1842.] 



THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECrS JOURNAL. 



389 



DR. PAYERNE'S PURIFICATION OF FOUL AIR. 



The notice taken of Dr. Payerne and liis diving-bell experiments in 

 the last number of tbs Journal, bas elicited a long article in the 

 Times, evidently from the same pen which recorded the performances 

 of Dr. Payerne at Spithead. The tone of the article is, however, 

 altogether ditierent from the preceding ones, being rather apologetic 

 than laudatory. Though the writer deprecates the manner in which 

 we analysed the Doctor's performances, he tacitly admits that the 

 result of our analysis is correct ; — that nothing, in short, had been 

 accomplished by the apparatus which might not have befn done 

 without it. This admission of Dr. Payerne's apologist formed the 

 sum and substance of our remarks, the object being to guard against 

 the adoption of any plans founded on such an unsatisfactory basis. 

 We did not deny Dr. Payerne's power to purify air; we merely as- 

 serted that if he possessed such power, he had afTorded no sufHcient 

 proof of its agency. The insinuation of charlatanry is censured by 

 the writer in the Times, but he, at tlie same time, admits 

 that such an accusation is partly justified by the foolish and absurd 

 paragraphs published in tlie papers respecting the wonderful powers 

 of a sub-marine boat proposed by Dr. Payerne for navigating the 

 bottom of the ocean ; and the writer seems particularly anxious to ex- 

 plain, that Major-General Pasley never sanctioned that peculiar plan 

 of navigation. 



Since our former article on this subject was written, we understand 

 that some trials have been made of Dr. Payerne's apparatus in the 

 puriiication of the air of mines. The experiments are briefly and 

 unsatisfactorily recorded, but they are represented to have fully 

 answered. If the invention be applicable to the purification of foul 

 air in mines, the apparatus will be far more valuable than it could 

 have been in its first proposed application for sub-marine operations; 

 and the Doctor will deserve well of this country for his invention. 

 We confess, liowever, to have misgivings of such a desirable result, 

 and wait for further proofs. In the mean time, the secrets of the 

 " box" begin to ooze out. The French Academy of Sciences, at some 

 of their recent sittings, have had inventions submitted to them for the 

 purification of air in diving-bells ; and though Dr. Payerne's name 

 does not appear in the reports, we imagine that the plans proposed and 

 his are the same. It may be remembered that we before hinted the 

 box might contain highly compressed oxygen gas. This seems ac- 

 tually to form part of the plan submitted to the French Academy of 

 Sciences, but the ingenious inventors propose to use oxygenated 

 water instead of oxygen gas alone. Absorption of gas, as well 

 as its generation, is likewise contemplated ; for it is proposed to 

 absorb the carbonic acid gas expired from the lungs by caustic lime. 

 If this constitute the whole of Dr. Payerne's secret, we conceive it 

 will avail him nothing. The absorption of carbonic acid gas by caustic 

 lirae might possibly be effected on a scale sufficiently great to produce 

 practical results ; but unless there be invented some more ready and 

 more economical mode of obtaining oxygenated water than at present 

 known, no real advantage could be derived from the application of 

 any such plan, either for the purification of the air in mines, or for 

 sub-marine explorations. 



We subjoin abstracts of the reports read to the French Academy of 

 Sciences to which we have alluded : — 



Sept. 2(5. — A communication was made by M. Thi-nard, on the 

 means for remaining for a long period in a limited quantity of air, by 

 the absorption of the carbonic acid gas exhr.led, and the renewal of 

 oxygen in proportion to its consumption. That the carbonic acid gas 

 exhaled, luul which, in excess, ln'comes fatal, miy be absorbed by 

 lime is a well-known fact, but as it is necessary, in the purification of air, 

 to replace the oxygen, which is the vital principle, as well as to get 

 rid of the excess ot^ what is injurious, the great object to be attained 

 in cases where, as in diving bells, it is important to make the same 

 limited volume of air serve fur several hours, is to produce oxygen 

 with ease and certainty. M. Tluiiard proposes to employ oxygenated 

 water, and has shown that not less than 47o times the volume of water 

 of oxygen-gas may be compressed in this vehicle, and subsequently 

 liberated as required. But to produce this result, great care and 

 expense are necessary, and, when obtained, the ditliculty of prevent- 

 ing the escape of the oxygen, when not wanted for immediate use, is 

 also very great. 



