  It is both convenient and rational to commence this volume with a chapter on the conditions which should guide a man in the choice of his dwelling. Unfortunately there is scarcely any subject upon which ordinary people display more ignorance, or to which they pay so little regard. In the majority of instances a dwelling is chosen mainly with regard to its cost, accommodation, locality, and appearance. As to its being healthy or otherwise, no evidence is volunteered by the owner, and none is demanded by the intending resident. The consequences of this indifference are a vast amount of preventible sickness and a corresponding loss of money. The following remarks are intended to educate the house-seeker in the necessary subjects, being subdivided under distinct headings for facility of reference. SiteSite.—Of modern scientists who have studied the great health question, none has more ably treated the essentials of the dwelling than Dr. Simpson in his lecture for the Manchester and Salford Sanitary Association. This Association has done wonders in improving sanitation in the Midlands, and we cannot do better than follow Dr. Simpson’s teaching. Soil.—He insists, first of all, on the great importance of the soil being dry—either dry before artificial means are used to make it so, or dry from drainage. To this end some elevation above the surrounding land conduces. A hollow below the general level should, as a matter of course, be avoided; for to this hollow the water from all the adjacent higher land will drain, and if the soil be impervious the water will lodge there. It will thus be damp, and, as is well known, it will be a colder situation than neighbouring ones which are a little raised above the general level. Those who live where they can have gardens will find the advantage of the higher situation in its being much less subject to spring and early autumn frosts than the hollow just below. This is due not only to the former being damper, but to the fact that the heat of the ground on still nights passes off into space (is “radiated”) more rapidly than from the higher situation, where there is more movement in the air. The soil should not be retentive of moisture, as clay is when undrained; nor should it be damp and moist from the ground water (concerning which a few words will be said farther on), as is much alluvial soil, i.e. soil which has been at some former time carried down and deposited by rivers or floods. On the whole, sand or gravel, if the site be sufficiently elevated, is probably the best, as it allows all water to get away rapidly. Then come various rocks, as granite, limestone, sandstone, and chalk. Towns often present one specially dangerous, and therefore specially objectionable Trees.—Vegetation assists in rendering the soil healthy. Trees absorb large quantities of moisture from the soil, and sometimes, as in the case of the blue gum-tree of Australia, they seem even to do something more than this. It is said that the common sunflower of our gardens has a considerable influence in this way. Trees should not be crowded close to a house, as they keep off much sun, and so neutralise some of their good effects, but at a reasonable distance they are beneficial. Aspect.—The aspect of a dwelling will necessarily be made to vary with the climatic conditions of the locality in which it is situated. In northern latitudes, such as Great Britain occupies, we are rarely oppressed by sunshine, and need not seek special protection from it. We should rather be anxious not to be deprived too much of its genial and life-giving rays. On the other hand, we are often visited by bleak and bitter winds, and though a free circulation of air is desirable round a dwelling, there should be some shelter to break the violence of a cold prevailing wind. In the country, where in all probability there is no system of drainage for the district, we should be careful not to place the house so as to receive our neighbour’s drainage, nor that from our own outbuildings. In a town the situation should be as open as can be obtained. The wider the street and the greater the open space at the back the better, and the back-to-back houses should be avoided altogether. (Simpson.) As Eassie remarks, in one of the Health Exhibition Handbooks, aspect and prospect have very much to do with comfort in housebuilding, since a dwelling may be designed so as to fully command the scenery while its plan might be very ill-adapted to the prevalent weather, and the sun’s daily course. A house having a pleasant prospect may be a decidedly unpleasant dwelling if the rooms have been arranged without regard to the points of the compass. This will become quite evident from a careful study of the annexed representation of Prof. Kerr’s “aspect compass” (Fig. 1), which illustrates most clearly the direction and character of the prevailing winds of this country, and the sunny and shady quarters, the imaginary window of the dwelling occupying the centre of the circle. Obviously, as Eassie points out, the effects of aspect will not be the same on the inside and outside of the room. Looking from a window in the north, the prospect or landscape will be lighted from behind; to the spectator looking from the south, it will 1. Aspect Compass for Great Britain. The north-east aspect—next to the north—is best for a dining-room; it is better for the servants’ offices than even the north; and when an end window is wanted for a drawing-room, this forms no unpleasant aspect. Bedrooms which face north-east enjoy the morning sun, and during the summer range are agreeably cool at night. With regard The south-east aspect is most suitable for the best rooms of a house, because it escapes some of the east wind, and part of the scorching heat and beating rain of the south. It is admirably adapted, therefore, for a drawing-room or day-room, is the most pleasant aspect for bedrooms, and is best suited for the nursery or for the rooms of an invalid. The south-west aspect is the least congenial of all, because it is so open to a sultry sun and blustering winds. This aspect should never be chosen for a dining-room; in summer it is unpleasantly hot for bedrooms; and it is not suitable for a porch or entrance, on account of the driving rains which prevail during a portion of the year. The south aspect is not very desirable for the windows of a dining-room, and is unpleasant for a morning-room, unless a verandah has been provided. The larder and dairy should never face the south. The west aspect is not quite agreeable for a dining-room, on account of the excessive heat prevailing in the summer afternoons; neither is it desirable for the drawing-room; and it should never preferably be chosen for bedrooms, although it is very agreeable for a smoking-room. One side of a conservatory should always face to the west. The north-west aspect is very good for a billiard-room, also for a dining-room, if the windows are fitted up with blinds to shade the sun. ConstructionConstruction. Foundation.—Bearing in mind what Dr. Simpson has said as to the house acting as a suction pump, drawing up moisture and gases, often most noxious, from the soil on which it is built, it is clear that the foundation ought to be air-tight and water-tight; for besides the emanations due to the soil, we must remember that escape from the gas-pipes laid in the street is a very common occurrence, that sewers are apt to leak, and so the soil in the neighbourhood of houses may become saturated with filth. Fatal instances are known where coal gas and other foul vapours have been drawn, as it were, long distances and poisoned the air of a house or houses. The only way of guarding against this is to have the foundations, and some distance outside the foundations, laid in concrete. There should also be a space between the basement wall and the surrounding earth. No one, in Eassie’s opinion, would think of building a dwelling on a patch of ground without first removing the vegetable mould to some depth below the level of the floor; and however good the soil, it is very desirable to cover the site with a layer of concrete to keep out damp and bad exhalations. Rawlinson even advises a bed of charcoal below the concrete. Simpson insists that if a cottage floor has to be laid on the bare ground, there ought at least to be a bed of good concrete below the tiles. Cellars add to the dryness and healthiness of a house if the walls and floors are made impervious to air and water, and are properly ventilated. The walls of the house ought to have a damp-proof course to prevent the moisture rising in them. To show the importance of this, Simpson quotes a well-known fact, but one seldom thought of when we look at the brick walls of our houses. An ordinary well-baked brick, which is 9 in. long, 4½ in. broad, and 2½ in. deep, though apparently solid, is not really so. It contains innumerable minute spaces through which air may pass, and into which water may enter; and when it is soaked in the latter, and all the air is driven out, it will contain nearly 16 oz. (the old pint) of water. If one brick will retain in its pores so large a quantity, it is easy to see that a large wall may hold what most people would at first think an incredible amount. As Dr. de Chaumont says, “A cottage wall only 16 ft. long by 8 ft. high, and only one brick thick, might hold 46 gallons of water!” Walls may be made damp not only by water rising in them, but by rain driving 2. Damp Course and Area Wall. Another source of dampness in dwellings, as pointed out by Eassie, is to be found in the practice of building the house walls close against the earth, without taking the precaution to erect a blind area-wall between the house wall and the earth excavation. Fig. 2 exhibits both these important improvements—the damp-course and the area-wall—applied to the same dwelling: a represents the main wall of the house, and b the area-wall, which is built against the excavated subsoil, leaving the space c between the two walls; the thick black line underneath the floor-joist represents the damp-proof course, which interposes between the subsoil d, with the foundations built upon it, and the main wall of the house. This damp-proof course usually consists of a layer of pitch or asphalte, or slates bedded in cement, or specially glazed tiles, known as Taylor’s or Doulton’s manufactures. By the use of this impervious course, the upward passage of the ground water is effectually arrested. The intervening area c it is also well to drain, but this water should never drain into the soil drain, if avoidable, and certainly not until it has been thoroughly disconnected. There should always, also, be a current of air introduced from the outer air, by way of ventilators put at the top of the blind area c, and an air brick placed above or below the damp-proof course—preferably above—in order that the space between the ground and the joists or stone flooring of the basement may be thoroughly ventilated. This ventilation is shown by the arrows between e and e. Such air currents should always be provided under floors, whether there be a basement or not, and also always between the joists of the upper floors, and in the roof, in order to ward off dry-rot and ensure a constant circulation of air. (Eassie.) Roof.—The first detail to be decided on is the “pitch” or slope to be given to the roof, and this will depend both on the nature of the covering material and the character of the climate. In the tropics, where rain falls in torrents, a flat pitch helps to counteract the rush of water; in colder regions the pitch must be such as to readily admit of snow sliding off as it accumulates, to prevent injury to the framework by the increased weight. The pitches ordinarily observed, stated in “height of roof in parts of the span,” are as follows:—Lead, 1/40; galvanized iron or zinc, ?; slates, ¼; stone, slate, and plain tiles, 2/7; pantiles, 2/9; thatch, felt, and wooden shingles, ? to ½. In country districts the roofs of cottages and outbuildings are frequently covered with thatch. This consists of layers of straw—wheaten lasts twice as long as oaten—about 15 in. in thickness, tied down to laths with withes of straw or with string. A convenient roofing material when wood is cheap and abundant consists of a kind of “wooden slates,” split pieces of wood measuring about 9 in. long, 5 in. wide, and 1 in. thick at one end but tapering to a sharp edge at the other. Shingles, or wooden slates, are made from hard wood, either of oak, larch, or cedar, or any material that will split easily. Their dimensions are usually 6 in. wide by 12 or 18 in. long, and about ¼ in. thick. Roofing felt is a substance composed largely of hair saturated with an asphalte composition, and should be chosen more for closeness of texture than excessive thickness. It is sold in rolls 2 ft. 8 in. wide and 25 yd. long, thus containing 200 ft. super in a roll. Before the felt is laid on the boards (¾ in. close boarding), a coating composed of 5 lb. ground whiting and 1 gal. coal tar, boiled to expel the water, is applied, while still slightly warm, on the boards themselves; the felt is then laid on, taking care to stretch it smooth and tight, and the outside edge is nailed closely with ? in. zinc or tinned tacks. The most common application to a felt roof is simple coal tar brushed on hot and sprinkled with sharp sand. It is not well adapted to dwellings. Dachpappe is a kind of asphalte pasteboard much employed in Denmark; it is laid on close boarding at a very low pitch, and forms a light, durable covering, having the non-conducting properties of thatch. It is sold in rolls 2 ft. 9 in. wide and 25 ft. long, having a superficial content of 7½ sq. yd., at the rate of 1d. per sq. ft. When laid, it requires dressing with an asphalte composition called “Erichsen’s mastic,” sold at 9s. 9d. per cwt., 1 cwt. of the varnish sufficing to cover a surface of 65 sq. yd. Willesden paper is another extremely light, durable, and waterproof roofing material, which differs essentially from the 2 preceding substances in needing to be fixed to rafters or scantling, and requiring no boarding on the roof. It is a kind of cardboard treated with cuprammonium solution, and has become a recognized commercial article. It is made in rolls of continuous length, 54 in. wide, consequently, when fixing the full width of the card (to avoid cutting to waste), the rafters should be spaced out 2 ft. 1 in. apart from centre to centre, so that the edge of one sheet of card laid vertically from eaves to ridge will overlap the edge of the adjoining sheet 4 in. on every alternate rafter. By far the most important and generally used roofing material in this country is slate. Its splitting or fissile property makes it eminently useful as a roofing material, as, notwithstanding the fact that it is one of the hardest and densest of rocks, it can be obtained in such thin sheets that the weight of a superficial foot is very small indeed, and consequently, when used for covering roofs, a heavy supporting framework is not required. Slate absorbs a scarcely perceptible quantity of water, and it is very hard and close-grained and smooth on the surface; it can be laid safely at as low a pitch as 22½°. In consequence of this, the general introduction of slate as a roofing material has had a prejudicial effect upon the architectural character of buildings. The bold, high-pitched, lichen-covered roofs of the middle ages—which, with their warm tints, form so picturesque a feature of many an old-fashioned English country town—have given place to the flat, dull, slated roofs. The best roofing slate is obtained from North Wales, chiefly in the neighbourhood of Llanberis. Non-absorption of water is, of course, the most valuable characteristic; an easy test of this can be applied by carefully weighing one or two specimens when dry, and then steeping them in water for a few hours and weighing them again, when the difference in weight will of course represent Some architects bed the roofing slates in hydraulic cement, instead of having them nailed on dry in the usual way, which leaves them subject to be rattled by the wind, and to be broken by any accidental pressure. The cement soon sets and hardens, so that the roof becomes like a solid wall. The extra cost is 10 or 15 per cent., and it is good economy, considering only its permanency, and the saving in repairs; but, besides this, it affords great safety against fire, for slate laid in the usual way will not protect the wood underneath from the heat of a fire at a short distance. Tiles are much used in some districts, and are often made of a pleasant tint; but a great objection to all tiles is their porosity, which causes them to absorb much water, rotting the woodwork and adding to their own already considerable weight. Metallic roofing embraces sheet copper, sheet zinc, sheet lead, “galvanised” iron, and thin plates of “rustless” (Bower-Barff) iron. These materials are only used on flat or nearly flat spaces. Floors.—Tiles or flags are most frequently used for the floors of kitchens, sculleries, and lobbies. They serve this purpose very well, as they are easily washed and not likely to be injured, but the joints should be made impervious to moisture. In some parts of the country, concrete is used; this answers very well for the same purpose, but it is not good for bedrooms, as it is so cold to the feet. Wood makes the most comfortable floor for sitting or bed rooms, and the best is hard wood capable of bearing a polish. From its convenience and cheapness, common deal is used very generally, and too often in a damp and unsound state, so that the boards shrink and wide gaps are left between. This allows all the foul air from any space—as a cellar or a cavity between the floor and the soil—to ascend into the room. The boards ought to be as close together as possible, and any spaces left between them should be packed tightly with oakum. If this is done, the floors may be stained and varnished, when they can be swept and rubbed clean, and do not require such frequent washing as the ordinary unvarnished floors. This is an important gain, for there is no doubt that emanations rising with the damp from newly-washed floors are often most injurious. If a varnished floor is washed, it dries almost at once. Spaces must be left under the floors, on the ground level, if they are of wood, or they will soon decay; and they ought to be well ventilated. Ceilings, leaving a space between them and the boards of the room above, have come into use, most likely to deaden sound. They often fail of this, while affording fine playgrounds to mice, and even rats. Well-laid boards, of sufficient thickness, and plugged with oakum, would, as regards health, be preferable. (Dr. Simpson.) General Arrangement.—The chief points to be insisted on in a dwelling are enumerated by Simpson as follows:—Every room should obtain light and air from the outside, and there should be free communication from front to back, so that a current of air may pass through the house. What are called back-to-back houses are very objectionable, and to be carefully avoided. If there is a closet attached to the house, it should, as a matter of course, be ventilated by a window opening both above and below, and, if possible, should be built in a projecting wing or tower, and have double doors, with space between them for a window on each side, so as to have cross ventilation. When there is no closet in the house, it should be completely detached from it, and all piggeries, middens, &c., should be as far removed as possible. Speaking even of large houses, Eassie remarks that they are often very faultily planned in respect to the position in that portion of the interior which is usually appropriated to sinks and water-closets. In the basement, for instance, closets are often placed almost in the middle of the house, and the same mistake is committed on the floors above, a worse error by far; because then the closet would be placed on the landing of the stair opposite the best ground-floor, and chamber-floor rooms—the only ventilation from the closet-rooms being into the staircase, and consequently into the house. Precaution against Snakes entering Dwellings.—There is no regular system adopted to prevent snakes entering dwelling-houses in Ceylon, as it is of rare occurrence to find any but rat snakes in European dwellings, and these are not venomous; but it is usual to clear away a portion of space about each bungalow and put on sharp gravel, and also to have coir matting laid down upon the verandahs, as snakes dislike crossing over rough surfaces such as gravel and coir. Trees should be at such a distance from the house (or bungalow) as to prevent the possibility of snakes dropping from the branches on to the roof. Reducing Echoes and Reverberations.—The report of a committee of a WÜrtemberg association of architects upon the deadening of ceilings, walls, &c., to sound, gave rise to considerable debate, after which the following conclusions were reached. The propagation of sound through the ceiling may be most effectually prevented by insulating the floor from the beams by means of some porous light substance, as a layer of felt, a filling of sand, or of stone coal dust, the latter being particularly effective. It is difficult to prevent the propagation of sound through thin partitions, but double unconnected walls filled in with some porous material have been found to answer the purpose best. Covering the walls and doors with hangings, as of jute, is also quite serviceable. To those who carry on any operations requiring much hammering or pounding, a simple means of deadening the noise of their work is a great relief. Several methods have been suggested, but the best are probably these: 1. Rubber cushions under the legs of the work-bench. Chambers’s Journal describes a factory where the hammering of fifty coppersmiths was scarcely audible in the room below, their benches having under each leg a rubber cushion. 