502 



Construction of Labourers' Cottages. 



fresh air from the external air. Another pipe ascends to the 

 chamber iloors, and supplies them with heated air. We shall 

 touch upon the advantage which these grates afford for ventila- 

 tion when treating of the subject of ventilation. Tlieir cost is 

 from 30^. to 35^. 



Ventilation. — The subject of ventilation is of greater import- 

 ance than is generally imagined or admitted, as on it depends 

 much of the health and comfort of the inmates ; it has, however, 

 been too much neg:lected in the labourer's cottage : — 



" Those who are called by duty to visit the houses of the lahourins^ classes 

 find their powers of endurance to be more taxed, and their health more 

 hazarded, than in the wards of a hospital rife with disease — the bulk of the 

 population living in small rooms, frequently occupied day and night continu- 

 ously by parents and children in sickness and in health ; at times even by the 

 dead as well as the living."* 



The Rev. C. Walkey, of Collumpton, makes the following 

 remarks on the same subject : — 



" Cottages for the most part are without sufficient ventilation, particularly 

 in the upstairs apartment, this being almost invariably without a chimney, 

 with a low window, commonly abont two feet from the floor, and having no 

 -ceiling ; therefore the thatched roof, lofty in itself and full of cobwebs, contains 

 the foul air ; and in several instances I have been the means of restoring health 

 apparently by blowing gunpowder in cases where fever has raged for months, 

 the ground-floors being often damp — very seldom above the level of the land." f 



It need hardly be said that a system of ventilation for a 

 lajjourer's cottage should be simple in its character, cheap in its 

 construction, and effective in its operation. 



The smoky chimney too often accompanies bad ventilation ; 

 both proceed from the same cause — insufficient supply of fresh air. 



In the accompanying plans, Pearce's 

 ventilating grates are used, which, as 

 they draw a supply of oxygen from the 

 external atmosphere, diminish the chance 

 of siPioking ; at the same time they 

 give to the rooms a continuous and un- 

 limited supply of fresh air Avarmed to a 

 moderate temperature over undeleterious 

 surfaces. The operation of these grates 

 will be understood from the accompanying 

 sketch (see Fig. 7) : — Fresh air is supplied 

 by a pipe A to an air chamber B formed 

 of fire-lump. This air, when sufficiently 

 heated, passes by a pipe C through a valve 

 D into the room. The vitiated air escapes 

 through one of Dr. Arnott's valves E into 

 the chimney. We would strongly advise 

 the use of these air-traps ; they can be 



* Mr. Lloyd. 



f Sanitary Report, p. 270. 



