1847. J 



THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECFS JOURNAL. 



155 



ROYAL INSTITUTE OF BRITISH ARCHITECTS. 



April 12. — The foUowingpaper on the important public question of " Ven- 

 tilation," and how far it may be rendered compulsory by legislative enact- 

 ments, was read by Mr. J. Toynbee. 



The author commenced by stating, that the result of the extended inves- 

 tigations, so long conducted by the medical profession, into the nature and 

 treatment of disease, demonstrated tliat the great dutv of every man was to 

 carry out preventive measures. English people seemed to be but little 

 aware of the large amount of disease by which man at the present time is 

 atllicted ; and yet the details in Lord Morpeth's recent speech, the returns of 

 the Registrar-General, and statistics from various sources, showed that among 

 them disease was the rule, and health was the exception. Let it be con- 

 tinually repeated, and never be forgotten, tiiat one-fourth of the children 

 born in England die before tney reach their fifth year; and out of 49,089 

 people who died in London in the year 184G, 22,275 were carried oft" before 

 they reached the fifteenth year; and only 2,241 died of old age, which 

 Boerhaave stated to be the only disease natural to man. In addition to 

 this, it must he known that, as a general rule, when the body is examined 

 after death, whether of a child or adult, one or more organs is found in a 

 state of disease : a fact which induced a physician to state that he looked 

 upon every adult he met in the streets of London as a wall<ing museum of 

 morbid anatomy. If the causes of the 49,089 deaths in 1846 be examined, 

 it will be found that the enormous proportion of 14,368 was from diseases 

 of the organs of respiration. Now it has been shown that the great source 

 of these diseases was the respiration of impure air. To suggest measures 

 for the removal of this great evil, and to prevent some of the most distress- 

 ing diseases to which mankind is subject, was his object in responding to the 

 request of the Society that he would deliver the present address. 



Mr. Toynhee then proceeded to consider the subject in its various bear- 

 ings. In proof of the necessity for ventilation, he stated that it was of 

 great importance tliat air should be continually in motion ; for, like water, 

 when stagnant, it became offensive and injurious. This was accounted for 

 by the fact, that the air always contained a large quantity of animal and 

 vegetable matter in the form of the ova of infusoria and the seeds of the 

 lower vegetable organisms. But the act of respiration was the great cause 

 of the deterioration of the air. The air in the lungs was exposed to 

 170,000,000 of cells, having a surface equal to thirty times that of the 

 body; so that during respiration the air was deprived of oxygen, and became 

 loaded with deadly carbonic acid gas, and was rendered totally unfit for a 

 second respiration, being in reality no longer atmospheric air, but a poison- 

 ous gas. A second cause of the deterioration of the air is the combustion 

 of lamps, gaslights, candles, &c. A single candle is nearly as injurious to 

 the air as a human being : two fourteen-hole argand burners consumed as 

 much air as eleven men. A third source of atmospheric impurity is the 

 vapour, loaded with animal matter, given off from the lungs and the skin : 

 each of these parts pours out an ounce of fluid every hour ; so that, in a 

 church containing 500 people, twelve gallons of noxious fluid are given off ia 

 two hours. A fourth source of bad air in towns is the large quantity of 

 decomposing animal and vegetable matter left to give off its effluvia ; and 

 the difficulty there is in the renewal of the air in towns by means of the 

 winds, on account of the vicious mode of their construction and their large 

 size. In reference to the impurity of the air of London, Dr. Mantell states 

 that various classes of infusoria, which he was in the habit of keeping alive 

 in his bouse at Clapham, all died in Loudon ; and it is well known that 

 scarcely any plants will live in London. 



It was then stated that certain diseases were distinctly traceable to the 

 absence of ventilation — namely, fever, consumption, scrofula, deafness, and 

 that most fertile origin of numerous diseases, the common " cold." It was 

 shown that 120,000 people in England and Wales are always slowly dying 

 from consumption ; that there is double the amount of this disease among 

 in-door than there is among out-door labourers ; that it was more frequent 

 among women than among men; that in 1839, out of 33 milliners who died 

 in London, 28 died of consumption. 



Mr. Toynhee then declared that, up to the present time, the subject of 

 ventilation had been entirely neglected in the construction of rooms, houses. 

 towns, and cities ; that the greatest injury had been inflicted upon mankind 

 by this neglect ; and, as the population increased, and towns became larger, 

 the evil must become greater, unless remedies were at once carried into 

 effect. Under these circumstances, until society should be sufficiently in- 

 formed voluntarily to secure its v%ell-being, it was the bounden duty of a 

 government, the enlightened guide of its people, to suggest measures, and 

 see them carried out, to prevent tlie large amount of misery that the absence 

 of ventilation was producing. The important question, then, was — How far 

 could Government interfere with advantage in enforcing plans of ventilation 

 by legislative enactments .' 



Mr. Toynhee then submitted the following propositions, for the adoption 

 of Government, to the consideration of the Institute : — 



1. That no living, sleeping, or work room shall contain less than 144 su- 

 perficial feet, or shall be less than 8 feet high. 



