S88 TRANSACTIONS Or THE 



The Club unanimously requested that its meetings be every WednesdaY 

 evening. Mr. Leonard, of the Board, assented. 



Adjourned to Wednesday, December 22, at 7 o'clock, p. m. 



H. MEIGS, Secretary. 



December 15, 18-58. 



Present — Messrs. Johnson, Butler, Brown, Seeley, Leonard, Hathaway, 

 Veeder, Bruce, Witt, and others — 20 members. 



John Johnson in the chair. Henry Meigs, Secretary. 



Mr. Seeley stated the first question, ventilation, intimating that the 

 known properties of vitiated air from breathing, &c., so hazardous to health 

 and life, were not known to the mass of men, that even the carbonic acid 

 produced from burning charcoal, so fatal in close apartments, or that natu- 

 rally formed at the bottom of wells, and are. still not popularly understood. 

 Our purpose is to help in expanding this knowledge. 



Mr. Clough, of Indiana, added his views. That a man vitiated sixty 

 hogsheads of air every day. He adverted to the sad eflFects of such air on 

 general health, often producing bad eflFects, which some constitutions throw 

 off with great difl&culty if ever. Admit pure air ! by every feasible 

 method. 



Mr. Seeley called for a paper on this subject, in the collection of the 

 Chairman — a scientific article. It was read. 



The Chairman adverted to methods used to remove carbonic acid gas 

 from floors, &c. 



Mr. Veeder. — Heat from furnaces, grates, stoves, &c., was commonly 

 wasted to a large amount without rendering the temperature what was 

 steadily wanted. That slow combustion obviated the evil by a well gra- 

 duated uniform steady supply of warmth not over-drying the air. That 

 stoves for such purpose kept the fuel always suihcieutly charred to light up 

 quick when oxygen is adniitted. He strongly advocated the careful venti- 

 lation of rooms. ' 



Chairman. — The Cooper Institute building is warmed by warm air ; pure 

 air is taken twenty feet above the sidewalk, forced downwards into the 

 basement, is warmed, and ascends of course, being warmed by steam pipes. 

 He desired that a paper on the carbonic acid and oxygen be prepared for 

 next meeting. 



Mr. Meigs. — I was brought up in free air. The great fire places ! the 

 pure sweet heat of hickory, pine, &c. No shutters or curtains ! If air 

 must be scientifically admitted into a building it ought not to be from near 

 the ground but from upper air ! 



Mr. Veeder spoke of the advantage of double walls in keeping uniform 

 warmth, 



Mr. Meigs. — For that purpose rooms for making sulphuric acid have 

 double walls, the inner one of lead, and by having between the two this 



