96S 



THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECT'S JOURNAL. 



[August, 



on Civil Arcbitectare, by Gwilt ; and for the best Notes of Papers read 

 at the Meetings during the Session, — a Copy of Hope's Historical 

 Essay on Architecture. 



To Mr. S. J. NiCHOLL, for his Notes of Papers read at the Meetings 

 during the Session, — a Copy of Milizia's Lives of the Architects, trans- 

 lated by Mrs. Cresy. 



A curious Model of a Chinese Chemist's House and Shop were exhi- 

 bited to the Meeting, and the several arrangements explained by Professor 

 Donaldson. 



In announcing this as the closing Meeting of the Session, the Chairman 

 adverted to the general proceedings of the Institute during the year, and 

 took occasion to express the regret generally felt at tlie recent decease of 

 their highly esteemed Honorary Member, Mr. J. B. Papworth. 



It has been arranged to set apart an evening, early in the ensuing Ses- 

 6ion, for the discussion of the subject propounded in the paper read by 

 Mr. CiiANTRF.LL, at the meeting of the llth of June, " On the Geometric 

 System apiilied Ity the itledueval Arcliitects to the proportions of their Ec- 

 clesiastical Structures," by which time it is hoped that those Members 

 ■who feel particularly interested in the subject will be prepared to oiler 

 their opinions thereon. 



A STONE-LIFTER. 



Being engaged Id the construction of bridges, &c.,on the Great Grimsby 

 and Sheffield Junction Railway, and the engineers objecting to lewis-holes 

 in the face of the coping, Mr. Joshua Oliver, clerk of the works, suggested 



SCALE t IN lOA ("OCT. 



a plan to obviate the difficulty. The annexed sketch is a representation of 

 the apparatus, which is nothing more than a bar of iron, 3^ inches wide and 

 ^ an inch thick, with a sliding piece and screw; but should it be used for 

 rough stones, the screw may be dispensed with by adding a key to the top 

 of the sliding piece, as shown by the dotted lines. — Builder. 



SULPHURIC ACID. 



At the College of Chemistry, June 23, a lecture " On the mnnufacturet 

 properties, and uses of Sulphuric Acid," was delivered by Mr. Henry M- 



NOAD. 



After alluding to the great importance of chemistry and its bearings on 

 almost every branch of social in<lustry, the lecturer observed that it may 

 even be classed among the principal elements of civilisation. In illustra- 

 tion of which, lie adverted to liie intluence exerted by sulphuric acid on 

 the manufacture of soap — an article, the consumption of which is not sub- 

 ject to the caprices of taste or fashion, but absolutely essential to cleanli- 

 ness and comfort. From the year 1829 to 183 4 the average importation of 

 barilla into this country amounted to 12,G00 tons. Now, liowever, this ash 

 js scarcely to be met witli in the market : — nearly tlie wbole of the soda 

 consumed in this country in the manufacture of soap and for otlier pur- 

 poses being obtained from common salt tlirough the agency of sulphuric 

 acid ; and the united quantity of soda ash and soda crystals annually 

 manufactured is calculated to exceed seven times the largest importation of 

 barilla ever made in one year. This increased consumption of soda is due 

 to the repeal of the salt duly, and to the improvements that have been 

 effected in the manufacture of sulphuric acid. 



Mr. Noad proceeded to review the sources and properties of sulphur; 