2. Kegs of sand or sawdust applied in the same way. A few inches of sand or sawdust is first poured into each keg; on this is laid a board or block upon which the leg rests, and round the leg and block is poured fine dry sand or sawdust. Not only all noise, but all vibration and shock, is prevented; and an ordinary anvil, so mounted, may be used in a dwelling-house without annoying the inhabitants. To amateurs, whose workshops are almost always located in dwelling-houses, this device affords a cheap and simple relief from a very great annoyance. Echoes are broken up by stretching wires across the room at about 4-5 ft. above the heads of the audience. Often there is strong echo from the windows, which is lessened by the use of curtains, but with some sacrifice of light. Very thin semi-transparent blinds would check echo a good deal, but architects should not have large windows in the same plane; large unbroken surfaces of any kind are very apt to reflect echoes, yet we constantly see rooms intended for public meetings so built as to be spoiled by the confusing echoes. Waterproofing Walls.—In many badly constructed houses with thin walls there is a tendency for damp to make its way into the interior. Several remedies for this inconvenience have been published at various times. The following procedure is described by a German paper as a reliable means of drying damp walls. The wall, or that part of it which is damp, is freed from its plaster until the bricks or stones are laid bare, next further cleaned off with a stiff broom, and then covered with the mass prepared as below, and dry river-sand thrown on as a covering. Heat 1 cwt. of tar to boiling-point in a pot, best in the open air; keep boiling gently, and mix gradually 3½ lb. of lard with it. After some more stirring, 8 lb. of fine brickdust are successively put into the liquid, and moved about until thoroughly disintegrated, which has been effected when, on dipping in and withdrawing a stick, no lumps adhere to it. The fire under the pot is then reduced, merely keeping the mass hot, which in that state is applied to the wall. This part of the work, as well as the throwing on of the river-sand against the tarred surface, must be done with the trowel quickly and with sufficient force. It must be continued until the whole wall is covered both with the tar mixture and the sand. An excellent asphalte or mortar for waterproofing damp walls or other surfaces is the following patented composition:—Coal tar is the basis, to which clay, asphalte, rosin, litharge, and sand are added. It is applied cold, and is extremely tenacious and weather-resisting. The area to be covered is first dried and cleaned, then primed with hot roofing varnish—chiefly tar. The mortar is then laid on cold with trowels, leaving a coat ? in. thick. A large area is then coated with varnish and sprinkled over with rough sand. To frost or rain this mortar is impervious. The cost is 5d. per sq. ft., and for large quantities 4d. In the case of stone walls the following ingredients, melted and mixed together, and applied hot to the surface of stone, will prevent all damp from entering, and vegetable substance from growing upon it. 1½ lb. rosin, 1 lb. Russian tallow, 1 qt. linseed-oil. This simple remedy has been proved upon a piece of very porous stone made into the form of a basin; two coats of this liquid, on being applied, caused it to hold water as well as any earthenware vessel. For brickwork, the Builder gives the following remedy:—¾ lb. of mottled soap to 1 gal. of water. This composition to be laid over the brickwork steadily and carefully with a large flat brush, so as not to form a froth or lather on the surface. The wash to remain 24 hours to become dry. Mix ½ lb. of alum with 4 gal. of water; leave it to stand for 24 hours, and then apply it in the same manner over the coating of soap. Let this be done in dry weather. Another authority says, coat with venetian red and coal tar, used hot. This makes a rich brown colour. It can be thinned with boiled oil. A Devonshire man recommends “slap-dashing,” as is often done in Devon. The walls are, outside, first coated with hair-plaster by the mason, and then he takes clean gravel, such as is found at the mouth of many Devonshire rivers, and throws—or, as it is called locally, “scats” it—with a wooden trowel, with considerable force, so as to bed itself into the soft plaster. You can limewash or colour to your liking, and your walls will not get damp through. Perhaps no application is cheaper or more efficacious than the following. Soft paraffin wax is dissolved in benzoline spirit in the proportion of about one part of the former to four or five parts of the latter by weight. Into a tin or metallic keg, place 1 gal. of benzoline spirit, then mix 1½ lb. or 2 lb. wax, and when well hot pour into the spirit. Apply the solution to the walls whilst warm with a whitewash brush. To prevent the solution from chilling, it is best to place the tin in a pail of warm water, but on no account should the spirit be brought into the house, or near to a light, or a serious accident might occur. The waterproofed part will be scarcely distinguishable from the rest of the wall; but if water is thrown against it, it will run off like it does off a duck’s back. Whilst it is being applied the smell is very disagreeable, but it all goes off in a few hours. On a north wall it will retain its effect for many years, but when exposed much to the sun, it may want renewing occasionally. Hard paraffin wax is not so good for the purpose, as the solution requires to be kept much hotter. Curing a Damp Cellar.—A correspondent inquired of the editor of the American Architect what remedy he would suggest for curing a damp cellar. The difficulty to be overcome, presents the questioner, in a new house is the wet cellar. Conditions present, concrete not strong enough to resist the hydraulic pressure through a clay soil. No footings under wall (which are of brick.) No cement on outside of wall. The water evidently, however, forces its way through the concrete bottom. (a) Will reconcreting (using Portland cement) resist the pressure of water and keep it out? (b) If not, will a layer of pure bitumen damp-course between the old and new concrete do the work? (c) Will it do any good to carefully cement the walls on the inside with rich Portland cement, say 3 ft. high, to exclude damp caused by capillary attraction through the brick wall? In reply to the above queries the editor gave the following hints, which are equally applicable to builders of new houses as to those occupying old houses with damp cellars: It is doubtful whether even Portland cement concrete would keep back water under sufficient pressure to force it through concrete made of the ordinary cement. The best material would be rock asphalte, either Seyssel, Neufebatel, Val de Travers, Yorwohle, or Limmer, any of which, melted, either with or without the addition of gravel, according to the character of the asphalte, and spread hot to a depth of ¾ in. over the floor, will make it perfectly water-tight. The asphalte coating should be carried without any break 18 or 20 in. up on the walls and piers, to prevent water from getting over the edge; and if the hydrostatic pressure of the water should be sufficient to force the asphalte up, it must be weighted with a pavement of brick or concrete. This is not likely to be necessary, however, unless the cellar is actually below the line of standing water around it. This, although an excellent method of curing the trouble, the asphalte cutting off ground air from the house, as well as water, will be expensive, the cost of the asphalte coating being from 20 to 22 cents (10-11d.) a sq. ft.; and perhaps it may not be necessary to go to so much trouble. It is very unusual to find water making its way through ordinary good concrete, unless high tides or inundations surround the whole cellar with water. If the source of the water seems to be simply the soakage of rain into the loose material filled in about the outside of the new wall, we should advise attacking this point first, and sodding or concreting with coal-tar concrete, a space 3 or 4 ft. wide around the building. This, if the grade is first made to slope sharply away from the house, will throw the rain which drips from the eaves, or runs down the walls, out upon the firm ground, and in the course of two or three seasons the filling will generally have compacted itself to a consistency as hard as or harder than the surrounding soil, so that the tendency of water to accumulate just outside the walls will disappear; while the concrete, as it hardens with age, will present more and more resistance to percolation from below. For keeping the dampness absorbed by the walls from affecting the air of the house, a Portland cement coating may be perhaps the best means now available. It would have been much better, when the walls were first built, to brush the outside of them with melted coal tar; but that is probably impracticable now. If the earth stands against the walls, however, the cement coating should cover the whole inside of the wall. The situation of the building may perhaps admit of draining away the water which accumulates about it, by means of stone drains or lines of drain tile, laid up to the cellar walls, at a point below the basement floor, and carried to a convenient outfall. This would be the most desirable of all methods for drying the cellar, and should be first tried. Construction for Earthquake Countries.—The conditions will vary somewhat according to the nature of the climate. R. H. Brunton, who was for many years resident lighthouse engineer in Japan, follows the principles enunciated by Mallet and Prof. Palmieri, giving the buildings weight and great inertia, coupled with a good bond between their various parts. Prof. Palmieri states that, although solidity and strength in a building do not afford perfect protection, still, so long as fracture does not occur, overthrow is impossible. Dyer states The city of Arequipa, Peru, is particularly liable to earthquakes, owing to its proximity to the great volcano, the Misti, 19,000 ft. in height above sea-level, the city being 7000 ft. above sea-level. The general construction of the houses is peculiar. A light coloured volcanic stone is largely used; this, when quarried, is easily shaped, and it hardens gradually. The roofs are for the most part strong arches, a very good mortar being used. In the earthquake of 1868, it was not so much those arches which failed as the walls, and the spandrels between the arches at front and rear. In some parts of the city, arches extending in one direction stood, while those at right angles to these were thrown down. Since 1868, a good many corrugated iron roofs have been introduced; but they are not suitable to the climate, and are not durable. Earnshaw, from an experience of 25 years in Manila, where the earthquakes are sometimes very severe, comes to the conclusion to build as strongly as possible, and chiefly in wood, tied and bolted together as in a ship, stone and brickwork only being used in the lower story and in the foundations, and especial attention ought to be paid to the quality of the lime and mortar used in construction. Many materials have been used as roofing, such as the heavy tiles made in the country and others imported there. When, in 1880, fully 60 per cent. of the buildings in Manila had been ruined, an order was issued by the municipal authorities to use corrugated iron or zinc sheeting for that purpose. A diversity of opinion existed as to which was the best and most suitable, for not only had earthquakes to be guarded against, but intense heat and disastrous typhoons. With reference to the latter, in 1881, sheets of iron were flying about in the air like paper. He thinks, therefore, that a light, strong tile roofing is preferable to any other. Prof. C. Clericetti, of Milan, and W. H. Thelwall relate that after the earthquake in the island of Ischia in 1883, which was of a most destructive character, and caused an enormous amount of damage in the island, 2000 persons having lost their lives, and many more being injured, a commission was appointed by the Italian Government to obtain information, and to frame rules for the rebuilding of the structures. It was ascertained that, speaking generally, buildings founded on hard, solid lava had withstood the shock successfully, whilst those founded upon looser or lighter materials, such as tufa or clay, had suffered very much, and therefore in regard to the re-erection of buildings it was pointed out that the first thing to do was to select eligible sites, and to build, wherever possible, upon lava; and, where that was not possible, to dig down to comparatively solid ground, and then fill in a heavy platform of masonry or concrete, 3 ft. or 4 ft. thick, extending over the whole area of the building, and projecting 3 ft. or 4 ft. beyond. The building of any kind of vaulting above ground was forbidden. Light arches were only to be allowed over window’s and openings of that kind. The heavy flat roofs formerly used to a large extent were condemned. The commission recommended that buildings should be chiefly constructed with an iron or wooden framework, carefully put together, joined by diagonal ties, horizontally and vertically, with spaces between the framework filled in with masonry of a light character. The Water Supply and PurificationWater Supply and Purification.—The supply of water to both town and country houses has been dealt with at length by Eassie and Rogers Field in essays written for the Health Exhibition Handbooks, and the following information is mainly condensed and adapted from their papers. The conditions of supply in the two cases differ in being from a general and public source in the one and from a special and private source in the other. In each case, the consumer has to control the purity and application of the supply after its delivery into the dwelling; and in the second case he is further responsible for the character and quantity of the supply before delivery. The second case, therefore, in a great measure covers the first, and demands extended treatment. Amount required.—The first consideration is the quantity of water required. The supply to towns from waterworks is usually expressed in “gallons per head of population per diem,” and varies exceedingly, much of the variation being due to waste. This is especially the case in towns where the supply is intermittent. In several towns having a constant supply, steps have been taken systematically to measure the water supplied to different streets and districts, and it has been found that, without restricting the supply in any way, the consumption of water has been immensely reduced, simply by sending inspectors to make a house-to-house visitation and search out and repair leaky pipes and defective taps and ball-cocks. It is by no means an unusual thing for the consumption to be reduced one-half by inspections of this kind, showing that at least one-half of the water which was previously supplied to the houses was simply wasted through leaky fittings. Many people are inclined to think that waste of this kind is not a bad thing, as it must help to keep the drains flushed. Field points out that this is quite a mistake. A small dribble of water from a leaky pipe or a leaky tap, though it will waste a great deal of water in the course of 24 hours, is perfectly useless for flushing the drains. What is wanted for this is the sudden discharge of a large quantity of water. The dribble of water from leaky pipes and taps does no good in any way, but simply wastes what might be usefully employed, and in many cases causes a supply to run short which would otherwise be ample for all legitimate uses. Another point that it is difficult to realise is the large quantity of water which will run to waste through what is apparently a very small leak. The quantity leaking looks so small in comparison with the quantity running when a tap is open, that one is inclined to think it perfectly insignificant, forgetting that the leakage goes on continuously night and day, whereas the tap is only open for a few minutes. In country houses, where it is often difficult to obtain a sufficient supply of water, it is particularly important to bear in mind the serious influence that leaky pipes and taps have on the consumption, and never to allow such leakage to go on for any length of time. While useless waste should be prevented, it is most important that the legitimate use of water should be encouraged in every way. As Dr. Richardson has well pointed out, absolute cleanliness, properly understood, is the beginning and the end of sanitary design, Sources of Supply.—Water for country houses is, in the vast majority of cases, derived from springs or wells. Rain-water collected from roofs is very frequently used as an auxiliary, and occasionally as the main supply. There are instances in which the supply is taken from streams or rivers, and even some in which water running off the surface of the ground is collected in “impounding reservoirs” (a mode often adopted for the water supply of towns); but these cases are exceptional, and attention will here be confined to springs, wells, and roof-water. The real source of all fresh water supply is rain. Springs and wells form no exception to this rule, though in their case the connection with the rainfall is not so clear at first sight as it is in the case of streams and open watercourses, because the passages by which the rain reaches springs or wells are not visible, and heavy rainfalls often have no apparent effect on their yield. In various parts of the country occur curious intermittent springs (locally called “bournes”), which burst out in some years and not in others, and the connection between which and the rainfall is still more obscure. Rain-water, before it issues from the ground as springs, accumulates in the porous strata beneath, and forms, as it were, large underground reservoirs; it is from these reservoirs that wells, sunk into the porous strata, derive their supply. The amount of rain varies enormously in different parts of the world, some districts being either absolutely rainless, or having only a very few inches of rain in the year, whereas others have some hundreds of inches in the year. Even in England itself there is considerable variation. The average rainfall for the whole country is about 30 inches a year, but the amount in different parts of the country varies from about 20 inches to nearly 200 inches a year. The eastern side of England, as Field remarks, has much less rain than the western side, and, roughly speaking, if a line be drawn from Portsmouth to Newcastle-on-Tyne, it will divide the country into a dry portion and a wet portion. The portion of the country on the east of this imaginary line will (with the exception of the south coast, which is wetter) have only 25 inches of rain or less, and the portion on the west of the line will have from 30 to 50 inches, with much larger amount in the Cumberland and Welsh mountains, and at Dartmoor. The rainfall of the wettest year is about double that of the driest year. This gives a very useful rule for roughly ascertaining the extreme rainfalls, which are really more useful for the purpose of water supply than the rainfall for an average year. The fall in the driest year may be assumed to be one-third less than the average, and for the wettest one-third more. Thus, with an average rainfall of 30 inches, the fall of the driest year would be 20 inches, and that of the wettest year 40 inches. A portion only of the total rain which falls is available for water supply, as there is always more or less loss. In the case of rain falling on roofs, the loss is comparatively From observations made on the amount of percolation in different cases, it has been found that the amount of percolation does not depend so much on the amount of rain as on the conditions under which it falls. By far the greater portion of the percolation takes place in winter and comparatively little in summer, the reason being that in winter the ground is wet, evaporation is small, and vegetation is inactive, so that a large proportion of the rain sinks into the ground; whereas in summer the reverse is the case, so that most of the rain is taken up before it can percolate. So great is the difference between summer and winter as regards percolation, that one may generally leave the summer rainfall altogether out of consideration, and assume that, in this country, it depends on the amount of rain which falls during the six months from October to March, whether the underground store of water will be fully replenished or not. The height of the accumulated underground water is indicated by the level at which water stands in wells: and it is found that this height varies considerably, the variations usually following a regular course: the water is generally lowest in October and November, it then rises till it reaches its highest point in February or March, and after this it falls slowly till the following autumn. A condition to be studied in selecting a spring as a source of water supply is its “seasonal” variation. As Field points out, a spring which will give an ample quantity of water in the winter may give an insufficient quantity in the autumn, so that the measurement of a spring in winter should never be depended on for determining whether it will do as a source of water supply. The only safe way is to wait till the autumn yield has been ascertained; even then an allowance must be made for the previous winter, if it has been a very wet one, the yield of the spring becoming abnormally high. Wells may be either shallow or deep. The latter are always preferable, but sometimes the former must be relied on. The great and serious danger in connection with shallow wells is their liability to pollution from cesspools and drains, whose liquid contents (fully as poisonous as the solid) filter through the surrounding soil and go to swell the volume of water in the well, especially if, as nearly always