TRANSACTIONS OF THE SECTIONS. ‘lil 
The remainder of the Address consisted of considerations, firstly, of the general 
usefulness and, secondly, of the educational value and applicability of the natural- 
history sciences. 
On the Ventilation of Barracks and other Public Buildings in India. By 
Srewarr Crarx, Inspector-General of Prisons in the North-west Provinces. 
All the barracks recently erected in India are well supplied with means for natural 
ventilation ; still, when occupied by the regulation number of men, the air during 
night-time is very impure. It has been shown that, in a tropical climate, natural 
ventilation will not proceed during certain atmospheric conditions; and however 
well any apartment may be supplied with doors, windows, &c.,no movement of the 
internal air sufficient to change the atmosphere will take place. Therefore venti- 
lation by artificial means must be resorted to; otherwise the inmates must suffer. 
It is evident that, on account of the climate, the peculiar construction of suitable 
buildings renders ventilation by heat or vacuum impracticable, and therefore the 
“plenum” is the only method by which the ventilation under consideration can be 
accomplished. Fresh air forced into an apartment may not, it is true, completely 
expel the foul; but if openings for the ingress of the air be judiciously arranged, 
the greater part of it will be got rid of by the open doors and ventilators, and what 
remains will be so completely diluted that no harm will come of inhaling it. An 
ordinary blower, 4' 9” x 2' 6", constructed on the eccentric principle, with a revolv- 
ing fan 3' 9" 2’ 5’, and worked by manual labour, will discharge (allowing even a 
broad margin for laziness on the part of the driver) 4000 cubic feet of air per minute, 
and will throw into two apartments 70’ x 20’ each, through forty suitably arranged 
openings, upwards of 2000 cubic feet of air per minute, being at the rate of more 
es double the quantity (estimated at 20 cubic feet per minute) generally con- 
sidered necessary for the complete removal of putrescent matters from soldiers’ 
dormitories. A number of plates accompanying the paper exhibited the plan of a 
barrack 70'X20', arranged with twenty beds, ventilated by forced ventilation, 
with sections and elevations of the whole apparatus, which the author had reason 
to believe was well adapted to the ventilation of soldiers’ barracks and other public 
buildings in hot climates. The whole apparatus is of the most simple kind: it can 
be erected and kept in perfect working order by any ordinary joiner. The apparatus 
now in use at the Agra Prison was erected entirely by the prisoners. The first one 
was constructed for a corridor of sixty-eight cells, and cost about £24 (240 rupees), 
including the cost of convict labour at the usual rates, Eight men are required to 
work each blower during twenty-four hours. Supposing the apparatus adjusted 
for two barracks, each arranged for twenty beds, so that the same blower will do 
for both, and cost at the usual contract rates £50 (500 rupees), or £1 5s, (12 
rupees 6 a.) per soldier for plant—the cost of working per mensem at 7s. (5 rupees 
8 a.) per coolie being £2 16s., or 28 rupees—the total cost per annum for each 
soldier, including wear and tear, &c., would not exceed £1, or 10 rupees. This 
will be admitted to be no large outlay for the benefits of good ventilation. Such 
an outlay, calculated on the aggregate of the European force in India, would 
amount to a very large item; but supposing that good ventilation would prevent 
at least one-half of the frightful sickness and mortality that take place in the 
Indian army, which he believed it would do, the balance-sheet at the end of the 
year would be in favour of improved ventilation, independently of the increased 
efficiency of the soldiers and of the army generally. 
On the Ligamentous Action of the Long Muscles in Man and other Animals. 
By Dr. Crevanp. 
The author pointed out that, in the human subject, maximum flexion of the hip- 
joint could not be obtained along with full extension of the knee, on account of the 
shortness of the hamstring muscles ; and so also maximum flexion of the ankle-joint, 
along with full extension of the knee, was prevented by the shortness of the gastro- 
cnemius muscle. This limitation of movements by the shortness of muscles, he said, 
was best seen in the humeral region of the horse, where it was so great that very little 
flexion or extension of the shoulder could occur without a corresponding movement 
