TBANSACTIONS OF SECTION G. 883 



beneficial results from a sanitary point of view ; and to the amenity of the districts 

 through which the river flows. (Illustrated with maps.) 



V. Drainage and sanitary appliances of dwelling-houses ; advantages derived in 

 having advanced sanitarians in Town Council ; measures adopted for securino- 

 freedom from risks of faulty drainage or defective sanitary appliances ; methods 

 of inspection ; sources of complaints ; evidence of appreciation on the part of tlie 

 citizens of the services of Sanitary Department ; extent to which this inspection 

 carried out during the last ten years ; cost of same ; further statutory powers 

 acquired in 1891 ; extent of increase of new houses during the last five years ; 

 inspection and certification of said new houses. 



VI. Edinburgh slums; characteristics; past schemes of city improvements; 

 necessity for Dr. Chambers's scheme, 1867; cost and beneficial results; methods 

 adopted by Town Council in following up Dr. Chambers's scheme ; work of volun- 

 tary societies in aid of work of Town Council ; results ; necessity for further 

 improvement ; proposals for new city improvement schemes ; account of various 

 schemes for providing houses for working classes. 



VII. Methods of collection ; removal and disposal of city refuse; staff"; present 

 means of disposal ; new method by cremation in coiu-se of preparation. (Illustrated 

 with map and plans.) 



VIII. General remarks on the growing requirements of city life. 



8. On the Extinction of Fires in Ships' Holds. By H. C. Carver. 



It is pointed out in the paper that the conditions peculiar to fires in ships' 

 holds and on land respectively difi'er widely, and that methods of extinction 

 valuable in the one case are comparative!}' useless in the other. Examples of this 

 are cited. 



It is practicable to establish throughout a ship's hold a plenum of an artificial 

 atmosphere deadly to fire ; and if such a plenum be maintained long enouo-h to 

 allow the heated materials of a fire to cool down to below their temperature of 

 ignition, the fire peril will be subdued with certainty. Unless, however, a plenum 

 of the artificial atmosphere be maintained, there is danger of fresh air leakin"- into 

 the hold, and keeping the fire alive. 



Numerous plans have been devised for putting into ships' holds fire-annihilatino- 

 gases, produced by chemical reaction, in quantities altogether insufficient for esta- 

 blishing a plenum. It appears to the author that such plans are unsatisfactorv, 

 not only owing to the failure to produce a plenum in the holds, but also because 

 shipowners would be unwilling to have their vessels constantly burdened with a 

 supply of special reagents large enough to yield a continuous production of gas for 

 days together. 



Owing to these objections, the author thinks that the efficient protection of 

 vessels against hold fires by the injection of an artificial atmosphere would be, 

 commercially speaking, impracticable, were there no means, other than the 

 employment of special chemical reagents, available for the purpose. 



Fortimately, in steamers at least, there are other means, always ready to hand, 

 which meet the requirements quite satisfactorily. For the boiler furnace fumes 

 are a fire-annihilating medium ; and the volume of these, flowing to waste from a 

 steamer at sea, is largely in excess of what is required for maintaining a plenum in 

 a hold. 



An apparatus applicable to steamers is described, for abstracting a sufficient 

 quantity of furnace fumes from their ordinary passages to the air, for cooling the 

 fumes by water to a temperature of 80° to 90° Fahr., and for forcino- them"into 

 the holds through pipes. The apparatus has no moving parts, and is set in action 

 by merely turning on three valves. 



The character of the apparatus, the unfailingness of the fumes supply, and the 

 efficacy of the fumes against fire combine to render the system a thoroughly 

 dependable one. 



The apparatus is so arranged that it can also be used for rapidly ventilatino- a 

 hold in an emergency. 



3 L 2 



