ifO Suggestions for the better Ventilation of 



not been paid to the advancement of ventilation, as to other 

 branches of the arts and sciences. A wide field is therefore 

 open for improvements. But to be successful, these things 

 must not be left to chance ; they must form part of the con- 

 struction of ships and steamers, and the naval architect and 

 ventilator, as has been well observed by Dr Reid, *' must work 

 together." 



While undue currents of cold air must be avoided — which 

 are often troublesome, and must be injurious — ^ventilation, to 

 "be perfect, should be so arranged as to admit of being in- 

 creased.or diminished, according to the number of inmates. In 

 our climate, in steamers, whether in coasting or long voyages, 

 it would be of importance to have the power of raising the 

 temperature of fresh air before admission to cabins ; merely 

 giving it, however, that slight degree of warmth that will not 

 be injurious to its hygrometric condition. This would in- 

 sure a larger volume of air being admitted. The plan is so 

 easily attainable, that it might lead to the dispensing, in a 

 great measure, with close arid stoves, so detrimental to the 

 health in confined situations. It is remarked, that even Celsus, 

 amongst the ancients, recommended large rooms for the sick, 

 or a fire in the chimney to draw off bad air. Where fire-heat 

 is made use of in cabins, it ought, if possible, to be in open 

 fire grates. An ample exposition of the injurious efi^ects of 

 close stoves will be found in the Architectural Magazine, May 

 1838, p. 231, by Julius Jeffreys, Esq. 



It is important for nautical men to know the great value of 

 fire-heat as a purifier of the air of lower decks and close 

 places, in the estimation of many of the most experienced na- 

 vigators and naval commanders : Cooke and Nelson may be 

 named.* How conspicuously the importance of sanatory regu- 

 lations were illustrated in the remarkable voyage in 1773-75, 

 of Captain Cook, who, during three years, out of 118 persons 

 on board, lost four, and of these only one by sickness, t We 

 have likewise several similar examples in the arctic and 



* An excellent paper on this subject, written nearly a century back, will be 

 found in the Gent. Magazine, on the method of Preserving the Health of Sea- 

 men in long cruizes and voyages, where ventilation and fumigation are strongly 

 enforced. Vol. xvii., 1747-8. 



t Naval History 1773, p. 349. 



