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24 On the Construction of Buildings 
ward, that the improvements which have so fully satisfied the require- 
ments of health and comfort, as respects respiration and purity to the 
senses, also meet the necessities of the ear. We shall see that under 
the complete arrangement for atmospheric supplies, secured in modern 
provisions, this rather more remote requirement is completely fulfilled, 
a necessity of the highest moment, as regards that somewhat extensive 
class of edifices, assembly rooms and halls, in which distinct and easy 
elocution, or the completest delivery and reception af musical sounds 
and literary compositions, are the principal desiderata. 
‘Under the aids of forced ventilation, or that on which an independ- 
ent motive power is relied upon, all varieties of system require, as a 
condition of their full effect, the avoidance of any direct communica- 
tion with the outside air, by the closure of all windows or openings 
of the vocal performer. The most refined enjoyments of the musical 
art, the most persuasive and overpowering effects of eloquence, and 
the full weight of instructive attempts, thus mingle their claims for con- 
sideration in this useful science, as well as the more immediate and 
pressing demands of body and mind, for exemption from disease, pro- 
) ) 
longation of days, and the highest intellectual and moral exercises.” 
stant removal of the vitiated air and its immediate substitution 
by fresh supplies, the proposition now before us, is how most ef- 
fectually to accomplish this end, with a just regard to the acous- 
tic requirements which the uses of the structure demand. It is 
true we cannot, by any plan of artificial ventilation, fulfill all the 
conditions that would be desirable, for, as appears by the very 
nature of the case, there is required, in the room to be ventilated, 
a constant motion of the contaminated mass of air that its place 
may be filled with purer supplies from without, thus manifestly 
interfering with that state of absolute stillness and rest, which 
w 
can be made than exists in any hall for music of which we have 
knowledge. 
It is a beautiful provision in nature, whereby the noxious 
products of respiration and combustion are carried upward by the 