happens, the cesspool is much shallower than the well. In country villages, frequently the cesspools and wells are so intermixed that the entire bed of water is polluted, and hence all the wells are unsafe. But in isolated houses, if the well and cesspool are some distance apart, pollution of the well will depend chiefly on the direction of the movement of the underground water. If this movement is from the cesspool towards the well, the polluted water will flow towards the well; if the movement is in the contrary direction, the polluted water will flow away from the well. Hence Field’s caution, that before sinking a shallow well where sources of contamination are in the neighbourhood, the direction of the flow of the underground water must first be carefully ascertained, bearing in mind that it is not safe to assume that this flow is in the direction of the fall of the land, though it very frequently is so: if there is the slightest doubt, levels must be taken of the underground water in different places, and the source of contamination be accurately localised. Contamination from surface soakage can frequently be prevented by raising the top of the well above the adjoining ground, and paving the surface round the well with a slope so that the rain-water runs away from it. Norton Tube wells, which consist of an iron tube driven into the ground and surmounted by a pump, are useful for excluding surface pollution. If the pollution is sufficient to contaminate the subsoil and reach the underground water, no precautions that can be taken in constructing the well will keep the pollution out. Generally, deep wells are safer from contamination than shallow wells, but may still, under certain circumstances, be polluted. On the question whether a well which has been-polluted by a cesspool will become fit for use after the cesspool has been removed, no rule can be laid down. If the removal of the sources of pollution has been thorough, the well will frequently recover its purity; but under other circumstances the well may remain impure. As to the least distance between wells and cesspools compatible with safety, while the Local Government Board of London is content with 20-30 yards, Dr. Frankland insists on at least 200 yards. It would be more rational to forbid cesspools of all kinds; at the same time, possible leakages from drains, through injury or otherwise, must not be omitted from the estimate of risk of pollution. Again, the effect of increased demand upon the contents of the well at once extends the danger, because as the water in the well is lowered so is the area from which the well draws its supply increased, the ratio varying from 20 to 100 times the depression. Where a whole day’s supply is pumped at once into an elevated tank, the maximum figure will be reached. Those who intend sinking wells are advised first to read a little book by Ernest Spon, on the ‘Present Practice of Sinking and Boring Wells,’ 2nd edition, 1885. Rain-water collected from roofs forms a valuable auxiliary supply too often disregarded. In towns it is rarely pure enough for domestic use, but in country districts it is generally wholesome. A country resident thus describes the manner in which he utilises rain-water, falling upon an ordinary tin roof, covered with some sort of metallic paint, said to contain no lead, and flowing into a large cemented brick cistern, whence it is pumped into the kitchen. The cistern differs from the usual construction in this manner: across the bottom, about 3 ft. nearer one side than the other, is excavated a trough or ditch about 2 ft. wide and 2 ft. deep; along the centre of this depression is built a brick wall from the bottom up to the top of the cistern, and having a few openings left through it at the very bottom. The whole cistern, bottom, sides, and canal included, is cemented as usual, excepting the division wall. Upon each side of the wall, at its base, 6-12 in. of charcoal is laid, and covered with well-washed stones to a further height of 6 in., merely to keep the charcoal from floating. The rain-water running from the roof into the larger division of the cistern, passes through the stone covering, the charcoal, the wall, the charcoal upon the other side, lastly, the stones, and is now ready for the pump placed in this smaller part. It is much better that the water at first pass into the larger division, as the filtration will be slower, and the cistern not so likely to overflow under a very heavy rainfall. He has used this cistern for many years, and was troubled only once, when some toads made their entrance at the top, which was just at the surface of the ground, soon making their presence known by a decided change in the flavour of the water. If the house chances to be in a dusty situation, several plans will suggest themselves whereby a few gallons at the first of each rain may be prevented from entering the cistern. Should the house be small, and therefore the supply of water from its roof be limited, do not lessen the size of the cistern, but rather increase it, for with one of less capacity some of the supply must occasionally be allowed to go to waste during a wet time, and you will suffer in a drought, whereas a cistern that never overflows is the more to be relied upon in a long season without rain. Rainfall varies exceedingly in different places, and even in the same situation it is impossible to foretell the amount to be expected during any short period of time, but the most careful observations show that about 4 ft. in depth descends at New York and vicinity every year, or nearly 1 in. a week. If this amount were to be furnished uniformly every week, the size of a cistern need only be sufficient to contain one week’s supply, but we often have periods of 4 weeks without receiving the average of one, and we must build accordingly. The weekly average of 1 in. equals 1 cub. ft. upon every 12 ft. of surface, or 3. Rain-water Tank. In Fig. 3 a b c d show the excavation that must be made for the cistern, and supposing the diagram to exhibit, as it does, a section of the cistern, the receptacle for the water will be, when finished, taking the relative proportions of the different parts into consideration, just about 9 ft. wide and 4½ ft. deep. Of course, the excavation must be made greater in breadth and depth than the dimensions given, to allow for the surrounding walls and the bottom. The walls may be of brick, cemented within, and backed with concrete or puddled clay without, or of monolithic concrete; but the bottom, in any case, should be made of concrete. The trench e f g h running across the bottom of the cistern is 2 ft. broad and 2 ft. deep. In the middle of this opening is built up a 9 in. brick wall, or a party-wall of concrete, i k. Along the bottom of the wall openings l are left at intervals. The party-wall divides the entire space into the larger outer cistern m, and the smaller inner cistern n. Supposing the breadth from e to f to be 2 ft., and the wall 9 in., spaces of 7½ in. will be left on each side of the wall. These are filled to ¾ the height, or for 18 in., with lumps of charcoal, smooth pebbles, 1-3 in. in diameter, being laid along the top of the charcoal till the trench is filled up. The cistern is so constructed that the water from the roof enters m; it passes downwards through the stones and charcoal, as shown by the arrow at f, goes through the opening and forces its way upwards in the direction of the arrow at e into the cistern n, in which it rises to the level of the water in m, to be drawn thence for use by a small pump. Various modifications of this form of tank-filter will suggest themselves to readers possessing any mechanical genius. The great point is to prevent contamination from the soil by using good material and making sound work. Further, the overflow pipe of the tank must not communicate with any drain or sewer. 4. Rain-water Separator. Recently several inventors have introduced apparatus for separating rain-water from impurities. One of these, bearing the name of Roberts, is illustrated in Fig. 4. Its principle of action is to reject the first portion of the rain which falls (as it is this 4A. Rain-water Separator. Perhaps this affords as good an opportunity as any of drawing attention to the highly artistic rain-water heads that have lately been introduced by Thomas Elsley, of 32 Great Portland Street, W. These are made to suit every style of architecture and every variety of roof and guttering, and practically without limit as to size. Their quality is beyond praise. It is essential to bear in mind that rain-water is liable to exert considerable solvent action on lead, consequently pipes and cisterns of this metal must be avoided. The pipes may be of iron, or of specially lead-encased block-tin, and the cisterns of “galvanised” iron or slate. As Eassie has pointed out, there is much to be considered in the arrangement of rain-water pipes from a sanitary point of view, where a separator and storage tank are not in use, because the foul air delivered from them is sucked into the rooms near the roof, on which the sun’s heat pours. A fire lighted in a room develops the same danger when the rain-water pipe terminates near the windows of the room. Another danger accruing from rain-water pipes which connect directly with the drain is due to the fact that the joints of the iron rain-water pipes are seldom air-tight, and foul air is therefore often driven or sucked into the rooms when the windows are open. It is easy to imagine how dangerous this must be in houses which have been fitted up with iron (or even lead) rain-water pipes running down the interior walls, and having their terminations close to a dormer window, skylight, or staircase ventilator on the roof, with the foot of the rain-water pipe taken direct into a drain leading to a town sewer. But the risk is greatly increased when the rain-water pipes are connected with a closed cesspool, to which the rain-water pipe is acting as a ventilator. When rain-water pipes deliver into the drain directly, they are often made to act as soil pipes from the closets, in which case the evil is intensified. The soil from the closets is apt to adhere to the interior of the pipe, generally on the side opposite to that traversed by the rain-water, and the poisonous smell escapes at any bad joints and always at the roof orifice. When the rain-water pipe is of cast iron, other sources of danger are present if the pipe is used also for conveying soil from a closet. Unless the rim of the soil pipe from the closet is joined to the rain-water pipe by a proper cast-iron socketed joint, the connection must be made by means of a piece of lead pipe which receives the soil pipe, and the joint between the lead soil pipe and the upper and lower parts of the cast-iron pipe cannot be properly soldered. Here sometimes grievous calamity follows cases where the combined pipe is ventilating the drain and sewer; the pipe joints are frequently open, and when the windows are unclosed for ventilation the foul air is whisked into the 5. Outlet of Rain-water Pipes. All rain-water pipes should deliver into the open air, and have no connection with the drains, except when they are disconnected. They should discharge their contents over a gully grating as at a, Fig. 5, or underneath the grating as at b, the ends of the pipes in both cases being in the open air. Every householder should insist upon this being carried out. But occasionally the rain-water pipes descend inside the house and there is no open yard where a disconnecting gully can be fixed. In such a case a separate drain should be laid to the nearest area or yard, and separation ensured. In laying down new drains in a house, where the rain-water pipes must descend in the interior, it will be better to provide a separate or twin drain to the nearest open-air space. Provision must be made at the roof for keeping foreign matters out of the rain-water pipes. Leaves, soot, and dirt will accumulate round the pipe orifices, and very often will cause the gutter to be flooded during a storm. The usual way to avert this is to fix over the opening of the pipe in the bottom of the gutter a galvanised open wire half-globe, or a raised cap of thick lead pierced with tolerably large holes. The cost for this is trifling, but the value is great. Whenever rain-water pipes must run down the inside wall of a house, lead should be adopted. Sometimes rain-water pipes are taken down in the interior, when a very little initial study could have brought them to the exterior face of a wall—where alone they should be taken, whenever it is possible to do so. On attic roofs, and where only one side of the house can be used for the attachment of rain-water pipes, the water from one side is brought across the roof by means of a “box” gutter of wood, lined at the bottom and sides with lead or zinc, and covered with a board. This often emits a very foul smell, owing to the accumulation of decaying matter. When such guttering cannot be avoided, it should occasionally—say once a week—be carefully cleaned out. The same matters will sometimes silt up and stop the gullies, shown at the foot of the rain-water pipes (Fig. 5), hence it is equally necessary to see that these traps are cleaned out, say monthly. Rain-water pipes are often made the waste pipes of lavatories, baths, sinks, and slop-pails. When properly disconnected at the foot, in the open air, and when the top of the rain-water pipe does not terminate under a window of an inhabited room, this does not much matter; but when the court-yard is limited in area, and there is a window belonging to a living or sleeping room just overhead, where the rain from the roof delivers itself into the upright pipe, an offence will arise from the decomposing fats of soap, which form a slimy mess adhering to the interior of the pipe, that no amount of rainfall will dislodge. Cisterns.—Cisterns should be in a cistern-room if possible, but, at all events, placed where they can be got at, covered over with suitable fittings, and ventilated to the open air. A drinking-water cistern should never be placed in a water-closet, for no amount of disconnection in such a case will suffice to counteract its evil surroundings. Neither should it be placed in a bath-room, which is liable to a steam-laden atmosphere. Nothing can be said against a site out of doors, on the flats, or below (if away from dustbins and ash-heaps); but in such cases the cistern, with its service pipes, should be Eassie’s strictures with regard to cisterns apply equally to those feed cisterns which supply hot-water circulating cisterns or boilers where water is heated for kitchen, scullery, still-room, or bath-room uses. It is too common to find the feed cistern, which is the small iron cistern that automatically keeps the kitchen or other basement boiler full, placed in the darkest corner of the commonest stowaway cupboard, with its overflow pipe joined to the drain. The materials of which cisterns are constructed vary much in town and country. In old houses will be frequently found cisterns formed of slabs of stone, just as they have been raised from the quarry, and sometimes of slabs of rough slate, and than these, provided they are regularly cleaned out and the waste pipes disconnected, probably no better basement cistern could be found. The same might perhaps be said of brickwork cemented inside. Cisterns composed of slate possess a drawback in their weight, which sometimes prevents them from being adopted upstairs. It has become a frequent practice now to have them enamelled white inside, so that the slightest discoloration of the water, or sediment at the bottom, can be instantly detected. Cisterns composed of metal throughout embrace old cisterns of cast lead, dated early in the 18th century; these are quite harmless, on account of their natural silver alloy, and they may be trusted, all other conditions being satisfactory. Cast-iron cisterns, made of plates bolted together, if kept full, and not subject to rust, are unobjectionable. Wrought iron, which has afterwards been “galvanised,” is a very common form of cistern, and appears to be the cheapest. Little can be said in its disfavour, although experiments made in America have proved that some waters attack the inner coating. The commonest form of cistern is composed of wooden framing lined inside with sheet lead. This is not the best for storing drinking-water, and slate would be preferable; but no one would say that all water drawn from leaden cisterns would injuriously affect health. The interior of a lead-lined cistern will be found to acquire a whitish coating, and it is due to this chemical alteration of its surface that the contained water can be drunk with more or less impunity. Nevertheless, there are some waters which very readily attack lead, and care should be exercised in this respect. In cleaning out a lead cistern the surface should never be scraped, but simply washed down with a moderately hard brush. Sometimes houses are provided with zinc-lined wooden cisterns; this metal for several reasons is one of the worst materials for water storage, and should never be used for drinking-water. Neither should wooden butts or barrels be employed for storing water anywhere in a house, as they speedily become lined with a low vegetable growth detrimental to health. A great mistake consists in storing away a great quantity of water in abnormally large cisterns, in consequence of which the tap is drawing off for a very long period the water first delivered to it, and which is not the cleanest water. This does not so much matter in cisterns which supply closets or baths, but it is reprehensible when the water is for the bedroom decanter and the nursery. Pipes.—Pipes for conveying water are generally of lead, because it is more easily bent than any other metal; but frequently iron pipes are substituted when the water main has to be brought from a great distance. Eassie remarks that the conveyance of some waters in long lengths of leaden pipe, in which the water must necessarily stand, and the use of leaden suction pipes in wells, is not a thing to be looked upon with great favour. Hence it is that galvanised iron pipes are used by some, and in the case of Leaden pipes, of sufficient weight per lineal foot, may fitly conduct the flushing water for closets and the cold water to baths and lavatories; but what is called “lead-encased block-tin pipe” should be used in conveying water from the separate drinking-water cistern. The cost is some 50 per cent. more than for leaden pipe, and there is more difficulty in making the joints, but these points are overbalanced by the certainty of non-pollution of the water. Water pipes should be fixed in separate wall chases, easy of access. Service pipes should also be kept separate from each other, and provided with proper stop-cocks in case of accident. Pumps.—It will not be out of place here to offer a few remarks on the construction, capacity, and working of the 3 kinds of common pump in everyday use—i.e. (1) the lift-pump; for wells not over 30 ft. deep, (2) the lift and force, for wells under 30 ft. deep, but forcing the water to the top of the house, and (3) the lift and force, for wells 30-300 ft. deep. The working capacity of a pump is governed by the atmospheric pressure, which roughly averages 15 lb. per sq. in. It is also necessary to remember that 1 gal. of water weighs 10 lb. The quantity of water a pump will deliver per hour depends on the size of the working barrel, the number of strokes, and the length of the stroke. Thus, if the barrel is 4 in. diam., with a 10 in. stroke, piston working 30 times a minute, then the rule is—square the diameter of the barrel and multiply it by the length of stroke, the number of strokes per minute, and the number of minutes per hour, and divide by 353, thus:— 42 in. × 10 in. stroke × 30 strokes × 60 minutes 353 = 815 gal. per hour. About 10 per cent. is deducted for loss. The horse-power required is the number of lb. of water delivered per minute, multiplied by the height raised in ft., and divided by 33,000. Thus:— 815 gal. × 10 lb. × 30 ft. lift = 7·4 H.P. 33,000 6. Lift Pump. Fig. 6 shows a vertical section of the simple lift-pump. a is the working barrel, bored true, to enable the piston or bucket b to move up and down, air-tight. The usual length of barrel in a common pump is 10 in. and the diameters are 2, 2½, 3, 3½, 4, 5, and 6 in.; a 3 in. barrel is called a 3 in. pump. The stroke is the length of the barrel; but a crank, 5 in. projection from the centre of a shaft, will give a 10 in. stroke at one revolution; but in the common pump shown, use is made of a lever pump handle, whose short arm c d is about 6 in. long, and the long arm or handle d e is usually 36 in., making the power as 6 to 1; f is the fulcrum or prop. Improved pumps have a joint at f, which causes the piston to work in a perpendicular line, instead of grinding against the side of the barrel. The head g of the pump is made a little larger than the barrel, to enable the piston to pass freely to the barrel cylinder; in wrought-iron pumps, the nozzle is riveted to the heads, and unless the head is larger than the barrel these rivets would prevent the piston from passing, and injure the leather packing on the bucket. The nozzle h, fixed at the lower part of head, is to run off the water at each rise of the piston. There is 1 valve i at the bottom of the barrel, and another in the bucket b. The suction pipe k should be ? the diameter of the pump barrel. A rose l is fixed at the end of the suction pipe to keep out any solid matter that might be drawn into the pump and stop the action of the valves. The suction pipe must be fixed with great care. Many plumbers prefer lead pipe, so that they can make the usual plumbers’ joint. The tail m of the pump is for fixing the suction pipe on a plank level with the ground. Stages n are fixed at every 12 ft. in a well; the suction pipe is fixed to these by a strap staple, or the action of the pump would damage the joints. There are two plans for fixing the suction pipe; (1) in a well o directly under the pump; (2) the suction pipe p may be laid in a horizontal direction, and about 18 in. deep under the ground (to keep the water from freezing in winter) for almost any distance to a pond, the only consideration being the extra labour of exhausting so much air. In the end of such suction pipe p it is usual to fix an extra valve, called a “tail” valve, to prevent the water from running out of the pipe when not in use. The action is simply explained. First raise the handle e, which lowers the piston b to i; during this movement the air that was in the barrel a is forced through the valve in the piston b; when the handle is lowered, and the piston begins to rise, this valve closes and pumps out the air; in the meantime the air expands in the suction pipe k, and rises into the barrel b through the valve i; at the second stroke of the piston this valve closes and prevents the air getting back to the suction pipe, which is pumped out as before. After a few strokes of the pump handle, the air in the suction pipe is nearly drawn out, creating what is called a vacuum, and then as the water is pressed by the outward air equal to 15 lb. on the sq. in., the water rises into the barrel as fast as the piston rises: also the water will remain in the suction pipe as long as the piston and valves are in proper working order. The following table of dimensions for hand-worked simple lift-pumps will be found useful:—
