84 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



NEEDED IMPKOYEMENTS IN THEATER 

 SANITATION. 



Bt WILLIAM PAUL GERHARD, C. E., 



OON8ULTIKO ENGINEER FOB SANITARY WORKS. 



BUILDINGS for the representation of theatrical plays must 

 fulfill three conditions: they must be (1) comfortable, (2) 

 safe, and (3) healthful. The last requirement, of healthfulness, em- 

 braces the following conditions: plenty of pure air, freedom from 

 draughts, moderate warming in winter, suitable cooling in summer, 

 freedom at all times from dust, bad odors, and disease germs. In 

 addition to the requirements for the theater audience, due regard 

 should be paid to the comfort, healthfulness, and safety of the 

 performers, stage hands, and mechanics, who are required to spend 

 more hours in the stage part of the building than the playgoers. 



It is no exaggeration to state that in the majority of theater 

 buildings disgracefully unsanitary conditions prevail. In the older 

 existing buildings especially sanitation and ventilation are sadly 

 neglected. The air of many theaters during a performance be- 

 comes overheated and stuffy, pre-eminently so in the case of thea- 

 ters where illumination is effected by means of gaslights. At the 

 end of a long performance the air is often almost unbearably foul, 

 causing headache, nausea, and dizziness. 



In ill-ventilated theaters a chilly air often blows into the audi- 

 torium from the stage w^hen the curtain is raised. This air move- 

 ment is the cause of colds to many persons in the audience, and 

 it is otherwise objectionable, for it carries with it noxious odors 

 from tlie stage or under stage, and in gas-lighted theaters this 

 air is laden with products of combustion from the footlights and 

 other means of stage illumination. 



Attempts at ventilation are made by utilizing the heat due to 

 the numerous flames of the central chandelier over the auditorium, 

 to create an ascending draught, and thereby cause a removal of the 

 contaminated air, but seldom is provision made for the introduction 

 of fresh air from outdoors, hence the scheme of ventilation re- 

 sults in failure. In other buildings, openings for the introduction 

 of pure air are provided under the seats or in the floor, but are 

 often found stuffed up with paper because the audience suffered 

 from draughts. The fear of draughts in a theater also leads to 

 the closing of the few possibly available outside windows and doors. 

 The plan of a theater building renders it almost impossible to 

 provide outside windows, therefore " air flushing " during the day 

 can not be practiced. In the case of the older theaters, which are 



