Proceedings of the Polytechnic Association. 895 



stance and condition being the same, the mortality, where the provi- 

 sion for respiration was good, amounted to fifteen in 1,000 ; where it 

 was very bad, it amounted to 108,6 in 1,000. Not only, then, does 

 theory teach ns that imperfect respiration induces disease, but also 

 these facts, and hundreds of others that might be cited, demonstrate 

 the same truth. True, the effects of bad ventilation may not exhibit 

 themselves in the form of cholera or putrid fever, but they must, and 

 do, manifest themselves in some other way, in slower diseased pro- 

 cesses. 



With all these facts confronting us, it would seem that science 

 might devise, and philanthropy apply, some means by which, in our 

 liomes, in our churches, in our school-houses, in all our public build- 

 ings, we could enjoy this necessary luxury of pure air. Various 

 methods have been attempted for the accomplishment of this end ; 

 but these attempts have been, till witliin a few years, perfect failures, 

 and the complaint of poor or no ventilation, almost universal. Yet the 

 principles upon which a perfect system of ventilation is based, are 

 very simple. Two things are necessary : First. Pure air must be 

 supplied in sufficient quantities. Second. The foul or impure air 

 must be removed. It is quite impossible to do one of these without 

 doing the other. You cannot introduce air into a room already filled 

 with air. You cannot remove the air from a room without admit- 

 ting something to take its place. 



TuE RuTTAN System. 



These simple principles above referred to are those on which Hon. 

 H. Ruttan's system of warming and ventilation is based. These are 

 the simple conditions observed. Cold air is admitted in abundance 

 to the " air warmer," where it is loarmed (not heated red hot, and its 

 life sustaining qualities vitiated), then rises, and is diffused through 

 the room, or rooms, by means of transoms near the ceiling ; while tlie 

 cold air, being heavier, falls to the floor, and escapes at or near the 

 bottom of the room, passes beneath the floor, and is collected into the 

 foul air shaft, and escapes into the outer air. 



Still, it is the almost universal practice to set furnaces, and provide 

 hot air pipes to conduct the heated air into a room, and make no pro- 

 vision whatever for the air to get out of the room, and, in most cases, 

 no cold air duct is provided to supply air to the furnace ; and yet men 

 expect to force a current of hot air from such heaters into a room, and 

 effectually warm it. Let any one thinh, only for a moment, that all 