7. Lift and Force Pump. 8. Deep-well Pump. Fig. 7 shows a lift- and force-pump suitable for raising water from a well 30 ft. deep, and forcing it to the top of a house. The pump barrel a is fixed to a strong plank b, and fitted with “slings” at c to enable the piston to work parallel in the barrel, a guide rod working through a collar guiding the piston in a perpendicular position, d is the handle. The suction pipe e and rose f are fixed in the well g as already explained. At the top of the working barrel is a stuffing-box h, filled with hemp and tallow, which keeps the pump rod water-tight. When the piston is raised to the top of the barrel, the valve i in the delivery pipe k closes, and prevents the water descending at the down-stroke of the piston. The valve in the bucket l, also at m in the barrel a, is the same as in the common pump. The pipe k is called the “force” for this description of pump. Fig. 8 shows a design for a deep-well pump, consisting of the usual fittings—viz. a brass barrel a, a suction pipe with rose b, rising main pipe c, well-rod d, wooden or iron stages e f g, and clip and guide pulleys h. The well-rod and the rising main must be well secured to the stages, which are fixed every 12 ft. down the well. An extra strong stage is fixed at i, to carry the pump—if of wood, beech or ash, 5 ft. × 9 in. × 4 in.; the other stages may be 4 in. sq. The handle is mounted on a plank k fitted with guide slings, either at right angles or sideways to the plank. The handle l is weighted with a solid ball-end at m, which will balance the well-rod fixed to the piston. By fixing the pump barrel down the well about 12 ft. from the level of the water, the pump will act better than if it were fixed 30 ft. above the water, because any small wear and tear of the piston does not so soon affect the action of the pump, and therefore saves trouble and expense, as the pump will keep in working order longer. It is usual to fix an air-vessel at n. The valves o are similar to those already described. In the best-constructed pumps, man-holes are arranged near the valves to enable workmen to clean or repair the same, without taking up the pump. Every care should be given to make strong and sound joints for the suction pipe and delivery pipe, as the pump cannot do its proper duty should the pipes be leaky or draw air. To find the total weight or pressure of water to be raised from a well, reckon from The operations of plumbing and making joints in pipes will be found fully described and illustrated in ‘Spons’ Mechanics’ Own Book’; and many other methods of raising water for household and agricultural purposes are explained in ‘Workshop Receipts,’ 4th series. Purification.—At a recent meeting of the Institution of Civil Engineers, Prof. Frankland read a paper dealing with the question of water purification, in which he remarked that the earliest attempts to purify water dealt simply with the removal of visible suspended particles; but later, chemists have turned their attention to the matters present in solution in water. Since the advance of the germ theory of disease, and the known fact that living organisms were the cause of some, and probably of all, zymotic diseases, the demand for a test which should recognise the absence or presence of micro-organisms in water had become imperative. It was, however, only during the last few years that any such test had been set forth, and this was owing to Dr. Koch, of Berlin. By this means the only great step which had been made since the last Rivers Pollution Commission had been achieved. It had been supposed that most filtering materials offered little or no barrier to micro-organisms; but it was now known that many substances had this power to a greater or less degree. It had also been found that, in order to continue their efficiency, frequent renewal of the filtering material was necessary. Vegetable carbon employed in the form of charcoal or coke was found to occupy a high place as a biological filter, although previously, owing to its chemical inactivity, it had been disregarded. Being an inexpensive material, and easily renewed, it was destined to be of great service in the purification of water. Experiments were also made by the agitation of water with solid particles. It was found that very porous substances, like coke, animal and vegetable charcoal, were highly efficient in removing organised matter from water when the latter came in contact with them in this manner. Also, it was found that the well-known precipitation process, introduced by Dr. Clark, for softening water with lime, had a most marked effect in removing micro-organisms from water. In the case of water softened by this process, it was found that a reduction of 98 per cent. in the number of micro-organisms was effected, the chemical improvement being comparatively insignificant. Water which had been subjected to an exhaustive process of natural filtration had been found to be almost free from micro-organisms. Thus, the deep-well water obtained from the chalk near London contained as few as eight organisms per cubic centimetre, whereas samples of river water from the Thames, Lea, and Wey had been known to contain as many thousands. The same well-known authority on water published the following statements in the Nineteenth Century. He described the subject of domestic filtration as one which, in a town with a water supply like that of London, possesses peculiar interest, and is of no Of the substances in general use for the household filtration of water, spongy iron and animal charcoal take the first place. Both these substances possess the property of removing a very large proportion of the organic matter present in water. They both, in the first instance, possess this purifying power to about an equal extent; but whereas the animal charcoal very soon loses its power, the spongy iron retains its efficacy unimpaired for a much longer time. Indeed, in spongy iron we possess the most valuable of all known materials for filtration, inasmuch as, besides removing such a large proportion of organic matter from water, it has been found to be absolutely fatal to bacterial life, and thus acts as an invaluable safeguard against the propagation of disease through drinking-water. It is satisfactory to learn that in countries where the results of scientific research more rapidly receive practical application than is unfortunately the case amongst us, spongy iron is actually being employed on the large scale for filtration where only a very impure source of water supply is procurable. This refers to the recent introduction of spongy-iron filter beds at the Antwerp waterworks. It would be very desirable that such filter beds should be adopted by the London water companies until they shall abandon the present impure source of supply. Animal charcoal, on the other hand, far from being fatal to the lower forms of life, is highly favourable to their development and growth; in fact, in the water drawn from a charcoal filter which has not been renewed sufficiently often, myriads of minute worms may frequently be found. Thus spongy iron enables those who can afford the expense to obtain pure drinking-water even from an impure source; but this should not deter those interested in the public health from using their influence to obtain a water supply which requires no domestic filtration, and shall be equally bright and healthful for both rich and poor. In a publication by Prof. Koch (Med. Wochenschrift, 1885, No. 37) on the scope of the bacteriological examination of water, it is asserted that a large proportion of micro-organisms proves that the water has received putrescent admixtures, charged with micro-organisms, impure affluxes, &c., which may convey, along with many harmless micro-organisms, also pathogenous kinds, i.e. infectious matters. Further, that as far as present observations extend, the number of micro-organisms in good waters ranges from 10 to 150 germs capable of development per c.c. As soon as the number of germs decidedly exceeds this number the water may be suspected of having received affluents. If the number reaches or exceeds 1000 per c.c., such water should not be admitted for drinking, at least in time of a cholera epidemic. Dr. Link has lately examined a great number of the Dantzig well-waters chemically and bacterioscopically. The results obtained agree, however, very ill with the above opinions of Koch. On the contrary, it appears very plainly that regular relations between the chemical results and those of the bacterioscopic examination do not obtain. Many well-waters, chemically good and not directly or indirectly accessible to animal pollutions, often contained considerable numbers of microbia, whilst other waters, chemically bad and evidently contaminated by the influx of sewage, showed very small numbers of bacteria undergoing development. If we further consider that, by far the majority, The attempt to put forward bacterioscopic examination as a decisive criterion for the character of a water is therefore devoid of a satisfactory basis. For the present, Dr. Link thinks the decision must be left to chemical analysis. At any rate it is doubtful whether the test of the number of micro-organisms should determine the question whether a water is or is not safe to drink. Dr. Koch’s gelatine peptone test has enabled the analyst to recognise the absence or presence of microphytes; but, as was stated at a recent meeting of the Society of Medical Officers of Health, a sample of river water which might be marked “very good” by this test would develop an enormous number of colonies if kept for a few days, even in a “sterilised flask” protected from aerial infection. Prof. G. Bischof says, in fact, that a sample of New River water kept for six days in the above manner compares unfavourably as regards the number of “colonies” with a sample taken from the company’s main and polluted with one per cent. of sewage, or with a sample of Thames water taken at London Bridge. It seems certain too that the water stored on board ship must develop an enormous number of “colonies”; but no special amount of disease is attributable to them, and it would seem to follow that, unless the number of microphytes can be shown to indicate, or to be a measure of, pollution, Koch’s test is of little utility except as a guide to waterworks’ engineers, by pointing out that the filters want cleaning. In the laboratory the test is no doubt of considerable value; but in analysing water it must be applied with discrimination, and waters of a totally different character should not be compared by the number of organisms. For instance, the water from Loch Katrine might contain large numbers of micro-organisms, and yet be perfectly safe as compared with a water in which few microphytes could be found, but which had been accidentally polluted by some of those pathogenous germs which undoubtedly exist, and which produce disease when they find a suitable environment. Not until we are able to discriminate between the harmless and the disease-producing microphytes, shall we be able to test a water supply and declare it practically pure. The foregoing paragraphs will suffice to show what a very unsatisfactory state our present knowledge of water is in. The only useful fact to be deduced from all the argument is that every household should filter its own drinking-water and take care that the filters are always kept clean and in good working order. There is one simple test for the purity of water, introduced by Dr. Hager in 1871, consisting of a tannin solution, directions for which will be found in the Housekeeper’s section. It remains to notice the chief kinds of filter. Filtration is destined to perform three distinct functions, at least where the water is required for domestic use; these are (1) to remove suspended impurities; (2) to remove a portion of the impurities in solution, and (3) to destroy and remove low organic bodies. The first step is efficiently performed by nature, in the case of well and spring water, by subsidence and a long period of filtration through the earth; in the case of river water supplied by the various companies, it is carried out in immense settling ponds and filter beds of sand and gravel. This suffices for water destined for many purposes. The second and third steps are essential for all drinking-water, and are the aim of every domestic filter. The construction of water filters may now be discussed according to the nature of the filtering medium. Gravel and Sand.—The usual plan adopted by the water companies is to build a series of tunnels with bricks without mortar; these are covered with a layer of fine gravel 2 ft. thick, then a stratum of fine gravel and coarse sand, and lastly a layer of 2 ft. of fine sand. The water is first pumped into a reservoir, and after a time, for the subsidence of the coarser impurities, the water flows through the filter beds, which are slightly lower. For the benefit of those desirous of filtering water on a large scale with sand filtering beds, it may be stated that there should be 1½ yd. of filtering area for each 1000 gal. per day. For effective work, the descent of the water should not exceed 6 in. per hour. This simple means of arresting solid impurities and an appreciable portion of the matters in solution, may be applied on a domestic scale, in the following manner. Procure an ordinary wooden pail and bore a number of ¼ in. holes all over the bottom. Next prepare a fine muslin bag, a little larger than the bottom of the pail, and about 1 in. in height. The bag is now filled with clean, well-washed sand, and placed in the pail. Water is next poured in, and the edges of the bag are pressed against the sides of the pail. Such a filter was tested by mixing a dry sienna colour in a gallon of water, and, passing through, the colour was so fine as to be an impalpable powder, rendering the water a deep chocolate colour. On pouring this mixture on to the filter pad and collecting the water, it was found free of all colouring matter. This was a very satisfactory test for such a simple appliance, and the latter cannot be too strongly recommended in cases where a more complicated arrangement cannot be substituted. The finest and cleanest sand is desirable, such as that to be purchased at glass manufactories. This filter, however, at its best, is but a good strainer, and will only arrest the suspended particles. In a modern filter more perfect work is required, and another effect produced, in order that water containing objectionable matter in solution should be rendered fit for drinking purposes. Many persons when they see a water quite clear imagine that it must be in a good state for drinking. They should remember, however, that many substances which entirely dissolve in water do not diminish its clearness. Hence a clear, bright water may, despite its clearness, be charged with a poison or substances more or less injurious to health; such, for instance, as soluble animal matter. To make a perfect filter, which should have the double action of arresting the finest suspended matter and removing the matters held in solution, and the whole to cost but little and capable of being made by any housewife, has long been an object of much attention, and, after many experiments and testing various substances in many combinations, the following plan is suggested as giving very perfect results, and costing only about 8s. Purchase a common galvanised iron pail, which costs 2s. Take it to a tin-shop and have a hole cut in the centre of the bottom about ¼ in. diameter, and direct the workman to solder around it a piece of tin about ¾ in. deep, to form a spout to direct the flow of water downward in a uniform direction. Obtain about 2 qt. of small stones, and, after a good washing, place about 2 in. of these at bottom of pail to form a drain. On this lay a partition of horse-hair cloth or Canton flannel cut to size of pail. On this spread a layer of animal charcoal, sold by wholesale chemists as boneblack at about 5d. a lb. Select this about the size of gunpowder grains, and not in powder. This layer should be 3 or 4 in. A second partition having been placed, add 3 in. of sand, as clean and as fine as possible. Those within reach of glassmakers should purchase the sand there, as it is only with that quality of sand that the best results can be obtained. On this place another partition, and add more fine stones or shingle—say for 2 or 3 in. This serves as a weight to keep the upper partition in place, and completes the filter. By allowing the filtration to proceed in an upward instead of a downward direction much better results are obtained. Charcoal, simple.—All kinds of charcoal, but especially animal charcoal, are useful in the construction of filters, and have consequently been much used for that purpose. Charcoal, as is well known, is a powerful decolorising agent, and possesses the property in a remarkable degree of abstracting organic matter, organic colouring principles, and gaseous odours from water and other liquids. It has been shown that it deprives liquids, for example, of their bitter principles, of alkaloids, of resins, and even of metallic salts, so that its usefulness as a medium through which to pass any suspected water is undoubted. The one point to be observed is that it does not retain its purifying power for any great length of time, so that any filter depending upon it for its purifying principle must either be renewed or the power of the charcoal restored from time to time, and this the more frequently in proportion to the amount of impurity present in the water. A combination filter of sand or gravel and granulated charcoal is a good one; but the physical, or chemico-physical, action of such compound filters, or of the other well-known filter, composed of a solid porous carbon mass, differ in no respect from that of the simple substances composing them; that is to say, such combinations or arrangements are much more a matter of fancy or convenience than of increased efficiency. Experiments on the filtration of water through animal charcoal were made on the New River Company’s supply in the year 1866, and they showed that a large proportion of the organic matter was removed from the water. These experiments were afterwards repeated, in 1870, with Thames water supplied in London, which contains a much larger proportion of organic matter, and in this case also the animal charcoal removed a large proportion of the impurity. In continuing the use of the filter with Thames water, however, it became evident that the polluting matter removed from the water was only stored up in the pores of the charcoal, for, after the lapse of a few months, it developed vast numbers of animalcula, which passed out of the filter with the water, rendering the latter more impure than it was before filtration. Prof. Frankland reported in 1874 on these experiments as follows:—“Myriads of minute worms were developed in the animal charcoal, and passed out with the water, when these filters were used for Thames water, and when the charcoal was not renewed at sufficiently short intervals. The property which animal charcoal possesses in a high degree, of favouring the growth of the low forms of organic life, is a serious drawback to its use as a filtering medium for potable waters. Animal charcoal can only be used with safety for waters of considerable initial purity; and even when so used, it is essential that it should be renovated at frequent intervals, not by mere washing, but by actual ignition in a close vessel. Indeed, sufficiently frequent renovation of the filtering medium is an absolutely essential condition in all filters.” 9. 10. Atkins’s filters Fig. 9 shows Atkins’s filter, in which a is the unfiltered and b the filtered water, c being a block of charcoal formed by mixing powdered charcoal with pitch or resin, moulding and calcining. The filter is capable of being taken to pieces and can thus be easily and frequently cleaned. The block should on such occasions be scraped, washed, boiled, and baked. Fig. 10 illustrates another form of Atkins’s, in which powdered charcoal is used, retained between movable perforated earthenware plates. 11. 12. Sawyer’s Filters. Figs. 11, 12 represent Sawyers filters, in which a is unfiltered water; b, filtered Charcoal modified.—Several substances have been proposed for combination with carbon to improve its filtering capacity or increase its germ-destroying powers. 13. Silicated Carbon. 14. Silicated Carbon. Silicated Carbon.