94 THE "KEW FARCE." 



unclean things they emerged to fatten on the genius and 

 labour of earnest and honest men. " Cheapness " is a 

 snare in such matters as ventilation. Efficiency is the 

 only test of economy. The notorious " Kew experi- 

 ments" are a striking example of the pernicious effects of 

 tests being made by unqualified persons, the results of these 

 experiments having the effect of bringing sanitary science 

 into ridicule, and doing the cause an incalculable amount of 

 injury. 



The Times, in a withering criticism of these tests, says : 

 " The method of testing was incorrect, and therefore the 

 tests are valueless. . . . Neither in the case of either 

 of the cowls nor the tubes was their true value as extractors 

 ascertained." 



Mr. Boyle has had special reasons to study methods 

 of ventilation at small cost, because he has always been 

 deeply interested in providing healthier homes for the 

 crowded poor. He fully realized the very important fact 

 that they needed pure air more than their better-fed and 

 better-clothed brethren. The importance and urgency of the 

 matter was forcibly brought under his notice by Mr. Edwin 

 Chadwick, C.B., a sanitarian justly styled by Dr. Richardson 

 " the father of sanitary reform;" and Mr. Boyle resolved to 

 work out a scheme of ventilation which would meet the 

 requirements of the poorer class of dwellings. The result 



