1S8 



THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECT'S JOURNAL. 



I June, 



and salpliuric acid should be prepared by ihe same operation. This would 

 be a very profitable business, and create a tonsuniption for a considerable 

 quantity of the ore ; but at the present price of the metal, it would even 

 pay handsomely to prepare oxide of zmc from speller. Say, in round 

 numbers, 4 cwt. of speller, worth £2 10s., woidd yield Ti cwt. of oxide 

 of zinc, which, at the price of ilry white-lead, would be worth £0 ; ibe 

 cost of labour and fuel being trivial, there would be a prolit of foraething 

 like cent, per cent." 



SUPPLY OF AVATER FROM THE NEW RED SANDSTONE. 



A paper " On the Siippli/ of the Town of Liverpool with Water from 

 Shafts sunk m the .Veto l\ed iandstone," was lately read at the Polytechnic 

 Institution, Colquitt-street. — After some observations, as to the importance 

 of a plentiful supply of pure water, the lecturer remarked that the original 

 source of all water found in the earth is the rain which falls from the clouds. 

 Though the fall of rain at Liverpool was only about 3G inches per annum, in 

 the interior and hilly parts of the country it was far greater : for instance, in 

 1845, there fell at S'eathwaite 151 inches; Grasmere, 121 ; Buttermere, 87 ; 

 Keswick, C2 ; Whitehaven, 49; Cockermouth, 47 ; and at Manchester, the 

 fall averages about 41 inches. He had examined various springs in the new 

 red sandstone, and had never found any above the mean temperature of the 

 climate; and concluded, therefore, that those in the new red sandstone were 

 entirely supplied from the rain which falls from the clouds, estimated in 

 that district at 3G inches per annum. Allowing 18 inches for evaporation 

 and vegetation, would leave 18 inches absorbed and stored in the earth every 

 year, giving 392,040 gallons per acre, or 250,005,600 gallons per square 

 mile. He maintained that the strata of the new red sandstone, at a level 

 below the surface of the sea, are naturally, fully, thoroughly, and permanently 

 saturated with water ; and that any shaft or excavation sunk to tliat depth, 

 will always, through lateral percolation, be full of water to that height. He 

 considered '.be most desiderahle mode would be to sink shafts from 1,000 to 

 2,000 feet deep, which would pierce a stratum highly saturated with water, 

 and which would he filled to within a short distance of the surface. He 

 objected to the plan proposed by some persons to he adopted, that of bring- 

 ing surface water from a distance, as all such was impregnated with millions 

 of myriads of animalculae, to the great detriment of public health. In con- 

 clusion, he stated as his decided conviction, that the strata of the new red 

 sandstone formation are not yet exhausted of their water, neither do they 

 show any symptoms of exhaustion, neither is it possible to exhaust them, so 

 long as they maintain their present constitution and geological position ; so 

 long as they consist of innumerable beds, of variable hardness, and of 

 variable porosity ; so long as they are capable of lateral percolation ; so long 

 as the hydrostatic pressure of the sea enables them to keep their lower beds 

 at the full point of saturation ; so long as their upper beds are greedily ab- 

 sorbant of water ; and so long as Nature, in her bountiful beneficence, is 

 annually pouring down upon them more than 500,000,000 gallons of water 

 upon every square mile of their surface. 



THE VENTILATION OF TOWNS. 



We have received from a correspondent at Liverpool, a descrip- 

 tion of a plan, which he has for a long time considered, for effec- 

 tually securing the ventilation of large towns ; and if capable of 

 heing carried into practice, it would have the effect of not only- 

 ventilating the houses in crowded neighbourhoods, but it would 

 also purify the drains, the exhalations from which are frequently 

 the cause of disease throughout large districts. The communica- 

 tion is too lengthy to be given entire ; we shall therefore only 

 extract those portions describing the proposed plan, which may be 

 thus briefly stated. It is proposed that in each town one or more 

 large, high chimneys shall be built, with which all the main-drains 

 shall communicate ; and that the lire-places of each house, instead 

 «if having chimneys carried through the roof, shall have flues 

 carried below and entering the drains. At the bottom of each of 

 the large ventilating chimneys, fires are to be kept burning for the 

 purpose of causing sufficient draught. This ])lan, which carries 

 out on an extentled scale the mode adopted in ventilating the 

 Houses of Parliament and other large buildings, offers important 

 advantages as a sanitary measure, and ought not therefore to be 

 discarded as impracticable without due consideration. The writer, 

 who is an engineer, affirms that he has tested its practicability, by 

 detailed calculations. We will now let him develope the plan in 

 his own words : — 



" It is proposed, that all house and factory chimneys be discon- 

 tinued ; that the smoke and products of combustion, instead of as- 

 cending as heretofore, and being discharged at the roof, be made 



to descend, pass into the house-drains, and through them into the 

 public sewers ; the factories having special communication for 

 themselves. 