Oct. 3. A communication from M. Sondalo was read, on the means of 

 purifying the air which has been already taken into the lungs from the 

 carbonic acid gas with which it is charged. This gentleman informs 

 the Academy that be remained under water an hour, clothed with a 

 waterproof dross, and having with him, in a small vessel, the prepara- 

 tion of lime required for the absorption of the carbonic acid and the 

 oxygenated water, in order to renew the oxygen of which the air 



already breathed had been deprived. With the aid of this small 

 apparatus, contained within his dress, he was able, during the time 

 above stated, to purify the air which he took down with him. 



[Since the above was in type and as we were closing tlie Journal 

 we received a communication from Dr. Payerne, commenting on our 

 strictures of last month ; we regret that it arrived too late for inser- 

 tion in the present number, it shall however appear next month.] 



THE ECCLESIASTICAL COMMISSION. 



[In another part of the Journal we have inserted a letter from a 

 Correspondent respecting the conduct of the above commission to- 

 wards the architects; since then we have procured a copy of the A 

 report from which we give the following extracts.] " 



The commissioners have agreed to certain regulations respect- 

 ing grants towards providing houses of residence. They are as 

 follow : — 



Grants towards purchasing or erecting houses of residence will, for 

 the present, be made only to meet benefactions from other sources, 

 except in cases coming within the third class, and under other special 

 circumstances. 



All benefactions must be paid to the commissioners before they 

 can enter into any arrangement either for purchase or for rebuilding. 



Every house proposcd'to b-T purcliaaed must be surveyed by the archi- 

 tect of the commissioners, and every new house must be built according 

 to his designs and under his exclusive superintendence, the commission- 

 ers entering into the necessary contracts. 



Plans approved by the commissioners have been transmitted to the 

 several archdeacons, diocesan registrars, bishop's secretaries, and 

 chapter clerks, with a request that they will allow them to be in- 

 spected by the clergy; and the plans may also be seen at the office of 

 the commissioners. 



Before a contract for building is entered into, reasonable variations 

 in these plans may be allovved, to meet local or other peculiarities ; 

 but no extensive deviation from the general design of the commis- 

 sioners will be permitted, uor any alteration which is calculated to en- 

 tail additional expense upon succeeding incumbents. 



In meeting benefactions towards providing a house, a general rule 

 of proportion will be observed, by which a house built according to 

 the plans of the commissioners (painted, papered, and fitted with 

 grates, bells, &c.), being about £900, the benefaction required will be 

 about £450 in cases of public patronage, and about £540 in cases of 

 private patronage. 



"BRITISH ASSOCIATION OF ARCHITECTURAL 

 DRAUGHTSMEN." 

 The formation of an institution for aflfording relief to distressed 

 architectural draughtsmen, and for ameliorating the conditions of that 

 class of artists generally is an object which would comniand our best 

 wishes, and particularly when we see so laudable an eftbrt as the for- 

 mation of an annual exhibition of architectural drawings conjoined 

 with it; but we are not prepared to admit that the plan now proposed 

 is the best for carrying the object into effect. The rules are too much 

 on the trades-union system to agree with the respectability ot the 

 body in question. An annual dinner is doubtless a very good thing, 

 but we do not approve of one levied by fines on the members at large; 

 neither do we think that a dinner is the most appropriate time for our 

 artistic exhibitions. We should, therefore, recommend the abandon- 

 ment of the whole penal code, the adoption of a more suitable pe- 

 riod than August for an exhibition, and an extension of the plan so as 

 to include engineering draughtsmen. The whole system of manage- 

 ment must also be revised, and the names of the managers published, 

 and with such amendments, we have no doubt that the plan being well 

 meant will meet with the strong support it highly merits. 



/JWi'mH Kmlron.ls.-llnisitU, Oct. 21.-M. NucI, Inspector ot brid-es and 

 highways, bas visileJ the whole sfclicin of the railway from Omirlray to 

 Tovu-nay. 'l liougl. llie buililinj;s are not laiishod, the road miy be opened 

 to Hie public on the 23i-.l <-f Ociobcr. Tlie Minisler of Public W orks «ill be 

 iiiesent at the (.peiiing. For ibe present there will be only two trains m .a. 

 (lay from Tournay to Brussels, and vice I'crsa. With respect to the section oi 

 Turco ns. it seems iha; a trial will be made on the first KUlaysot Noveinjer, 

 and that the inausuratiou will be on the lath, when the Kins has niMmiscd 

 to be present. The Fivneli trains have arrived at Lille ; there is therelore 

 nothinc to prevent the liains trom immediately be(;iimins to run ; but the 

 French train at present takes only p:isscn;;ers, aiul no r. mis. lliesecuon 

 ot St. Saulye will probably bo opened about I he same time. 



3 1 