 and after showing how extensively this elementary substance is dill'used 

 throughout the globe and in all the kingdom of nature, he remarked on 

 the imprudent policy of Sicily in granting to a French company, in 1838, 

 a monopoly for the purchase and sale of sulphur — a course which, had it 

 been persevered in, would, probably, ere this have entirely, or to a great 

 extent, deprived Sicily of her lucrative article of commerce. During the 

 time the monopoly las'ed (only two years) no less than fifteen different 

 patents were taken out for metliods of obtaining back the sulphuric acid 

 used ID the manufacture of soda. Hundreds of thousands of pounds 



weight of sulphuric acid were prepared from pyrites; and a process wa^ 

 indicated for decomposing gypsum. Even at the present lime large quaa- 

 tities of sulphuric acid continue to be made from pyrites ; and in 1842 the 

 importation of sulphur from Sicily was not one third of the amount im- 

 ported in 183G. The lecturer described the various compounds of sulphur 

 with oxygen ; illustrating experimentally the properties of sulphuric acid- 

 He gave a detailed account of the present method of preparing sulphuric 

 acid on the large scale ; — imitating it on the lecture table by causing two 

 streams of sulphurous acid and nitric oxide gases to come into contact, 

 together with steam and common air, into a large glass globe; and he 

 explained the theoretical nature of the reactions which took place by means 

 of diagrams. The leaden chambers employed in some manufactories were 

 stated to be of immense size — upwards of 180 feet long, having a capacity 

 of 35,000 cubic feet, and being capable of preparing ten tons of acid 

 weekly. The great saving effected by the modern improvement of substi- 

 tuting vessels of platinum for those of glass for tlie final concentration of 

 the acid, notwithstanding tlie euormous price of the former, is manifested 

 by the fall in the price of sulphuric acid from 4d. to I Ad. per pound. The 

 lecturer performed a series of experiments in illustration of the valuable 

 properties of sulphuric acid. He adverted to its great use as an elegant 

 and economical means of refining silver — and to its introduction into agri- 

 culture as a solvent for bonss, by which phosphate of lime is not only 

 brought into a liquid state — and thus more intimately diffused through the 

 soil — but a portion of phosphoric acid is likewise set free to combine with 

 lime or other basic matters in the soil. The lecture was concluded by 

 observations as to the manner in which the sulphates act as manures— viz., 

 by furnishing the necessary supply of sulphur to those parts of plants ia 

 which this element is found — and of which it appears to be an essential 

 constituent — viz. the gluten and albumen of the several varieties of graiQ, 

 and the legumin of those plants which are called leguminous. 



WARMING AND VENTIL.\TION OF THE NEW HOUSE OF 



PEERS. 



We have been requested to give an account of the system adopted by 

 Mr. Barry, for the warming and ventilating the New House of Peers. 

 We cannot do better than give Professor Faraday's account, read at the 

 Royal Institution : — 



Mr. Barry's plan of warming and ventilatingthe three rooms to which he 

 has applied it (i. c, the royal ante-chamber, the house of peers, and the 

 public lobby), consists, first, in causing a current of air, of regulated tempe- 

 rature, to pass beneath the impervious Boor of these apartments, and after- 

 wards to rise to a chamber at the top of the building, from whence it ig 

 diffused in great abundance, but imperceptibly, throughout the three apart- 

 ments ; and secondly, in drawing off the vitiated air and discharging it 

 with great rapidity into the atmosphere. To accomplish these objects, Mr. 

 Barry has achieved expedients for, 



1. Warming the building through an impervious floor, as in the case of 

 a Roman bath. 2. Effecting a system of currents. 3. Providing means of 

 causing ten thousand cubic feet of air per minute to proceed in a prescribed 

 course, and with regulated velocity. 



The warming is effected by a steam-cockle, supplied from one of Lord 

 Dundonald's boilers ; it is traversed by a quantity of air-tubes firmly fas- 

 tened into it. The air which passes through the tubes is the source of 

 warmth. This apparatus, with its furnace, is placed beneath the public 

 lobby ; and the current of warm air passes beneath its impervious floor, 

 then beneath that of the House of Peers, and lastly, beneath the floor of 

 the royal ante-chamber beyond. With warmth, the air acquires a certaia 

 degree of motive power in the rising parts of the passages, which carries 

 it onwards till it reaches the reservoir chambers at the summit of the 

 building ; from thence it is made to pass down into the apartments by their 

 walls, and so distributed, without draught, to be breathed by the inmates 

 of those rooms. This gradual diffusion of the air is accomplished by a 

 system of currents. It is caused by subjecting the air to inequalities of 

 temperature. Descending by the walls of the building, it is cooled by 

 windows, i*<c., and thus its velocity dowuwards is increased. Arriving at 

 the level, at which it is at once heated and deteriorated by respiration, 

 combustion, &c., the air again rises in the centre of the room, and passes 

 through the ceiling into a foul-air chamber, which is in connection with a 

 chimney. Through this chimney the air is driven by the third expedient 

 adopted by Mr. Barry, viz , draught of the flue, — and a peculiar motive 

 power furnished by Bell's steam-jet [see Joiiinai, last month, page 230,] 

 a source of force which has so many philosophical considerations connected 

 with it, that iMr. Faraday expressed it his intention of making it the sub- 

 ject of a future day's discourse. He therefore limited himself at pre- 

 sent, to the simple statement that steam produced under 321b. pressure oa 

 the square inch, will set in motion 217 times its bulk of air. 



In the course of his communication, Mr. Faraday described the arrange- 

 ments made by Mr. Barry to clear tlie air, and to regulate its velocity, so 

 as to prevent the possiliility of draughts coming on any inmates of the 

 apartments. He showed how the steam-cockle, employed to give warmth 

 in winter, might, by filling it with water from the Artesian well, become a 

 source of coolness in summer. These, and many other important arrange- 

 ments, were illustrated by sections in relief. 