" It is further proposed, that the sewers be arranged to converge 

 and join into larger or main sewers, which would be conducted 

 through the town, to the highest and least-occupied ground in the 

 vicinity, where these mains, culverts, <ir tunnels, would terminate 

 in chimneys of great height and capacity, placed at suitable dis- 

 tances apart; and in these chimneys, fires would be maintained con- 

 stantly burning, for the purpose of creating the necessary draught 

 Besides the communications for withdrawing the smoke from the 

 house-fires, the writer proposes to provide orifices in each apart- 

 ment, connected with the drains, which could be opened and shut 

 by the inmates at pleastire, and there would also be openings at 

 suitable distances along each court, lane, and street, communi- 

 cating with the sewers. Still more clearly to illustrate his views, 

 suppose we take the case of Liverpool, with the situation of which 

 the writer hapjiens to be acquainted. Let us presume that f<nir 

 or five large chimneys were erected along the brow of the hill 

 which bounds that town to the east, — one to provide for ventilation 

 of the north-end, one for the south-end, and two or three for the 

 middle district ; that leading tunnels were driven downwards 

 towards the river, which tunnels would communicate laterally witli, 

 and receive the air and smoke from, the street sewers. Then, let 

 us see how this plan would operate: — Suppose a powerful current 

 upwards, was established in the large chimneys, tunnels, and 

 sewers, it follows th.it — Firstly, the sewers and drains themselves 

 would no longer give forth noxious exhalations. Secondly, by 

 opening the apertures in the streets and courts, we would with- 

 draw the impure air, and produce a constant influx of pure air, 

 which would descend from above. Thirdly, by opening the 

 orifices in the houses and apartments, although they were crowded 

 with inmates, yet the vitiated air would be so rapidly removed, and 

 replaced by that both fresh and pure, that no injurious conse- 

 quences wiiuld ensue. Fourthly, there would be no more smoke or 

 sulphurous vapour to destroy healtli, and soil everything exposed to 

 its vile influeiu'e ; tlie murky clouds which envelope our manufac- 

 turing cities would disapjiear, and give place to clear skies and a 

 pure invigorating atmosphere. 



" But it will be said, there would be serious difficulties to contend 

 with in the executiiui of such a plan : this is granted — but they are 

 far from being insuperable ; in ])roof of which, the writer will now 

 proceed to consider some of them, only avoiding matters of engi- 

 neering detail. It may be objected that such a scheme would 

 prove costly : it is not denied that it would require the outlay of 

 a large, though by no means extraordinary, sum of money; but can 

 we expect to realise great benefits without proportionate ex- 

 penditure ? If it cost a million to supply such a town as Liver- 

 pool with water, why should we grudge a very much smaller sum 

 to supply the same town with air ? The one is surely as essential 

 to the well-being of the community as the other ; and the writer 

 is prepared to show that a large saving of money would accrue, 

 which is at present expended by the adoption of such a plan, irre- 

 spective of the immense benefit to the public on the score of 

 health. There would be no factory chimneys to erect ; a great 

 saving in the arrangement for house-fires, which cannot here be de- 

 tailed ; smaller houses aiul smaller apartments would suffice for any 

 given number of individuals, — consequently, there would be an 

 economyin building arrangements,accompaniedbylower rents. The 

 same remark ap])lies to streets, lanes, and courts : look at the enor- 

 mous sums which would be recpiired to alter and widen them, and by 

 that means improve the ventilation. Then consider the control 

 which would be vested in the authorities over the public health. 

 At present, it is in vain you tell (he poor to go dwell in larger 

 houses and more airy situations, — they cannot afford it. It is in 

 vain you tell them not to crowd together in their wretched apart- 

 ment's, or they will suffer front want of ventilation. It is in 

 vain you impi-ess them with the necessity of cleanliness, and of 

 breathing untainted air : the majority disregard it, — how can they 

 do otherwise .'' But with this plan in operation, let us suppose 

 fever to prevail in some court or alley ; we have only to give direc- 

 tions to unclose one or two apertures, and pure air will flow in, 

 w eeping disease and death away." 



Solvent power of Chloroform.— The powerful solvent capabilities of chlo- 

 roform are now, by experiment, fully established. Caoutchouc, resin, 

 copal and gum-lac, bromine, iodine, the essential oils, &c., yield to its 

 solvent power. This property may, it is believed, prove extensively of ad- 

 vantage in many of tUe fine and useful arts. 