2. That such room shall have one window, at least, opening at the top. 



3. Also an open fireplace. 



4. That in every living, sleeping, or work room erected in future, some 

 method shall he adopted of sjlowing the foul air to escape from the upper 

 part of the room. 



He then pointed out the practicability of carrying out this provision, 

 either by the introduction of Arnott's valve into the chimney, thousands of 

 which were at this time in operation, and wliich might also be adapted to 

 existing chimneys, without fear of smoke, by the addition of a simple con- 

 trivance which he described ; or a distinct channel might be made for the 

 purpose. 



5. That every such room erected in future shall have some means of con- 

 tinually admitting fresh air. 



6. In every pubhc building in which gas is used, to insist upon the use of 

 plans to carry off the products of combustion, and not to allow them to 

 escape in a room. Various plans having this object are in operation in 

 hundreds of shops, and may be seen in many shops in Regent-street ; by 

 their use not only are the goods in the shop saved from injury, but the 

 heallb of the people is improved. He was happy to hear that in Covent 

 Garden Theatre not a particle of the products of combustion from the gas 

 was allowed to enter the theatre. 



7. That all churches, schools, theatres, workshops, workhouses, and other 

 public buildings, shall adopt such methods of ventilation as are approved by 

 the Medical Officer of Health. 



Mr. Toynhee pointed out how these desirable objects were to be effected, 

 and showed that every house and room must be so arranged that it can he 

 supplied with fresh air, to replace the vitiated air which has been removed. 

 Prof. Hosking had carried out these plans in every part of his house ; and 

 until they were general, the diseases dependent upon the want of ventilation 

 must he a scourge to society. He observed that in all the stables now 

 erecting, admirable plans of ventilation were adopted. Having given this 

 subject deliberate consideration, he had arrived at the above conclusions ; in 

 which, among many others, he was supported by Dr. Sutherland of Liver- 

 pool, and Dr. Guy of London — two of his many fellow-labourers in the 

 public-health cause, whose enlightened intelligence was only equalled by 

 iheir benevolence. 



In conclusion, he stated that the various Health of Towns' Associations 

 were at work heart and soul, instructing the masses of the people as to the 

 best means of promoting their physical "elfare — a labour in which every 

 enlightened man should join. And he felt that if government would lend 

 all the aid in its power towards carrying out sanitary measures, not only 

 would an enormous amount of misery be saved, but an extent of happiness 

 would be gained of which we had at present only a faint idea. 



INSTITUTION OF CIVIL ENGINEERS. 



March 23. — Sir J. Rennie, President, in the Chair. 



A paper was read " On the Ventilation of Mines." By Mr. J. Richard- 

 son. It dwells at some length on the present methods of ventilation and 

 the objections to them, illustrating the positions by quotations from the 

 best authorities on the subject; all of which went to show, that in spite 

 of ail the care and attention (hat bad been given to (he question, all the 

 skill of the engineer, and the introduction of the safety-lamp in 1816, the 

 loss of life had been greater since that period than it was in a correspond- 

 ing period previous to its introduction. This must not be charged entirely 

 to the lamp ; for although it might have rendered men bolder, and induced 

 them to trust too much to it in venturing into those parts of the mines 

 which formerly would have been abandoned, siill it must be borne in mind, 

 that as the coal was got at greater depths and distances from the shafts, 

 the ventilation becomes more difficult ; and, from the greater number of 

 persons emjloyed in one mine, if an accident did occur, the loss of life 

 was greater in proportion. The author then entered into calculations, 

 showing that the dimensions of the " upcast shaft" should in all cases be 

 increased, in proportion to the augmented volume of the air from the ex- 

 pansion of the higher temperature at which it leaves the mine after tra- 

 versing all the passages ; and if this were attended to, not only would the 

 general ventilation be better, but in the event of an accident occurring by 

 an explosion, or the derangement of some of the air-passages from falls of 

 the roof, &:c., an extra power could be applied, which would at any rate 

 prevent a portion of the frightful loss of human life which now occurs. 

 The conclusion drawn, however, was, that in almost all cases it was the 

 culpable neglect uf, and not the want of means of prevention, that caused 

 the destructiuu of health, life, and property in the mining operations of the 

 kingdom. 



This opinion appeared to be participated in by all the speakers, in the 

 discussion which ensued, and in which the interference of government by 

 legislative enactments, with respect to methods of ventilation, was severely 

 deprecated. It had become fashionable now, whenever a difficulty oc- 

 curred, to recommend " legislative enactment" as an universal panacea ; 

 as if a committee of the house, or a body of commissioners, none of whom 

 probably possessed any practical knowledge of the subject, could at once 

 fall by inspiration upon the methods of prevention or cure which had so 

 long eluded the careful investigation of scientific and practical men, whose 

 time, talents, and fortunes, bad been all devoted to the subject, from that 

 great incentive to exertion — self-interest. When the example of foreign 

 countries was quoted, it should be at the same time shown in how backward 

 a state they were in engineering, in uiiuing, in commerce, and, in fact, in 

 everything with which the government interfered, as compared to the high 

 slate of perfection arrived at in this country, where there was nothing, for- 



