Ventilation with Heating. 79 



disagreeable necessity of passing them through the mill a second 

 time. Even Hibernian noses are not so much turned up that 

 they can shoot their breath above their heads like a locomotive, 

 but the stream goes steadily downwards to enrich the vegetation 

 on the ground ; — so, if the theory be correct, in a properly venti- 

 lated and heated building, the breath being expelled downwards 

 into the lower and colder descending strata, the slowly descend- 

 ing warmer strata should never giv'e it an opportunity of again 

 rising like a ghost to claim a home in, and trouble its former 

 abode. 



The heating of this school has a moral aspect worthy 

 of note. In the mechanical world we have a gas engine called a 

 "Domestic Motor." The little Sirocco Stove in this school 

 might very well be called a "Social Motor" of unknown power. 

 Scientific men have not yet attempted to form any accurate 

 measure of this kind of power. It has not a market value, unless 

 you can charge for tickets of admission. It draws a crowded 

 house a full hour before the engagements of the evening service 

 begin, seats in its neighbourhood are at a premium, while those 

 at a distance are not at all despised. It is a warm-hearted and 

 generous little stove, dispensing its benefits widely. 



We will now bring our thoughts nearer home to the Belfast 

 Soldiers' Home, where this theory of heating and ventilation is 

 in part carried out. As before, the fresh air is drawn through 

 the ventilators under the floor, which are larger and more 

 numerous than usual. It passes into the stove through an 

 ample hole. The outer casing of the stove being in contact 

 with the floor, no second-hand air from the inside of the house 

 can pass through. The stove can only deliver heat by bringing 

 in fresh air. The top of the stove is continued upwards by a 

 casing divided inside into four tubes, each having an area of a 

 square foot, and each being provided with a valve to close it, 

 or vary the quantity of hot air passed to each of the four rooms 

 in which they terminate. Two of chese rooms are on the 

 ground floor ; in these the hot pure air is delivered close under 

 the ceiling. In the two upper rooms immediately above these, 

 the hot air is delivered through gratings in the floor. 



