RECENT APPLICATIONS OF PAPER. 



209 



posed of similar panels fastened in pairs. They rest on the 

 walls against which the corner-pieces of paper abut. Although 

 the thrust is weak enough, the two parallel walls are connected 

 by a number of tie-beams composed of thin wire of galvan- 

 ized iron, particularly if the construction consists of a long 

 hall without any bearing wall. By means of the double walls, 

 which inclose a cushion of air all around the construction, we get 

 houses nearly insensible to variations of temperature, and con- 

 sequently very comfortable to live in. The floor is composed of 

 panels about a metre and a half square, constituting a wall of 

 paper six millimetres thick, nailed to V-shaped wing-beams. 



The use of these houses may be particularly commended for 

 temporary constructions. They are remarkably well adapted to 



Hospital on Wheels. (Espitallier system.) 



places used for exhibitions, for ambulance services, military cam- 

 paigns, etc. Hospitals made upon this system appear to have 

 given very satisfactory results. Besides the general advantages 

 accruing from a rapid building, the particular fact may be taken 

 account of that the paper used in the construction of the walls 

 may be made with antiseptic water, which will communicate 

 to it the precious quality of not harboring germs of infection. 



[An ingenious portable hospital or barracks of paper, the in- 

 vention of M. Espitallier, captain of engineers, is described in 

 another number of La Nature, by M. J. Comportey. Its interior 

 dimensions are sixteen by five metres, and it will accommodate 

 twenty beds. Folded up, it forms a load for three two-horse trucks. 



VOL. XLII. 14 



