PROCEEDINGS OF THE POLYTECHNIC ASSOCIATION, 591 



The cold air being drawn off from the third room only, the warm 

 air passed through the other two rooms along the ceiling, being 

 buoyed up by the cold air in them, and entered and warmed the 

 third room. 



The President. — How do you ventilate cars? 



Col. Ruttan described the process for winter and also for sum- 

 mer ventilation, in each case the air being drawn from the lower 

 part of the car and being supplied above. 



Mr. Stetson said that, in the ordinary ventilation, taking the 

 air from the top of the room, as the heated air immediately rises 

 to the top of the room the lower part of the room is poorly 

 warmed.' In a car, he had found a thermometer to stand at 110° 

 at the top of the car and at zero at the bottom. While our heads, 

 therefore, suffer from the heat, our feet are cold. Col. Ruttan'a 

 process always takes out the ct»olest air in the room, which is 

 not only the greatest economy, but allows the room to be com- 

 pletely filled Avith the warm air. 



Mr. Johnson inquired what was the economy of fuel ? 



Col Ruttan stated that he was warming his house in Canada — 

 a two story house — at an expense of 25 cents per day, using coal 

 at $5.50 per ton. The ceilings were* altogether too high for that 

 climate ; for in a cold climate, they should never be higher than 

 9 feet. It takes considerably more than double the fuel to heat 

 a room 12 feet high than if it were 9 feet. The open stairway, 

 which is copied from southern Europe, is totally unsuitable for a 

 cold climate. Every staircase should be so closed as to prevent 

 the air from going up to warm portions of the house where the 

 heat is not required. With a close hall, low ceilings and a true 

 ventilation, you may defy the cold and the doctors too. 



Mr. Garbanati regarded the saving to the health as being by 

 far the most important advantage of the proposed system of ven- 

 tilation. It cannot be healthy to have the feet in an atmosphere 

 so much lower than that which surrounds the head. What is 

 needed is a system of ventilation which equalizes the heat, as this 

 system claims to do. 



COTTON AND SUBSTITUTES THEREFOR. 



The subject for the evening, the " Mechanical and chemical 

 properties of cotton, and substitutes therefor," was then taken up, 



Mr. Stetson. — The first reason why cotton is so extensively 

 used is its cheapness. Nature produces this fibrous material 



