the degree of moisture or dryness of the air to 

 be supplied to persons under treatment, should be placed as much 

 under control of the medical officers, as any other article of nourish- 

 ment; and it would be important had they the means of testing 

 by experiment, the effects of what may be termed artificial climate^ 

 in the treatment of various diseases under their care. 



VIII. — Description of an Improved Tilting Apparatus, for emptying 

 Waggons at the Termini of Railways, Shipping Places, Sfc, as used 

 at the Magheramorne Lime Works. By James Thomson, Esq, 

 F.R.S.E., M.R.I.A., Civil Engineer. 



The apparatus may be generally described as consisting of three 

 parts, viz. : — 



1st The cast-iron brackets or quadrants, for supporting the machine, 

 a, a, a. 



b 



