THE 



QUARTERLY JOURNAL, 



July, 1821. 



Art. I, On the best Method of warming and ventilating 

 Houses and other Buildings. By Mr. Charles 

 Sylvester. 



[Communicated by the Author.] 



[We are happy to comply with the request of several of our Corre- 

 spondents, and to enter upon the subject of heating and ventilating our 

 apartments ; it is a subject upon wliich few persons venture to think 

 for themselves, and is too frequently conceded to the management of 

 the ignorant, or, what is worse, is intrusted to some half-informed 

 speculator. The combustion of smoke is another branch of this in- 

 quiry, and, although but lightly touched upon in the following paper, 

 shall not be forgotten. The absurdities which have of late been 

 authoritatively thrust upon the public in relation to it, are so gross, 

 as to merit more serious and extended notice than it is in our power 

 to bestow upon them ; but we shall humbly contribute whatever is 

 within our reach to rectify the errors that have been diffused, and to 

 show the inanity of the promises, with which this subject has lately 

 been ushered into notice.] 



1 HE action of the sun's rays on the surface of the earth, and 

 the consequent accumulation of sensible heat is a most in- 

 structive lesson, for the best mode of applying artificial heat 

 for warming buildings ; and our best ideas of ventilation are 

 derived from those mechanical changes in the atmosphere occa- 

 sioned by the rarefaction of the air, from the heat it acquires in 

 contact with the earth's surface. If the earth were perfectly 

 transparent, or had a surface capable of perfect reflection, it 

 would not be at all heated by the sun's rays ; and our atmo- 

 sphere, supposing it to exist under such circumstances, would 

 be destitute of those changes which are daily evinced in an 

 Vol. XI. R 



