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THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECT'S JOURNAL. 



[January^ 



It is important for nautical men to know the great value of fire-heat as a 

 purifier of the air of lower decks and close places, in the estimation of many 

 of the most experienced navigators and naval commanders : Cook and Nelson 

 may be named. 9 How conspicuously the importance of sanatory regulations 

 were illustrated in the remarkable voyage in 1773-75, of Captain Cook, who, 

 during three years, out of 118 persons on board, lost four, and of these enly 

 one by sickness. 10 Me have likewise several similar examples in the arctic 

 and antarctic voyages. See Expeditions of 1821, 1824, and later ones, 

 where the advantages of warmth combined with ventilation, are clearly 

 shown. 



A very simple contrivance might be found useful for purifying lower decks 

 when unoccupied ; a grate, formed like a circular basket, hung in gimbals, 

 which, like a pendulum, has its point of rest in the perpendicular. 



The value of lime and vinegar washings and fumigations in destroying the 

 bad effects of impure air, did not escape the older philosophers. 11 The 

 knowledge of these facts was of vast utility in the days of Howard. Pro- 

 fessor Daniel, and other chemists, have, in these times, recommended the 

 use of chlorine gas and chloride of lime for a similar purpose. In com- 

 bination with ventilating arrangements in ships the value of such antidotes 

 — especially where sickness prevails — should not be overlooked. 



If we turn to the graphic pages of Smollett, we may at once perceive, by 

 contrasting his description of a man-of-war with the inspection of one now- 

 a-days, what great improvements have been made. But still, much is yet to 

 be done in ship-ventilation generally throughout the world. The air, being 

 invisible, deceives many a one, leading us to consider it pure, while it may 

 be stagnant and corrupt ; hence the necessity of impressing the admission 

 of fresh air at all times, as we do light ; and the absurd idea cannot be too 

 soon exploded, of people enclosing themselves in an air-tight box oi 

 With improved means of ventilation of^hips and steamers, the energies ol 

 all on board will be promoted. By inhaling pure air during night as well 

 as day, in cold or warm climales, increased longevity will be attained, and, 

 at all events, the general comfort improved ; and as Britain has outstripped 

 most nations in ihe application of steam-power to useful purposes, why 

 should she not take the lead in cultivating those arts which the physiologist 

 has proved to be essential to the advancement of the physical condition of 

 mankind ? 



An excellent paper on this subject, written nearly a century back, will 

 be found in the Unit. Magazine, on the method of Preserving the Health of 

 Seamen in long cruizes ami voyages, where ventilation and lumigation are 

 strongly enforced. Vol. xvii., 1747-8. 



• o Maval History, 1773, p. 34y. 



11 Dr. Stephen Hales made many experiments recorded in his Statical 

 Essays, London, 1731, vol. l, with a view lo clear the air from noxious va- 

 pours. He found nothing so efficacious as a solution of potash, lie says, 

 page 2U7, "Sal Tartar should Le ihe best preservation against noxious W 

 pours, as being a strong imbiber of sulphuros acid and watery vapour, as is 

 also sea-salt." A solution of caustic alkali will take up fixed air as last as it 

 is produced. 



The rapid absorption of ammonia by water, and the avidity of fresh lime 

 for carbonic acid, point out the utility ot water with lime recently dissolved 

 in ii, fot neutralizing the effects ol impure air, either by the use of frequent 

 fresh lime-washings, or exposing, in shallow vessels, frequently stirred, sola- 

 lions of fresh lime. In factories, the sulphate of lime or gypsum is in 

 general use fur the absorption of ammonia, or removing the smell of the 

 soil-pipes. 



DECORATION.— HOUSE-PAINTING. 



[We wish to direct the especial attention of Architects to the following 

 paper extracted from the .■llhenamm ; it is a subject that we hae often in- 

 tended to have taken in hand, but it is here treated with so much judgment 

 that we safely leave it with our talented contemporary and trust that the 

 papers will be speedily followed up by others as hinted at in the conclusion 

 of the present article.] 



The British School of Painting is already distinguished as a school of 

 colour, and we islanders arc said to delight in full toned and positive colour- 

 ing : a proposition we are not disposed to controvert, though it is rather 

 puzzling to find satisfactory evidence of it at the present time. We do not 

 see our public buildings, our churches, our places of assemblage for lay 

 purposes, our private dwellings, our dress, or our furniture, generally ani- 

 mated with the fascinations of colours. Truth surely would compel us to 

 admit, in spite of growing exceptions which might be quoted to the contrary, 

 that we have little else but frigid white-washings and sombre neutral tim- 

 ings in our buildings, and show little knowledge and appreciation of colour 

 in the more mechanical productions of art. Yet in none of Nature's domains 

 is she more bountiful in specimens of colour and its endless varieties, than in 

 our country. During the revolution of a year, we are treated with blue 

 skies rivalling those of Italy — (not frequently, perhaps, yet we do have them) 