—This was one of the earliest modifications of the simple carbon block. Figs. 13, 14 show respectively the forms adopted for downward and upward filtration. In the former, the stoneware receptacle is divided into two parts by a diaphragm upon which there is fixed, by a porcelain stay, a silicated carbon block, which entirely closes the apertures in the diaphragm. The upper surface and corners of the filtering block are non-porous, consequently the water has to enter at the edges and follow the course indicated by the arrows, before it can reach the clear water compartment below. In cleaning the filter, it is only necessary to unscrew the nut, when The ‘Army Medical Report’ says of filters employing carbon in porous blocks that “These are powerful filters at first, but they are apt to clog, and require frequent scraping, especially with impure waters. Water filtered through them and stored, shows signs of the formation of low forms of life, but in a less degree than with the loose charcoal. After a time, the purifying power becomes diminished in a marked degree, and water left in contact with the filtering medium is apt to take up impurity again, though perhaps in a less degree than is the case with the loose charcoal.” The advantages of combining silica with the carbon are not at first sight apparent. 15. Maignen’s Filter. Maignen combines charcoal with lime to produce a compound which he calls “carbo-calcis.” At the same time he employs an asbestos filtering cloth. The arrangement of his filter is shown in Fig. 15. The hollow, conical, perforated frame a is covered with asbestos cloth b; c is a layer of finely powdered carbo-calcis, deposited automatically by being mixed with the first water poured into the filter; d is granular carbo-calcis filling up the space between c and the sides of the containing vessel; e, unfiltered water; f, filtered water; g, tube for admitting air to aËrate the water and correct the usually vapid flavour of filtered water. This filter has remarkable power; wine passed through it will come out colourless and tasteless. Moreover the cleansing and renewal of the filtering media are simple in the extreme. Prof. Bernays, of St. Thomas’s Hospital, has taken out a patent for a new filtering material, consisting of charcoal combined with a reduced manganese oxide. The well-known purifying action of charcoal (animal and vegetable), which in its ordinary state is liable to certain difficulties and objections, is in this invention supplemented and improved by heating it in covered crucibles with 5 to 15 per cent. or more of powdered manganese black oxide (the mineral pyrolusite), together with a very small quantity of some fixed oil, resin, or fat. Having ascertained that the simple admixture of the manganese dioxide with the charcoal without previous heating had no utility as a filtering medium, and was even injurious by reason of the diminution of the porosity of the charcoal, Prof. Bernays devised the above method with the object of oxidising the hydrogen and other oxidisable impurities of the charcoal, and hence approximating it to pure carbon in a state similar in efficacy to platinum black rather than in its ordinary less powerful analogy to spongy platinum. The heating is of course out of contact with air, and the temperature sufficiently high to cause the reduction of the manganese dioxide at least to manganous-manganic oxide, which afterwards acts as a carrier of oxygen, and thereby much prolongs the purifying action of the medium. Another method of obtaining charcoal in combination with manganous-manganic oxide is to saturate charcoal with manganous chloride (or even manganese residues) and afterwards subject it to a strong heat in closed crucibles. The charcoal prepared in the above manner may be employed in the filtration of water in layers with sand and other filtering material in the usual manner. A filtering material which has all the properties of animal charcoal, and is said to give higher results, is magnetic carbide, discovered by Spencer, many years ago, and consists of iron protoxide in chemical combination with carbon. It is considered that the purifying effect is produced by its power of attracting oxygen to its surface without the latter being acted on, the oxygen thus attracted being changed to ozone, by which the organic matter in the water is consumed. There can be no doubt of the value of this filtering material. Its manufacture is very simple, as it is obtained by roasting hematite iron ore with granulated charcoal for 12 to 16 hours at a dull red heat, and used in a granular form. Another form for making this material is to heat the hematite (iron red oxide) with sawdust in a close vessel. The product is magnetic, and never loses its activity until the pores are choked up. The Southport Water Company formed their filtering beds of this material, and after years of use it is still giving satisfaction. Iron.—From experiments made by allowing water to filter through spongy iron on to meat, it has been found that after 6 weeks the meat remained fresh. Another test was made by preparing a hay infusion, which was kept till it showed abundance of organic life. The infusion was filtered through spongy iron with layers of pyrolusite, sand, and gravel, and then was kept in contact with meat for many weeks. The meat showed no signs of putrescence. In some of the experiments filtered air was supplied, which proves conclusively that bacteria or their germs are not revived when supplied with oxygen after the filtration; this is a result of importance, as it demonstrates that by filtration through spongy iron, putrefaction of organic matter is not only suspended for a time, but that it ceases entirely until reinstated by some putrefactive agent foreign to the water. The peculiar action of spongy iron is believed to be thus explained. If a rod be inserted into a body of spongy iron which has been in contact with water for some time, gas bubbles are seen to escape. These are found to contain carbon and hydrogen, and experiments lead to the conclusion that the carbon is due to the decomposition of organic matter. The material was introduced for filtration purposes some years ago by Prof. Bischof. His ordinary portable domestic filter consists of an inner, or spongy iron, vessel, resting in an outer case. The latter holds the “prepared sand,” the regulator arrangement, and the receptacle for filtered water. The unfiltered water is, in this form of filter, mostly supplied from a bottle, which is inverted into the upper part of the inner vessel. After passing through the body of spongy iron, the water ascends through an overflow pipe. The object of this is to keep the spongy iron, when once wet, constantly under water, as otherwise, if alternately exposed to air and water, it is too rapidly oxidised. On leaving the inner vessel, the water contains a minute trace of iron in solution, as carbonate or ferrous hydrate, which is separated by the prepared sand underneath. This consists generally of 3 layers, namely, commencing from the top, of pyrolusite (manganese black oxide), sand, and gravel. The former oxidises the protocompounds of iron, rendering them insoluble, when they are mechanically retained by the sand underneath. Pyrolusite also has an oxidising action upon ammonia, converting it more or less into nitric acid. The regulator arrangement is underneath the perforated bottom, on which the prepared sand rests. It consists of a tin tube, open at the inner, and closed by screw caps at its outer end. The tube is cemented water-tight into the outer case, and a solid partition under the perforated bottom referred to. It is provided with a perforation in its side, which forms the only communication between the upper part of the filter and the receptacle for filtered water. The flow of water is thus controlled by the size of such perforation. Should the perforation become choked, a wire brush may be introduced, after removing the screw cap, and the tube cleaned. Thus, although the user has no access to the perforation allowing of his tampering with it, he has free access for cleaning. Another advantage of the regulator arrangement is that, when first starting a filter, the materials may be rapidly washed without soiling the receptacle for filtered water. This is done by unscrewing the screw cap, when the water passes out through the outer opening of the tube, and not through the lateral perforation. Various modifications had, of course, to be introduced into the construction of spongy iron filters, to suit a variety of requirements. Thus, when filters are supplied by a ball-cock from a constant supply, or from a cistern of sufficient capacity, the inner vessel is As the action of spongy iron is dependent upon its remaining covered with water, whilst the materials which are employed in perhaps all other filters lose their purifying action very soon, unless they are run dry from time to time, so as to expose them to the air, the former is peculiarly suited for cistern filters. Cistern filters are frequently constructed with a top screwed on to the filter case, by means of a flange and bolts, a U-shaped pipe passing down from this top to near the bottom of the cistern. This tube sometimes supplies the unfiltered water, or in some filters carries off the filtered water, when upward filtration is employed. This plan is defective, because it practically gives no access to the materials; and unless the top is jointed perfectly tight, the unfiltered water, with upward filtration, may be sucked in through the joint, without passing at all through the materials. This is remedied by loosely surrounding the filter case with a cylindrical mantle of zinc, which is closed at its top and open at the bottom. Supposing the filter case to be covered with water, and the mantle placed over the case, an air valve is then opened in the top of the mantle, when the air escapes, being replaced by water. After screwing the valve on again, the filter is supplied with water by the siphon action taking place between the mantle and filter case and the column of filtered water, which passes down from the bottom of the filter to the lower parts of the building. These filters are supplied with a regulator arrangement on the same principle as ordinary domestic filters. The washing of materials, on starting a filter, is easily accomplished by reversing 2 stop-cocks, one leading to the regulator, the other to a waste pipe. The use of spongy iron has now been applied on a large scale to the water obtained from the river Nette, for the supply of the city of Antwerp. Dr. Frankland has visited the Antwerp Waterworks at Waelheim, about 15 miles above that city, and reported on the result of his inquiry. He attaches especial value to the fact that spongy iron filtration “is absolutely fatal to Bacteria and their germs,” and he considers it would be “an invaluable boon to the Metropolis if all water supplied from the Thames and Lea were submitted to this treatment in default of a new supply from unimpeachable sources.” Many preparations of iron have long been known to possess a purifying influence on water containing organic impurities. Thus Scherer, years ago, recommended a solution of iron sulphate where the impurities were present in large quantity. Later still, iron chloride was proposed as suitable, the salt being precipitated in the presence of organic matter as ferric oxide, the oxide thus formed acting also mechanically on the suspended impurities in course of precipitation, very much as white of egg acts in clarifying liquids, when it coagulates and carries impurities with it to the bottom. Other iron preparations have a similar action, notably dialysed iron, while several oxidising agents, such as potash permanganate, are also well known to possess a powerful effect on organic impurities. It will at once be seen, however, that all such substances are inadmissible as filtering media, or purifying agents for potable waters, for the reason, that in the case of some at least of the agents mentioned, decompositions take place, which in themselves might prove dangerous, while in the case of all an excess (and it would be almost impossible to avoid an excess) of the purifying agent would be equally bad, and would render the water quite unfit for domestic purposes. It has been found, however, that various kinds of native rock containing iron protoxide effect the filtration of water very completely, and Spencer, acting on this idea, after experimenting, found that when the iron protoxide was isolated as magnetic oxide, it both freed the water from turbidity and effected decoloration very quickly. Thus bog-water, as dark as porter, when filtered through it speedily lost its colour and became clear and sweet, the carbonic acid given off during the process of decomposition rather tending to improve the water. The purifying power of the magnetic oxide does not deteriorate with use. The oxide gets coated with Metallic iron is employed by Jennings & Hinde. The filtering material consists of fine iron or steel shavings, filings, turnings, or borings obtained from the swarf or skin of cast iron, wrought iron, or steel; this material may either be used by itself, or it may be used with other materials, either mixed with them or in separate layers. The iron or steel shavings, &c., are obtained from iron or steel that has been brought to a state of fusion either by melting or the processes necessary for making cast iron, wrought iron, or steel, and being separated from many of the impurities contained in the ore from which it was obtained, will have but a comparatively small portion of earthy impurities mixed with it, and will be for this reason superior to iron which is obtained from native ores or oxides without fusion. By filtering water through small divided swarf or skin of cast iron, wrought iron, or steel, free oxygen will be withdrawn from the water, and consequently any insects or animalculÆ contained in the water will be deprived of life, and any germs contained in the water will be deprived of the oxygen necessary for their development and life, and the water will be consequently purified and rendered wholesome. A convenient way of forming a filter is to use a layer of the turnings, shavings, &c., together with layers of other filtering material resting upon a perforated partition placed across a closed vessel. The materials are cleaned by boiling them in hot water with a small quantity of ordinary washing soda, to remove any oil or grease that might accidentally be associated with the materials above mentioned. Afterwards the iron borings should be well washed before being put into the filter. The filter vessel may be of any ordinary construction and shape. If sand is used in conjunction with the above-mentioned materials, it is preferable to place some of the sand at the bottom of the filtering vessel, and the iron or steel materials, or both, over the sand, and then more sand over them. These materials are disposed so that they may be partially separated from each other by perforated plates of earthenware, glass, or other suitable material. But this partial separation, though convenient, is not essential, as the perforated plates may be dispensed with and the material placed over and under each other in layers without plates to separate them. Porous Pottery.—Chamberland has found that the liquid in which microbes have been cultivated becomes absolutely pure if passed through unglazed porcelain. Its purity can be demonstrated by mixing it with liquids sensitive to the action of microbes, such as veal broth, milk, and blood, in which it produces no alteration. 16. Chamberland Filter. A tube a (Fig. 16) of unglazed porcelain is enclosed in another b of metal, and the water to be filtered is admitted to the space between the two by turning a stop-cock. Thence it slowly filters through to the inside of the porcelain tube, and flows out at the bottom. Under a pressure of 2 atmospheres, or 30 lb. to the sq. in., a tube 8 in. in length, with a diameter of 1 in., will yield about 5 gal. of water daily. For a larger supply, it is only necessary to increase the size or the number of the tubes. In cleansing the filter, the porcelain tube is removed, and the microbes and other matter that have accumulated on the outer face of it are brushed off. The tube may also be plunged in boiling water in order to destroy any germs that may be supposed to have penetrated beneath its surface; or it may be heated in a gas It is interesting to remark that some of the earliest filtering vessels of which we have any knowledge are simply made of porous earthenware. After all our modern researches after antiseptic filtering media, we are reverting to the ways of our remotest forefathers. Filtering Cisterns.—The following is a description of a filter which purifies foul water from organic impurities held in solution as well as from suspended solids. Take any suitable vessel with a perforated false bottom, and cover it with a layer of animal charcoal, on the top of that spread a layer of iron filings, borings, or turnings, the finer the better, mixed with charcoal dust; on the top of the filings place a layer of fine clean siliceous sand, and you will have a perfect filter. Allow the foul water to filter slowly through the above filter, and you will produce a remarkably pure drinking-water. Before placing the iron filings in the filter, they must be well washed in a hot solution of soda or potash, to remove oil and other impurities, then rinse them with clean water; the filings should be mixed with an equal measure of fine charcoal. If the water is very foul, it must be allowed to filter very slowly. The deeper the bed of iron filings is the quicker they will act. In Bailey-Denton’s cistern filter, the principal novelty is that it runs intermittently, and thus allows the aËration of the filtering material, and the oxidation of the impurities detached from the water. The oxidation is effected by the perfect aËration of the filtrating material, which may be of any approved kind, through which every drop of water used in the kitchen, bedrooms, and elsewhere must pass as it descends from the service cistern for use. As water is withdrawn from this filter, fresh water comes in automatically by the action of a ball-tap; and this fresh water immediately passes through the aËrated material into a lower chamber, forming the supply cistern of filtered water for the whole house. The advantages claimed for the filter are that it secures pure water for the whole house. It is attached by pipe to, but is distinct from, the service cistern; it can be placed in any part of the house, and it cannot get out of order. Any approved filtering material may be used, and being aËrated between each passage of water through it, oxidation is made certain. A slate or iron cistern and filter combined may be made by dividing the cistern with a vertical partition perforated at the bottom, and placing in the half of the cistern which receives the water, a bed of filtering material, say 6 in. of gravel at the bottom, 6 in. animal charcoal in granular form in the middle, and 6 in. clean sharp sand at the top, covering all by a perforated distributing slab. 17. Filter Cistern. Fig. 17 illustrates a method of preparing an ordinary house cistern for filtering. The pipe and fittings should be of galvanised iron; black or plain iron is better as long as it lasts, as it rusts fast; in either case it is better to waste the water first drawn, for the water absorbs both the zinc and the iron when standing overnight. The zinc is not healthy, and the taste of the iron is unpleasant. The perforations should equal 3 or 4 times the area of the suction pipe, which in ordinary cisterns may be 1¼ in. pipe, while the branches may be ¾ in. pipe. The holes, if ? in., should number at least 200, distributed along the lower half of the pipes. Smaller holes are preferable; of 1/16 in. holes, 800 will be required. For the filtering material we recommend a layer of fine gravel or pebbles for the bottom, 3 or 4 in. in depth, or heaped up over the perforated pipes; upon this a layer Such a filter should be cleansed at least twice in a year by pumping out all the water, taking out the mud or settlings, and one-half the depth of the top layer, and replacing with fresh sand. The double filter cistern, Fig. 18, has much to recommend it, having a large receiving basin which in itself is a filter placed in a position for easy cleaning. The recess at the bottom may be covered with a perforated plate of galvanised sheet iron, upon which may be laid a filter bed of gravel, sand, charcoal, spongy iron, and sand in the proportions as stated above. This enables the frequent cleaning by removing the top layer of the filter bed without disturbing the water supply. The cover should fit tight enough to keep out insects and vermin. A double-bottomed basin perforated and filled with clear, sharp sand and charcoal should be attached to the bottom of the pump pipe, as shown. This enables the small filter to be drawn up and cleaned, without the necessity of emptying the cistern or interrupting the water supply. 18. Filter Cistern. 19. Keg Filter. The half barrel or keg filter, as illustrated in Fig. 19, is a convenient form of cistern filter where filtered water is required from cisterns already filled. This is also a convenient form for readily cleaning or changing the filter without the necessity of discharging the water from the cistern. This filter can be made from an oak keg or half barrel, such as is used for liquors or beer. Take out one of the heads and cut away the edge, so that it will just drive into the end of the keg, fasten 2 battens of oak across the head with oak pins left long enough to serve for legs for the filter to rest upon. Bore this head full of holes ¼ in. diameter. In the other head bore a hole 1¼ in. diameter, and bolt an iron flange into which the pump pipe is to be screwed. Let the bolts also fasten upon the inside a raised disc of galvanised sheet iron, perforated with a sharp point or chisel. Proceed to charge the filter by turning the top or flanged head down, and placing next the perforated plate a layer of fine gravel 3 in. thick, then a layer of sharp, clean sand 3 in. thick, then a layer of pulverised charcoal free from dust, 3 in. thick, then a layer of sharp clean sand mixed with spongy iron, pulverised magnetic Such a filter requires to be taken out and the filtering renewed in 6 to 12 months, depending upon the cleanliness of the water catch. With the precautions mentioned above in regard to the care of the roof, such a filter should do good work for one year. SanitationSanitation.