THEATRE-HYGIENE. 517 



and a disagreeable sinell pervades the whole area. The dressing- 

 rooms at the Standard are obstructed by a temporary building used 

 for scene-dock and property-room, while at the Opera Jlouse, in 

 case of lire on the stage, escape from these rooms would be im- 

 possibles. 



Ventilation should be adequately provided for by mechanical 

 means, and that of auditorium and stage should be separate. 

 Physiologists tell us that 7oO-1000 cubic feet is the minimum space 

 required for each individual, in order that the air may be kept in 

 a salubrious condition — even then it must be changed three or 

 four times an hour — and the best machinery employed to eti'ect 

 such change so that no di'aughts are felt. By means of some 

 tables drawn up from official data, I have calculated within wide 

 margins the numl)er of cubic feet in some of the leading Sydney 

 Theatres for every person therein assembled — this varies from 90.1 

 cubic feet at the Standard to 229 cubic feet at the Theati'e Royal. 

 Considering that with very rare, if any, exceptions no mechanical 

 system of ventilation is adopted, the vitiated atmosphere baffles 

 description. The position of the exits fDr vitiated air varies a good 

 deal. Sometimes they are placed at the back of the stage or through 

 the wings — often the exit is at no higher level than that of the 

 dressing-rooms, which accordingly get tilled with bad air. The 

 ordinary funnel-shaped ventilators in the dome, worked by a ring 

 of gas-jets are not always efficient, for the heated atmosphere 

 from the central burners often overflows the opening and returns 

 to the room. Similarly in the case of flues which, though perhaps 

 well adapted by mechanical means for drawing ott" any vitiated 

 air, are often put up in a building without any compensatory 

 arrangement for the admission of pure air, except by doors 

 and windows. Louvres are used in some of the theatres here, 

 but unless specially constructed are apt to let in the rain and 

 permit down-draughts. In the roof over the stage of the Theatre 

 Royal there ai"e no openings, louvred or otherwise, for the escape 

 of smoke, &,c. 



It seems strange that with the good results obtained by con- 

 .structing the roof on the sliding principle, as adopted at the 

 Hippodrome in Paris, the Pavilion and Canterbury in London, or 

 the Princess' at Melbourne, that such method has not come into use 

 in Sydney, where the climatic conditions ai^eimcomparably superior. 

 A very common complaint, and one not at all easy to remedy, is 

 the defective transmission of sound so often experienced. In 

 defence, it might be urged that the acoustic principles, except 

 the most fundamental, in so far as they are applicable to the play- 

 house and concert room, have never received the necessary atten- 

 tion at the hands of any authority sufficient to warrant their 

 introduction into the plans. It is rather hard on the performers 

 to have to speak their parts with greater exertion than necessary, 

 and equally distasteful for the public to keep their hearing 