 and red fiery sunsets, not inferior in depth and intensity to those of Libya, 

 and between these extremes, arising from the modification of light, we may 



collect every variety of cold colouring on the one hand, and warm on the 

 other. The colouring of our vegetation too, is, of infinite diversity; and 

 where is the clime that shows such delicate varieties in the colouring of com- 

 plexions and eyes ? Yet somehow, if we view the use and employment of 

 colours at the present time, we cannot be said to be following up in our 

 own works, the bountiful gifts and suggestions of Nature. Time was when 

 we seemed in our practice more sensible of the influences of colour. The 

 old Papistical Chapter of the metropolitan cathedral painted the walls of Old 

 St. Paul's ; whilst the new Protestant Chapter actually refused to receive 

 paintings as a gift. Such remnants of Middle Age furniture as are preserved 

 to us, indicate a much more extensive employment of bright colouring, than 

 the furniture of our own time. Perhaps no very early specimens of the use 

 of colouring in the interior of our domestic dwellings, can now be produced, 

 yet as we know well, that the outskles of houses were hung on high days 

 with brilliant tinted tapestry, we are surely justified in inferring, that the 

 insides of houses had other tints than neutral ones. Even so near our times 

 as the Commonwealth, our dress was far more coloured than it is now. It 

 might be proved, that before the Reformation, English people delighted in 

 strong and bright colours, and perhaps the temporary suppression of the 

 taste (a suppression but temporary, though its duration has been so long) 

 might be shown to have been owing to that event : we will not, however, 

 discuss the point here. From some cause, it is certain, that we have ceased, 

 for a long period, to use colours as much as we formerly did, and we may 

 welcome that general revival in the employment of them which is assuredly 

 taking place, and which first began to show itself markedly in pictures. It is, 

 therefore, little matter for surprise, if we find in so subordinate an application 

 of colouring as the decoration of our dwellings, either very little positive 

 colouring, or very little knowledge or taste displayed in the employment of 

 so much as we do find. In a paper on the subject of painting, in the 

 Edinburgh Encyclopaedia, the following remarks occur on the present state 

 of House-Painting, very apposite to what we have here advanced : — 



" With us, the practice is chiefly confined to that of a mere handicraft, 

 where little refinement is sought for, beyond the simple usage of the painter's 

 shop, the mixing up of colours and their smooth application to the wall. 

 Whereas, in Italy, the study and acquirements of a house-painter are little 

 inferior to what is requisite for the higher branches of the art; and, in fact, 

 the practice of both is not (infrequently combined. They are more conver- 

 sant with the science, as well as the practice, of colouring, with the rules of 

 harmony and with the composition of ornamental painting in all its branches : 

 so that their works might be transferred to canvass, and admired for their 

 excellence. In fact, the great frescos of the first masters, which have been 

 the admiration of ages, were but part of the general embellishment of the 

 churches and palaces of Italy. And the most celebrated names in the list 

 of artists, have left memorials of their fame iri the humble decorations of the 

 arabesque, in which all the exuberance and playfulness of fancy is displayed, 

 as well as the most enchanting harmony of brilliant colours. It is in this 

 essential point of harmony, that our practice is particularly defective ; we 

 rarely see, in the simple painting of our apartments, any combination of 

 colours that is not in some part offensive against even the common rules of 

 art ; if there are any rules observed, save those of mere caprice or chance — 

 although there are certain combinations pointed out by the laws of optics, 

 which can as little be made to harmonize as two discordant notes in music. 

 The unpleasant effects arising from such erroneous mixtures and juxta- 

 positions, we are often sufficiently aware of, without having the skill requisite 

 to assign the reason any more than the painter who chose them. This ac- 

 counts for the prevalent use of neutral colours in our ornamental painting, 

 which is less liable to offend by whatever bright colour it may be relieved, 

 and likewise the safer and more agreeable combination of the different shades 

 of the same iudefinite colour. But no sooner do our painters attempt any 

 combination of decided colours than they fail. The ornamental painting, in 

 Italy, is almost entirely in decided colours of the most brilliant hue, and yet 

 always inexpressibly pleasing in the combinations, because the rules of harmony 

 are known and attended to. Neither is this proficiency confined to the deco- 

 ration of palaces, or the more elaborate and expensive works ; we have seen 

 in dwellings of a much humbler cast, and indeed in general practice, the most 

 graceful designs of ornament painted, not in the simple manner of Camayeu, 

 but displaying every possible tint of bold and vivid colouring, and melting 

 into each other with all the skill and harmony of a piece of brilliant 

 music." 



For our parts, we are disposed to believe harmonious colouring, consistently 

 employed in the decoration of all buildings — inhabited buildings especially, 

 where we spend a great part of our lives — not to be either slight or unim- 

 portant in its influence on the moral tone of the inhabitants. As we may 

 read to some extent the character of individuals in their dress, so we believe 

 we might do so in the character of their dwellings. Hence, a very dull- 

 minded, tasteless people we may be pronounced to have been during the 

 eighteenta century. A room of bright and cheerful appearance surely tends 

 to dispel gloomy and melancholy associations, whilst a dark and dismal cell 

 provokes them. Glitter and tawdriness disturb thoughtfulness, whilst quie- 

 tude in colouring tends to suggest it. 



" Experience," says Goethe, " teaches us that particular colours excite 

 particular states of feeling." It is related of a witty Frenchman, " II pre- 

 tendoit que son ton de conversation avec Madame etoit change depuis qu'elle 

 avoit change en cramoisi le meuble de son cabinet qui etoit bleu." 



The great majority of domestic apartments at the present time, even in 

 houses of the first class, have scarcely any marked features of decoration 