—This heading is intended to embrace the removal and disposal of the various kinds of refuse and waste produced in the dwelling from day to day. Endless volumes have been written on the subject, but in plain words the whole art resolves itself into sound pipes for the conveyance of the fluid portion and efficient ventilation of the receptacles and conduits. House Drains.—It was pointed out by Burton, This being the case, it will be seen that the thing which most behoves us is to make sure that the house system is efficiently doing its work. It is evident that the objects to be aimed at in constructing a system of house drainage, are as follows:— First. All matter placed in any of the sanitary appliances in the house must be carried, with the greatest possible expedition, clear of the premises, leaving behind it as little deposit as possible. Second. All sewer air must be prevented from entering the houses by the channels which serve to carry away the sewage. Third. Since it is impossible to have house drains absolutely clean, that is, devoid of all decomposing matter, all air from house drains, and even from sink, bath, and other waste pipes must be kept out of the dwelling-rooms. To which might be added a fourth, that a constant current of fresh air must be established along every pipe in which it is possible that any decomposing matter may remain, so that such matter may be rapidly oxidised, or rendered innocuous. The number of houses in which sanitary inspectors find the drainage arrangements to be thoroughly good, and to be fulfilling these conditions, is surprisingly small. In fact, in all the houses they are called upon to examine, except those which have been arranged, within the last dozen years or so, by some engineer, builder, or plumber who has made a special study of the matter, are found defects which interfere with the due fulfilment of one or other of these conditions. Attention is called to Fig. 20, in which the drainage arrangements are shown to be defective. Here Burton has taken such a state of affairs as is by no means uncommon in a London house. Alongside it is a drawing which illustrates a well-drained house (Fig. 21). By their juxtaposition, the defects exhibited will be made more patent. 20. Ill-arranged House. 21. Well-arranged House. The first point demanding attention is the condition of the main drain. It will be seen that it is little other than an elongated cesspool. The size is unnecessarily large. As a consequence, even if it were perfect in all other respects, it would not be self-cleansing, inasmuch as there can never pass down the drain which serves for a single house enough water to scour out pipes of the size illustrated, namely, 9 in. diameter. It will be seen, however, that the state of affairs is far from correct, apart from the Let us now follow the action of a drain of this kind, and see what it will lead to. Sewage matter finds its way into it. As we all know, this matter depends on water to carry it forward. It is probable that, while the drain is new and the ground comparatively solid around it, sufficient water will remain in it to carry the greater part of the sewage to the sewer. But this state of affairs will not last. Before long, some unusually heavy or obstinate matter will get into the drain. It will be carried only so far, and will then stick. Any water now coming behind it will “back up,” to a certain extent, and will very soon find its way into the soil, from one or more points behind the obstruction—not yet amounting to a stoppage. As a consequence, sewage now passing into the drain, loses its carrying power, and gets no farther than a certain distance. Before long, a complete stoppage takes place, and all the sewage of the house soaks into the ground under the basement. After this, things go from bad to worse. The saturated ground no longer properly supports the pipes, which, as a consequence, will become more and more irregular, and all hope of the drain clearing itself is lost. It is only a question of time, with a drain such as that shown, and the inmates of the house will be living over a cesspool. As a matter of fact, total obstruction or stoppage has been discovered in 6 per cent. of the houses which have been inspected. The next point worthy of attention is the soil pipe; this term being at present used to signify the vertical portion of the drain only, although it very often is also used as meaning the almost horizontal drain under the house. The soil pipe is of lead. This is an excellent material if the pipe be properly arranged, but here it is not. The great fault is that there is no ventilation. As a consequence, the upper part of the pipe will always be filled with sewer gas, which tends to rise in a somewhat concentrated state. Now, sewer gas has a powerful action on lead, and, therefore, a soil pipe arranged without ventilation never stands many years before it becomes “holed,” that is to say, is worn through at its upper part. When this occurs, of course, there is ventilation enough, but it is into the house. The ventilation in this case will, in fact, be most active, because every house, on account of the fires in it, acts, especially in winter, as a chimney, and draws in sewer or other gas from every possible crevice. At the top of the soil pipe will be found the commonest of all water-closet arrangements, namely, the pan-closet with D trap. This arrangement is exceedingly well known: it is a most skilfully devised piece of apparatus for retaining sewage in the house, and distilling sewer gas from the same, and it is the cause of probably nine out of ten of the actual smells perceived in houses, even if it does not (as some say) give rise to much actual disease. The soil pipe discharges over a small cesspool at the foot. This is a very common arrangement. The cesspool is usually dignified by the name of a dip trap. The percentage of houses showing leaky soil pipes is 31. Now, observe that, although our constructor has not ventilated his soil pipe, he has been careful not to leave the system entirely without ventilation. On the contrary, by the simple device of leaving a rain-water pipe untrapped at the foot, he has ventilated the drains, and also the public sewer, into the back bedroom windows! This is a quite common arrangement, and frequently results in typhoid fever. Next, in order, we may take the case of the discharge pipes from baths, sinks, basins, and all such appliances. It has been laid down as a rule by the best sanitary authorities that these appliances must discharge not into the soil drains, but into the open air over In other cases the sink has an arrangement which is called a grease trap, but is, in reality, nothing more nor less than a particularly foul cesspool. It calls for little remark. The pipe from the sink dips into the foul water to make a trap. In many cases, the pipe does not dip into the water; but there is a bell at the top. Sometimes the drain is at various places made up with bricks. This is a very common thing to find in houses. The bricks are used to save the trouble of getting special junction bends, &c. The other sinks and baths in the house are shown as discharging into the closet traps. This is a very common and objectionable arrangement. Sixty-eight per cent. of houses examined show the defects last mentioned; that is to say, the sinks, baths, or fixed basins are connected with the drain or soil pipe, a trap of some kind generally, but not always, forming a partial security against sewer gas. As mentioned before, the only ventilation in this case is such as will permit the issuing sewer gas to find its way into the house. It is by no means unusual to find no provision at all for ventilation, or to find the ventilating pipes so small that they are totally useless. In more cases than one, Burton found the soil pipe carried up as a rain-water pipe into the attics, where it received rain-water from two gutters, one from each side of the roof, and discharged all the sewer gas which escaped by it. Generally, the drinking-water cisterns are situated in such attics. It may be noted, in the other drawing (Fig. 21), that a trap is fixed on the main drain, which will keep back almost all sewer gas, and that ventilating pipes are so arranged that a constant circulation of fresh air exists through the whole drainage system, and will carry away with it any little sewer gas which passes through the trapping water. The most perfect water-supply arrangement does not necessitate the existence of cisterns in the house at all. This is beside the mark, for the reason that in London, to which Burton confines his remarks, the supply of water to the greater portion of the town is intermittent, so that cisterns are a necessity. Water, even in London, is almost always delivered in a sufficiently pure state to be drunk, but it is a very common thing for it to be contaminated in the cisterns. Even if there be no actual disease germs carried into the water, there is liability of deterioration from the mere fact of a large quantity of water being stored for a long time before use. If the cisterns are of so great size as to hold as much water as is used in, say, three or Another means by which the water of cisterns is contaminated is by their being placed in improper positions. Quite frequently, a cistern in which drinking-water is stored, is situated in, or even under the floor of a w.c. Burton has known more than one case in which the drip tray under a closet actually discharged into a cistern. It is even possible for contamination of water to occur through the mere fact that a water-closet is supplied from a certain cistern. With a water-closet supplied by the modern regulator-valve apparatus, this is most unlikely; but it will be readily seen how it may occur with such an arrangement as that shown in Fig. 20, which is common. Here it will be seen that for each water-closet there is a plug in the cistern. This plug is so arranged that when it is raised by the wire which connects it with the water-closet branch, it suddenly fills what is called a service box, this being a subsidiary cistern fixed under the body of the main cistern, and in direct communication with the water-closet. After the water has run out of the service box, this is free to fill itself with foul gas from the water-closet by the service pipe, and the next time the plug is lifted this same foul gas passes into the water, which absorbs a part of it. There are many other points in the drainage arrangements of a house which may possibly become causes of danger, such as surface traps in areas, &c. In speaking of the drain of a house, it has been considered as a single length of pipe; but it must be remembered that in any drainage system, except the most simple, there are branch drains, often many of them, and that these are liable to the same evils as the main drains, and require the same attention. In fact, seeing that less water is likely to pour down them, they require more attention. Burton concludes his paper with a brief description of the methods in use for discovering defects in house sanitation. One thing that is absolutely necessary for such inspection, and without which it would be quite incomplete, is to open down to the drain. This should be done at the nearest point to that at which it leaves the premises. There is no absolute guide to tell where this point is, but after some experience it is generally possible to hit upon the spot with very little searching. In the house illustrated in Figs. 20, 21, it would be under the front area or cellar. The ground should be entirely removed from the drain for at least two lengths of pipe. It is also very desirable that a portion of the ground over the top of the drain should be removed. We may next take the point of trapping of the main drain and ventilation of the system. It will be seen that, in the case of the drawing of the imperfect arrangements, the drain is shown to be in direct communication with the sewer. The consequence is that any leakage which may exist in the house drain permits gas not only from the drain itself, but from the sewer also, to find its way into the house. The engineer will now be able to tell much of the state of affairs. He will see of what size the drain is; he will be able to tell of what material the joints are made, There are various ways of doing this, but the two commonest, which Burton describes and illustrates, are those known as the “peppermint test,” and the “smoke test.” The smell of peppermint is well known, possibly to some of us unpleasantly well known, but probably its excessive pungency when in the form of the oil, and when brought into contact with hot water, is not generally understood. It will readily be believed that if such an excessively pungent mixture as this be introduced into the drainage system of a house, even the smallest leakage will become evident. Suppose the least possible defect to exist in any joint of any of the pipes, a strong smell of peppermint will be evident near the defect. The only difficulty is in finding a place to introduce the peppermint. It will be quite evident that it is no use to pour it into any of the appliances in the house, as, were such done, this smell would so rapidly permeate the whole of the premises, by way of the staircase, passages, &c., that time would not be allowed to detect the leakages. Some means must be discovered of getting the peppermint in from the outside. This is not always possible, but generally it is. In the case illustrated, there would be no difficulty. The rain-water pipe at the back admirably suits the purpose. One person gets out on the flat roof, near the top of the pipe, and provides himself with peppermint, and 4 or 5 gallons of water, as nearly boiling as possible. Meantime, all doors and windows are closely shut, and persons are stationed about the house to observe if the smell expected becomes evident, and to locate, as far as possible, the point from which it issues. The man on the roof pours about ½ oz. of the oil down the pipe, and follows it with the hot water. He need then retreat from the place a little, for the peppermint-laden steam which will come from the pipe is blinding in its pungency. As soon as possible, he plugs up the top of the pipe with a towel, or some such thing, to prevent the occurrence of the vacuum which would otherwise be in the pipes, and which would tend to draw air from the house into the pipes instead of from the pipes into the house at any leakage. It would probably not be a minute before the people in the house would perceive the smell at various places. The manipulator of the peppermint must remain perched on the roof until those inside have had time to make their observations, otherwise he will infallibly bring the smell with him. The test described is an excellent one. It is searching, and is simple in application, but it has one drawback. It is impossible by means of it exactly to localise a leakage. This drawback does not apply to the smoke test. A smoke machine is nothing more nor less than a centrifugal pump attached to a vessel for generating smoke. The pump pumps smoke out by a pipe, which may be inserted in any pipe in direct communication with the drain or in an aperture made for the purpose. The test is, in all respects, similar to the peppermint one, except that the leakage is not smelt but seen. After the test has been performed the drain may be opened. This may be done by breaking into a pipe in front, by breaking off a collar, or by punching a round hole in the pipe. In any case it will be possible to judge much of the condition of the drain by the manner in which water runs through the pipes. If we have discovered that there is sufficient total fall, we can now see whether or not it is uniform. We shall, as remarked before, find in six cases out of every hundred examined that there is total stoppage, that no sewage whatever leaves the premises, and that consequently it must all be depositing under the basement. If the drain, after all tests so far applied, and from what can be seen of it, appear to be in good condition, it may be further tested by filling, or attempting to fill it with water. There is probably not an average of one drain in a thousand in London which would remain full of water for an hour. For the rest it is necessary to examine all appliances, to trace the pipes from them, and sometimes to test these pipes. The engineer has now completed his inspection, and has but to consider how he will make the best of a bad job, and put things to rights. At the beginning of his paper Burton expressed his intention of confining himself to a description of defects, and said he should not describe what he considered a perfect system; he, however, points out one or two of the chief features of the arrangements in the house which he calls well drained. 22. Disconnecting Chamber. Most notable, probably, is the small size and sharp fall of the drain pipes. Further than this, it will be seen that the drain is disconnected from the sewer by a trap, and that it is accessible for inspection throughout, simply by lifting certain iron covers (Fig. 22). A close examination would show that every foot of drain pipe and discharge pipe is so ventilated, that there will be a current of air through it; that no appliance discharges into the drain direct, but that there is an atmospheric disconnection in every case; that air from discharge pipes of sinks, &c., is all trapped from the house; that there is separate water supply for closets, and for other purposes; and that no cistern has any connection with the drains. Further will be noticed, the difference in construction of the closets, &c. The foregoing abstract of Burton’s paper is replete with valuable information. One obvious inference to be drawn from it is that where the occupant of a dwelling has serious doubts as to its sanitary conditions and cannot rely on his own observation for ascertaining the facts, he should forthwith engage the services of a specialist like the author of the paper to aid him in coming to a decision. One of the most instructive lectures on house sanitation was that delivered by Prof. Corfield at the Parkes Museum in 1883. He considers that the best plan in the examination of a house is to begin at the top of it, proceeding downwards, and noting the different mistakes that are likely to be made in the sanitary arrangements in various parts of the house. Following out this idea, we will deal with each item in descending order. Rain-water.—The first thing which we must consider is that we have to get rid of the water that falls on the roof. The water from the gutter in front of the house may be disposed of in one of several ways. It may be conducted by a pipe outside of the house down the front into the area; or it may be conducted by a gutter through the roof, or, perhaps, through one of the rooms in the upper story into a gutter, over the middle of the house, between two parts of the roof, and down the middle of the house by a pipe into the drain; or it may be conducted direct from the gutter by a pipe, not outside the house, but inside the house, passing down through one or two stories, inside the rooms, perhaps through the best bedroom in front of the house, through the drawing-room, carefully hidden by some casing made to look like an ornament, through the dining-room and kitchen into the drain in the basement. Smells having been perceived in But there is an additional danger from the fact that these inside gutters are in themselves most pernicious things. Soot and rotten leaves collect in them, and air blows through them into the house; and especially when these gutters are under the floors of bedrooms, this foul air is often the cause of illnesses which occur in these rooms. Even gutters which are not themselves directly connected with the drains, and which are open at both ends, but in which decayed leaves and soot accumulate and give off foul air into the rooms, may be the cause of sore throats. Another plan to dispose of the rain-water is to carry it in a gutter right through the house to the back (the gutter may pass through the roof or the garrets), and the same remark applies to this method of construction as to those just described, except that it does not imply necessarily a defective pipe running down to the drain. Well, then, the rain-water from the roof should be conducted by pipes placed outside the house; and there is no reason why this should not be always the case. If these pipes are not disconnected from the drains below, but are connected with them either directly, or even indirectly (with a bend in the pipe to hold water), in either instance cases of disease will arise in the rooms, the windows of which are near the rain-water pipes. It is exceedingly difficult to persuade people upon this point; but such is the case. When the rain-water pipes starting from the top of the house below the bedroom windows, and frequently behind parapets, so that any air that comes out at the top comes out exactly close to the bedroom windows, and when these pipes come down straight into the drains and so ventilate the drains, foul air from the drains gets into the house, and disease is the result. But it is more difficult to make people understand that even when these rain-water pipes are trapped at the foot they are almost as dangerous as the untrapped ones, because foul air from the drains will pass gradually through the water in the traps into the pipes, so that these pipes are always filled with foul air and contain gases that have come from the drains. As soon as it rains, water passes down, and the air of these pipes is displaced, comes out at the top, and so if these tops are near the windows of rooms, cases of disease will happen in those rooms. The rain-water pipes ought to discharge on to the surface of the areas, where there ought to be siphon gullies connected with the drains. Ventilating Pipes.—While on the roof we can look around and observe the ventilating pipes: 1st, whether there are any or not; 2nd, of what size; 3rd, whether they have cowls or not; and 4th, in what positions they are. If we observe that they end at the top, near to chimneys, we shall see that there is liability, on account of the down draught, of the foul air from these ventilating pipes passing down the chimneys. Chimneys often have down draughts, and if ventilating pipes are placed near them, the foul air may pass down into the rooms. If, on the other hand, although not ending near the tops of the chimneys, they are placed close to the chimneys or to walls so that their tops are sheltered, they will not act properly, and they ought to be carried above the ridge of the roof, and end away from walls or chimneys. The same rule applies to chimney tops, they should not be sheltered by higher buildings. Cistern.—The first thing we come to inside or just below the roof (or perhaps on the roof), is the cistern. The first point to observe is the material of which it is made. Lead cisterns (and so, too, galvanised iron cisterns) are affected by certain kinds of water; and it is important, in certain places, that cisterns should be used which are not capable of being affected by the water. Galvanised iron cisterns cause certain forms of poisoning with some waters. However, as a matter of fact, both lead and galvanised iron cisterns are used enormously, without any serious results following from their use. A cistern is provided with an overflow and waste pipe. If the cistern is on the roof you would think it the natural thing that the overflow pipe should discharge on to the roof or leads, or into an open head; but, as a matter of fact, it is generally not the case. (By an “overflow” pipe is meant a pipe from the top, and by a “waste” pipe a pipe starting above the level of the water and passing through the bottom of the cistern.) Overflow pipes were not in fashion at all until recently. The fashion was to have a waste pipe, and the most convenient place to take that into was some pipe passing down the house, which might be a rain-water pipe, but more frequently it was the pipe into which the water-closets discharged, which is called the “soil” pipe. When this is the case the waste pipe of the drinking-water cistern becomes the ventilator of the pipe into which the water-closets discharge; and so in nine cases out of ten the ventilator of the house drain and of the sewer under the street, and, indeed, one of the ventilators of the main sewer. So foul air passes continually by means of this ventilator into the drinking-water cistern at the top of the house. Now foul air in sewers and drains contains matters in suspension, and often the poisons of certain diseases, such as typhoid fever; it gains access to the water in the cistern and contaminates it, and the main cause of typhoid fever in London and many other large towns is the connection of the drinking-water cisterns with the drains by means of the waste pipes. Of course the remedy for this—the first remedy—is to put a trap on the waste pipe, as, for instance, connecting it with the trap in one of the closets or sinks. This, of course, is only a palliative, it is not the true remedy. The true remedy is to disconnect this pipe and make it discharge by itself, no matter where, in the open air. Sometimes this pipe is made to discharge into the same pipe that the sink waste-pipe discharges into. It is the practice in London to have a separate pipe for the various wastes and sinks not discharging directly into the drain, and usually carried outside the house. It is also the practice to make the waste pipes of cisterns to discharge into the same pipe. This is entirely wrong. Because, although disconnected at the foot, it is to be regarded as a foul-water pipe, and foul air passes through it up the waste pipe into the cistern. So this practice is to be condemned. Now from the cistern, besides the waste pipe, there are pipes which supply the water to different parts of the house; there are pipes from the cistern to supply water to the taps, which are called “draw-off” pipes; and pipes from the cistern to supply water to the closets; and, as a rule, the same cistern is used for the supply of water to the closets direct and the taps at the upper part of the house. This plan may or may not be very dangerous. There are two ways of supplying the water-closets in the upper part of the house with water. The one is to have what is called a spindle valve in the cistern, which fits a hole in the bottom of the cistern, and which is raised by a ball lever being pulled by a wire, which arrangement necessitates a contrivance called a valve box, which has a small air pipe, and with this arrangement there is liability for foul water to be jerked in the cistern. Moreover, the pipe from this valve box passes into the pan of the water-closet and becomes full of air, which air is liable to get into the valve box in the cistern. This arrangement, therefore, is decidedly bad. But there is another, in which the valve which supplies the water-closets is under the seat, and the pipe from the cistern is full of water; and that is now becoming the more usual plan. With that plan there is However, to put it on no other grounds, it is clearly desirable not to have cisterns supplying drinking-water and the water-closets direct. It is better to lay down a right principle, and abide by it, than to see how you can avoid it. The best rule is that water-closets should not, for the reasons stated, under any circumstances be supplied direct from the cistern supplying the taps; Prof. Corfield lays down the rule that every tap is a drinking-water tap, because any one may draw water at it. Housemaid’s Sink.—The housemaid’s sink is often placed in a small closet just under the stairs, without any window or any sort of ventilation whatever (and we know what kind of things are kept in the sink!), so that in such a position it has not by any means a very savoury odour. The housemaid’s sink should under no circumstances be in such a position. It should be against an outside wall, and have a window. As a rule, the material used for the sink itself is lead, wood lined with lead. Now lead is not a good material. Grease, soap, and so on, have a tendency to adhere to lead, and it is very difficult to keep such sinks clean, and it would be better to have the sink of glazed stoneware. The waste pipe of the housemaid’s sink, as a rule, is connected directly with the trap of the nearest w.c. There is a grating in the sink, and there is no trap in or under the sink, but the waste pipe is connected with the trap of the nearest water-closet. This is a bad arrangement. A worse arrangement is for the waste pipe to be connected with the soil pipe of the water-closet, in which case some kind of trap is generally placed on the waste pipe of the sink. This trap is frequently what is called a “bell” trap, and is placed in the sink. The disadvantage of the bell trap is, that when you take the top of it off you take the bell with it. The bell is the arrangement which is supposed to form the trap by the edges of it dipping in the water in the iron box; and you see at once, when the bell is removed, the trap is removed and the waste pipe, wherever it goes, is left wide open, and, if connected with the soil pipe of the water-closet, the foul air comes up into the house. Very frequently also the waste pipe of the sink has underneath it what is called a D trap. A D trap is a trap which the water passing through it can never clean; so it retains foul water; and therefore, even under sinks, such traps ought not to be allowed on account of the foul matters which accumulate in them. The waste pipe of the housemaid’s sink should not be connected with the water-closet or soil pipe; neither with any pipe that goes directly into the drain. Its own pipe should not go directly to the drain, which is very frequently the case, but through the wall of the house into an open head or a gully outside. Very frequently the housemaid’s sink is supplied with water, not from the cistern on the roof, but from the cistern not only supplying the nearest water-closet, but actually inside the nearest water-closet, in which case, no matter what valves you have, you are supplying your sink with water which is kept in a cistern inside the water-closet, and that is far worse than supplying a sink with water from a cistern which also supplies the water-closet, with a reasonably protecting valve. Close to the housemaid’s sink, and very frequently over it, is the feed cistern to the hot-water apparatus, which has also an overflow pipe, and the same remarks refer to this overflow pipe, except that it is a thing much more liable to be overlooked, as to the overflow pipe of the drinking-water cistern. Water-closets.—In the great majority of instances, the apparatus of this closet is what is known as the “pan” closet, that is, a closet apparatus which has a conical basin with a tinned copper bowl, called the “pan,” from which the closet gets its name. In order that this “pan” which holds water, may be moved, there is a contrivance underneath called a “container,” which is generally made of iron, and allows room for the pan to be moved. On pulling the handle the water is discharged into the pipe below. The container being generally made of iron it is liable to rust. Now the disadvantage of this An attempt has been made to improve it by having a stoneware container, with a place for ventilation at the side, only it is an attempt to improve a radically bad arrangement, and not worth further consideration. Underneath this closet apparatus you will, as a rule, find, if you take the woodwork down, a tray of lead, called the “safe” tray. But there is no other word in the language that would not be a better description of it than this word! This tray is intended to catch any water that may escape from leaky pipes, or any slops that may be thrown over; and so it is necessary that this tray should have a waste pipe. The waste pipe in nine out of ten cases, probably in much greater proportion, goes into the trap immediately underneath the closet, and so it forms a communication for foul air from this trap to get into the house. In some instances it goes directly into the soil pipe, and forms a means of ventilation of the soil pipe into the house. Sometimes a trap is put on this waste pipe, and it is then connected with the soil pipe, which goes on well so long as there is any water in the trap; but as soon as the water becomes evaporated, foul air gets into the house again. Sometimes (to show the ingenuity which people often expend upon bad things) this waste pipe has a trap, and a little pipe from the water supply fixed to feed the trap; but all these ingenious plans have been devised in order to improve upon a principle radically wrong. The pipe should be carried through the wall and end outside the house as a warning pipe. Scarcely any water ever comes out at all; if any does come out, it shows there is something wrong, so that this pipe should pass through the wall, and be made to discharge outside the house. In order to prevent wind blowing up the pipe, it is usual to put a small brass flapper on the end. Its weight keeps it shut, and the pressure of water opens it. Underneath the safe-tray you will find as a rule a trap of some kind, and generally the trap that is found is a D trap, a trap whose name indicates its shape, and which cannot be washed out by the water that passes through it. The pipe from the closet passes so far in it that it dips below the level of the out-going pipe, and thus forms a sort of dip-trap. The pipe which is the inlet from the closet is not placed close to the edge, but a little way in, to form a receptacle for all kinds of filth! You will see it is impossible for the water that passes through it to clear the contents out, so that the trap is simply a small cesspool, nothing more nor less. Into that trap various waste pipes are frequently connected. There is another form of D trap in which there are two waste pipes going into the water near the bottom of the trap (probably the waste pipe of the safe and the waste pipe of the cistern). The D trap, then, is a bad form of trap, because it is not self-cleansing. The water cannot possibly keep it clear of sediment. So that some trap should be used which is self-cleansing, and the water which passes through it is capable of keeping it clean. Now that trap is a mere ?-shaped bend in the pipe, to which we give the name of siphon, not because we want it to act as a siphon—for if it acts as a siphon it is of no use! A curious thing about siphon traps and pan closets is, that the form of trap which was used first in connection with water-closets was the siphon trap, which we now praise; and the form of trap which supplanted it was the D trap, which we are now condemning and taking out wherever we can. A still more curious thing is that the form of water-closet which we now condemn (the pan closet) was the form of closet which supplanted the closet we are now using (the valve closet). The valve closet was invented long before the pan closet. Bramah valve closets fixed forty years ago often act tolerably well now, and at the present day they are only taken out because they are really actually worn out. The valve closet, which we often find upstairs in old houses instead of the pan closet, has no large iron container under the seat, but it has a water-tight valve under the basin, and so requires a small valve-box; so that there is no great collection of foul air immediately under the basin of the closet. The valve closet, however, has a disadvantage in that it requires an overflow pipe; because the valve is water-tight, and if servants throw slops into it, or the supply pipe to it leaks, the water goes on running and the basin fills, and, if there were no overflow pipe, it would overflow on to the floor; so that probably the pan closet ousted the valve closet because it was found that people could go on throwing in any amount of slops and using it in the roughest manner without getting their ceilings damaged. However, the valve closets, as they were originally made, generally had overflow pipes which went into part of the apparatus below. Occasionally these overflow pipes are connected with soil pipes or the trap of the closet below, but these are exceptional instances. One of the water-closets in the basement is very frequently in an exceedingly improper position—either in the scullery or actually in the kitchen. These w.c.’s ought all to be outside the house. If closets are in the middle of the house they ought to be done away with, and should be put against an outside wall. This might be done by sacrificing a bit of some room which can be spared, or by converting some small bedroom into a bath-room and closet, or still better, by making a sort of tower outside the house. The merits and demerits of the various kinds of water-closet were discussed in a paper by Emptage before the Congress of the Sanitary Institute at Glasgow. To be rightly considered wholesome and adapted for general use, a closet should, in Emptage’s opinion, possess the following qualifications:— 1st. The water seal of its trap should be in sight, should stand up in the basin, and be quite safe from either momentum or siphonage. 2nd. It should be so thoroughly flushed that at each discharge every part of the basin and trap would be properly cleansed. 3rd. It should be as well adapted for the discharge of slops as for a w.c. A closet possessing these advantages is perfectly safe to use anywhere, and the only kind which, in his opinion, comes up to this standard, is that known as the “direct action.” Within the last few years several inventors have turned their attention to the manufacture of this kind of closet, and there are now several in the market to choose from, each of which has some advantage peculiar to itself. Emptage has found: 1st. That these closets, when properly trapped, flushed, and ventilated, are perfectly safe and wholesome, and are free from the evils and annoyances attendant upon most other forms. 2nd. That to ensure a thorough flush out, the water must fall with an avalanche-like action direct upon the surface of the water in the basin. 3rd. That those basins which show an O G section are more readily flushed than those which have sides in the form of inclined planes. 4th. That with a suitably shaped basin 2 gal. of water, delivered in 5 seconds, will thoroughly cleanse the closet. 5th. That the ordinary round P or half S trap should never be used beneath these closets, because no reliance can be placed upon the safety of its seal. 6th. Care is required in fixing these closets to ensure adequate ventilation to the trap, because, owing to the exposed position of its seal, it is liable, unless so guarded, to be destroyed at any moment by the discharge of a pail of slops: but if properly protected, it is quite safe from this action. Where the position is such that this necessary protection cannot be given, on no account should a “direct-action” closet be used. It is better, under such circumstances, of the two evils to choose the lesser, and fix a good “Bramah” pattern valve closet and D trap. One word with respect to closet seats. It is the prevailing fashion to have them fit as closely as possible, and to keep the lid shut. Emptage thinks this is a mistake. If there are any gases to escape, they should be allowed to do so at once, rather than be kept boxed in, ready to belch forth into the face of the next visitor. For this reason, he would discard lids altogether, and, provided a suitably finished apparatus could be introduced, the riser also, and allow the floorcloth to run right under the seat, leaving no space in the room where bad air could be detained. Eassie recommends one of the various kinds of “wash-out” closet, and specifies Jennings’s as being good in every respect, especially for nurseries. For general household use he favours the valve closet on the Bramah pattern. In other details he directly opposes Emptage, warning the householder above all “not to fix a D trap under the apparatus, but only a P trap or S trap of cast lead.” Care should also be taken to make sure that the waste pipe from the leaden tray, or “safe”—which is usually placed under a closet in order to avoid any damage to the ceiling below should the basin overflow—is not led into the trap underneath the closet, but taken direct through the outer wall, and with a small copper flap at the end of the 1 in. pipe, in order to keep out the cold air. A sufficient supply of flushing water is indispensable, and many houses can be much improved in this respect by simply enlarging the service pipe which conveys water to the basin. See also p. 991. In country dwellings, where earth-closets can be used, the following system works well. The refuse to be disposed of embraces rain and surface water, wash-waters, ashes, and excreta. The water is partly stored and partly run into the nearest brook. The ashes and excreta (no closet being fitted inside the dwelling) are carried to the garden. The wash-waters are emptied into a sink, which communicates directly with either a small trap, through a grating (the pipe being disconnected with the trap), or, if there be a sufficient fall, to a garden, by an open gutter, or open tile drain. The ashes and excreta are mixed together, and removed by the agency of one or other form of “earth-closet,” taking that term generally for an apparatus which is not a cesspool, which has to be frequently emptied of its contents in a more or less dry state, and which is wholly above ground. The contents of the water-closet are discharged, as a rule, into a separate pipe, called the soil pipe; but sometimes into a rain-water pipe with an open head near the windows, or even inside the house. The soil pipe is usually inside the house—probably because it ought to be outside! Even where water-closets are against an external wall, the pipe is often carried down inside the house. The closets themselves, like sinks, ought not to be placed in the middle of the house. They are very frequently under the stairs, close to bedrooms, or in the middle of the house, sometimes ventilating into a shaft. It is of course inevitable in these cases that the pipe must either be carried inside throughout the whole length of the house, or must run nearly horizontally under the floors of bedrooms, &c. Under such circumstances it is often not properly ventilated; and if not ventilated at all, the foul air makes its way out through holes, which it is capable of perforating in lead pipes. The soil pipes are then frequently inside the house, and they are as a rule made of If any part of the soil pipe must pass inside the house, it should be of lead, and it can be made sound so long as it will last (and is not damaged by driving nails into it). Iron pipes should not be allowed to be inside the house. It is so very likely that the joints will not be made perfectly tight, so that it is more undesirable to have iron pipes inside the house than it is to have lead pipes. Of course it is practicable to plug the pipe at the bottom and to fill it with water to ascertain if it is water-tight; but all that is only a device to retain a thing which ought to be altered. Soil pipes ought always to be ventilated by a pipe as large as the soil pipe carried up above the roof. The soil pipes ought to be outside the house, and connected with the drain by plain stoneware bends, or, under certain circumstances, disconnected from the drains themselves by a trap with an open grating. Such a trap is called a disconnecting trap. Bath-room.—The first thing to mention in connection with the bath-room is that the inlet and outlet openings for the water should not be the same. Very frequently in a bath the water goes out by the same apertures as it comes in. This is a bad plan, for some of the dirty water comes back with the clean. The waste pipe should be treated in the same way as the waste pipe of a sink. Frequently on the best bedroom floor there is a water-closet actually in one of the bedrooms, or opening directly out of it by a door. This ought not to be countenanced under any circumstances whatever. On the drawing-room floor there is generally a balcony, the pipes from which go very frequently straight down to the drain, or they are connected with rain-water pipes from the top of the house, which themselves discharge into the drain; so that these pipes from balconies and lead flats are not at all infrequently connected with the drains. Bell-wire Pipes.—There is sometimes an unaccountable smell in the drawing-room, and people puzzle themselves in all kinds of ways to account for it. It is generally noticed when people are sitting in a particular chair—which particular chair is a chair possibly most frequently sat in—one near to the fireplace. The smell noticed is a smell which comes up the tube that the bell-wire goes down. The bell-wire goes down into the basement. It may go into some part of the basement which is not very savoury, and foul air may be, and frequently is, taken up into the drawing-room or best bed-room. Or the wire may be in the basement passage close to the gas-light, and the products of combustion of the gas may pass up the wire-tube into the drawing-room or bedroom. Kitchen Waste.—Accumulation of waste animal and vegetable matter should be strictly forbidden; what cannot be used as food, even for domestic animals, ought to be burned daily. Where there is a large garden, refuse may be buried. The objection frequently raised to burning is the unpleasant smell which is caused by it; this may, with a little care, always be avoided. Where a close range is used, choose a time when the fire is bright but low; draw out all the dampers and put everything into the fire, close the door in front, and a very large amount of rubbish can be got rid of in a quarter of an hour. In open fireplaces this is a little more difficult, but may still be accomplished. Put all vegetable matter under the grate to dry, then put it on the fire. The oven dampers must be drawn out; the strong draught up the oven flue will carry off the smell. Fish-bones and other scraps may thus be burned. The habit prevalent in many country places of keeping a swill-tub cannot be too strongly condemned. A day or two of damp summer weather is enough to cause a most offensive smell to be given off. Sinks.—The stoppage of drains by grease may be partially prevented by the use of soap-powder, which combines with the grease; but at least twice a week there should be poured down kitchen sinks one or two bucketfuls of boiling water, in which common soda has been dissolved. A much better plan is to use potash instead of soda, as potash makes a soft soap with fats. The application of one or two doses of potash lye in hot water will almost always effect a clearance in stopped drains, which at first appear to be irremediably choked, and at the same time no injury whatever results to the pipes. 23. Kitchen Sink. The proper arrangement and disconnection of a kitchen sink is shown in Fig. 23; a, stoneware trough; b, 2 in. stoneware waste pipe; c, stoneware gully or trap; d, iron grating; e, house wall; f, pipe leading to sewer. The sinks in the basement have their waste pipes very frequently either directly connected with the drains or connected with the drains by bell traps. Of course this is a most dangerous state of things. For when the top of the bell trap is taken off, an opening into the drain is directly made. If the bell trap gets broken, no one is told of it, and the drain is ventilated into the house for months. On the other hand, if the top is left on and the bell trap is in a place where water does not get into it continually, or at all, the trap will get dry, and so become a ventilator of the drains into the house; so that this plan of having ventilating pipes in the sinks, or of having bell traps in the floor of basements, is most dangerous, still more dangerous if the sinks are not used. Some think in this way:—Oh! this sink is not used, there cannot be any harm in it! But there is, and much more harm too. For the water in the trap dries up, and so foul air comes into the house. The sinks, then, ought not to be directly connected with the drains, but should discharge through trapped gullies in the area; and not only so, but the waste pipes of the sinks, whether upstairs or downstairs, ought to have siphon traps, with traps and screws fixed immediately under the sinks. These waste pipes are foul pipes even when not connected with the drains, and if you do not have siphon traps immediately under the sinks, foul air will come in, especially during the night, and you will have a very serious nuisance caused in the house in this way. The same remarks about cisterns upstairs apply to cisterns in the basement. The water-closets in the basement are simpler forms of closets, and they are very frequently supplied from water cisterns by means of pipes which have merely a tap which you may turn off or on. This is a most mischievous plan, as the cistern may be emptied and foul air enter it. The closets in the basement, therefore, ought to be supplied by means of water-waste preventers, the best kind being the siphon-action water-waste preventers, which discharge two gallons of water as soon as you pull the chain. These “preventers” are not only to prevent the Grease Traps.—A much-discussed subject is the grease trap. In small houses it is not needed; but in large houses, unless some provision is made for catching the grease sent down the scullery sink, the drains will soon be choked. Eassie gives a caution against having the grease trap too large for its work, and as to the importance of cleaning it out regularly, say once a week. Disconnection Traps.—Whether the house drains into a sewer, a stream, a cesspool, or upon a piece of irrigation ground, one thing which must never be omitted is a disconnection trap or chamber between the house drain and the outfall. These traps—which should be placed close to the house—prevent any smell from the outfall passing into the house, and inasmuch as they have an inlet for the taking in of fresh air between the siphon and the house, this fresh air will course along the underground drains, and be discharged at the ventilating continuations of the soil pipes, or at the tops. 24. Disconnection Chamber. 25. Disconnection Chamber. Where the house is so large that the air inlet of these siphons would not suffice, the latter are replaced by a chamber as shown in Fig. 24. The sewage flows into the air chamber formed by the half-open pipe a, being ventilated through the grating b; thence it passes through the siphon c to the sewer in the direction of the arrow. There is a raking entry into the sewer side of the siphon at d, closed by a plug, thus preventing any smell from the sewer or drain beyond the siphon entering the air chamber a. If the sewers are at a great depth, the walls of the air chamber are made thicker, and a manhole is built the length of the open channel, an arch being turned over when the siphon is fixed, as in Fig. 25. The sewage passes from a through the siphon b to the drain c, d being the air inlet. (Eassie.) 26. Houghton’s Trap. One of the best modern traps is that introduced by Houghton (Fig. 26), in which the outlet a at the bottom of the gully can be pointed in any direction, and the inlet b to the basin c of the gully, forming a movable half, can be turned round to accommodate the entering waste pipe b; d is the open grating which covers the gully. Drains.—Tho drain itself is got at by opening down to it in the front area. It may be found to be an old brick-drain, in which case it ought to be taken out. Brick drains are pervious, they allow the escape of foul air, and with contaminated air rats also get in the house. Wherever rats can get, foul air can go; and rats coming in through these holes may carry with them the poison of disease, such as typhoid fever. Rats generally go to the larder, and carry with them often the poison Whether a brick drain or a pipe drain, it should be trapped before it is connected with the main sewer or cesspool. This trap, in the case of a brick drain called a “dipstone” trap, is a brick pit with a stone across it from one side to another, and dipped into the water which remains in the pit. The object of this stone is to prevent foul air coming into the house. As a matter of fact, the pit holds a large collection of foul matter and becomes a small cesspool, indeed, there is no difference between them. A drain may be made of glazed stoneware pipes, which may be joined together in one of several ways. They may be laid “dry,” i.e. without any jointing material between the ends, in which case they are, of course, not water-tight; or they may have clay in the joints, in which case you cannot fill them with water—that is to say, they will not hold water under pressure. (If you fill them with water, by plugging at the lower end, the water will come out at the joints.) Or they may be laid with the pipes the wrong way. When the joints are made with clay they will very soon become leaky; and when that happens, the water oozes through the joints, filth collects in the trap, and it gradually plugs up the whole drain from one end to the other. This may go on for years without being found out, and so cause the ground under the house to gradually become a large cesspool. This is an extreme case. Or they may be jointed with cement, and there are some other ways. They may be perfectly well jointed with cement, so as to be water-tight. The drains, then, should answer to this test, i.e. you should be able to plug them at the lower end, and fill them with water. They should not be under the house, if possible. In London we cannot help it as a rule. If under the house, the straighter the course of the drain the better. Do not let it wind about in order to get away from different rooms. The best thing is to have a straight course through and to see that it is water-tight. It should hold water like a teacup. The drain must not be directly connected with the main sewer or merely separated by a siphon trap; but there should be an air inlet into the drain between the siphon trap and the house. This opening may be of different kinds. The best kind is that of a manhole for access to the drain and trap (so that the trap can be examined and cleared out at any time); the air inlet should be a grating either over the manhole or in the nearest wall opening into a pipe leading into the manhole. People who are afraid of foul air coming out of these inlets put on a valve with mica flaps, so that the air can blow in, but foul air cannot go out. But, if there are no D traps under the water-closets and sinks, if the pipes are straight and sufficiently large ventilators are used, if the ventilating pipes go up above the roof and are not protected from the action of the wind, you will never find foul air coming out at the air inlet though you will find that fresh air is drawn in. There can be no accumulation of foul air, and the air that may be occasionally forced out is the last fresh air that has entered. Should you, however, find foul air coming out you will know that there is something wrong with the drain, that the drain or siphon is plugged, so that this air inlet becomes most valuable in pointing out when anything is going wrong. Brick drains, says Eassie, are variously shaped. The worst sections are those upon which two upright sides of brick have been built upon flat stones, so as to form a bottom, and then covered over with other flat stones, because the bricks can never joint tightly with the stone, and there is always a leakage going on into the surrounding subsoil. One great objection to brick drains is due to the fact that they cannot be constructed sufficiently small to meet the requirements of a house, and consequently are seldom found less than 9 inches in diameter, which is far too large a sectional area to properly drain a house. However compactly and well-burnt the clay has been made into bricks, a brick drain has only a certain life, so to speak, before its decadence begins with the usual attendant danger. Its lifetime is longer or shorter according to the subsoil in which it is placed, the material used as mortar, the gradient at which it is laid, the sewage One of the first proofs of the perishing of a brick drain, making it past redemption, is the appearance of rats. Rats will go always to that place which affords them most food; and it is the brick barrel drain which receives the washings from meat plates, and the grease from the scullery pots, which rats most commonly frequent. They will leave a drain, and nest themselves in the thatched roof of a farmhouse, and they will form whole villages under the floors of a town house. Rats generally find their way into houses by means of holes which have been formed in brick drains by the falling down of perished bricks from the arch, or owing to their having contrived to make a passage through the brick drain above the usual wetted perimeter. These rats, in the case of country houses, may come from the stables, the barns, or the brooks; but in town houses they chiefly emanate from the sewer. No matter whence originally derived, they soon become habituated to a house and its dainty scraps, and having once engineered their way thither, are seldom effectually dislodged, especially in country residences. As fast as a hole is discovered and stopped up, another is made by these persistent vermin, until the foul air evolved from the house drain becomes so distressful, and the rats so multiply, that some further steps are necessary in dealing with them. Where the evil has not yet grown formidable, traps are made use of, or poison; but this last is a dangerous resource, as the rats are apt to die underground and emit during decomposition, which lasts for months, the most horrible smells. It may be added that rats are remarkably clean animals, and will never allow their fur to come in contact with anything that cannot easily be immediately cleaned from it; hence, very often a dairy, larder, or granary is surrounded by a trench outside the brick walling to a certain depth, by broken glass and gravel, well grouted with tar. Never rely upon a siphon trap in the drain, as a means of keeping out these voracious and fast-breeding animals. They will eat even through lead pipes ? inch in thickness. Having shown the necessity for discarding brick drains underneath a house, Eassie next considers alternative clay-derived materials, such as pipes formed of baked clay, after the latter has been worked to a consistency which would not naturally allow of an escape of their contents. There are, however, two or three subdivisions of this class. First of all come those kinds whose ends are merely abutted together, and not, as at the present day, socketed at the joints. These are almost equally faulty with brick drains, because when once they are poisoned and become the habitat of life-destroying germs, their normal tone cannot possibly be recovered. The only kind of earthenware drains which ought to be permitted inside a house are glazed socketed pipes, well formed, well kilned, and properly laid down, the whole of the pipes having been set on a concrete bed, and afterwards covered over with properly made concrete, so as to prevent any possibility of sewage reaching the subsoil, and especially water-tanks. It is not every glazed socketed drain-pipe that is fit for laying down, for the most abominably shaped pipes are often met with. There are many makers beyond reproach, and there are scores of pipes showing patent methods of jointing more or less complicated. The majority of the improvements refer to the fast seating of the ends of the pipes in cradles, well covered in cement, and one especially much in use, Stanford’s, provides a ring of material fitting truly upon a ring of similar material in the socket of the pipe, so that when the two ends are put together, with a little grease or resin between them, the pipes fit closely in every direction, and require but little other luting. These pipes are generally adopted for use under a house, and ordinary socketed pipes for outside. Cast-iron drains are now very often used in place of earthenware pipes, and there is a great deal to be said in their favour, especially since the invention of several processes whereby the interior is prevented from rusting and scaling. Pipes of this material are useful underground in rows of houses, and wherever straight lines of delivery are obtainable, and compared with drain pipes of earthenware, with their necessary surrounding of concrete, they would prove not more expensive. Unfortunately, however, this system cannot always be adopted, unless the house has been planned with a view to this method of drainage; and in most houses it will be observed that the pipes would have to run in front of fireplaces and across doorways if above ground. When iron piping is used, great care should be taken with the jointing, to see that it is properly packed, and with material calculated to last as long as the pipe itself. Iron pipes with merely leaded joints are subject to galvanic action, whereby the iron, sooner or later, thins out by corrosion, the iron perishing by “abnormal local oxidation,” as has been very forcibly stated by B. H. Thwaite. When iron is contiguous with lead, a galvanic action is set up, and, the latter being electro-negative to the iron, the iron suffers. There ought, therefore, always to be an assistant packing in the pipe, and the majority of engineers make use of this. Eassie advises in addition, a luting of Portland cement with the other materials, which may include a previous stuffing of fibrous packing material together with the old-fashioned iron filings and acids. Given the best kind of drain to lay down, there is still the question as to where to lay it, and here lamentable errors are frequently made. The chief fault perpetrated in this particular is the laying of drains inside a house, when they might just as easily have been laid outside. When a drain is laid down, care is exercised to get the pipes as much as possible in straight lines; and at each departure from a straight line a manhole is formed, enabling any one to inspect the drain at any time, by lifting the manhole cover. If a lighted candle is placed at the bottom of the drain in the manholes, the freedom of the drain from obstructions can be ascertained by looking from manhole to manhole. These inspection chambers should be placed at every departure from a straight line, and where several drains junction together; thus each drain delivery is open to sight, and rods can easily be introduced up the drain pipe should any obstruction occur. These inspection chambers are always best protected by an iron manhole cover, fitting down perfectly into their iron frames, which are sunk into the stone floor. Most houses in connection with a large brick sewer have a “flap-trap,” just where the house drain enters into the sewer; this flap opens to allow the house sewage to enter the sewer, whereupon it should immediately close again to exclude foul air and rats from invading the house. They sometimes, however, do not shut closely, and in that case their action for good is almost at an end. A householder can have an occasional inspection made of the trap by the sewer men, by paying a small fee to the vestry. Precautions after Floods.—Dwellings which have been invaded by the waters should receive special care, so that those whom the flood has expelled should not occupy them before they have been made sufficiently healthy for habitation. They should first be cleaned out as quickly and thoroughly as possible, and freed from all dirt and debris deposited in different parts by the water. Continuous aËration and the most active ventilation are the best and most energetic agents. To increase these as much as possible, where it can be done, a large fire should be maintained on the hearth, and the doors and windows opened, so that the light and heat of the sun may contribute their part to purifying the air. At the same time care must be taken to dig a ditch 10-15 in. deep around each house, whose interior is in many cases below the level of the ground. It will also be well, after having torn down all plastering, which will be in a bad condition, to scrape to their bottom all joints in the walls, and to replaster them in the parts of the house most injured, and where bad deposits have principally accumulated. The floors, where such exist, should be carefully attended to, and the soil under them covered with a disinfecting substance, such as pounded charcoal, or sand, or else with an impermeable Great precautions should also be followed in the treatment of certain articles of furniture, such as beds and mattresses, which must be renovated or replaced, and which should never on any account be used until thoroughly dried. Sanitary treatment, such as adopted for houses, should be applied with no less vigilance to stables and barns. One peculiar feature it is important to note, though it can only be accidentally produced: it is the possible alteration of the water of wells and springs of potable water, in whose neighbourhood matter in a state of decomposition may have been deposited, or piles of excrementitious and organic debris, or sources of water supply which may have been contaminated by the contents of privy vaults. Attention should be directed to this danger. To disinfect cellars into which, by agency of the inundations, the contents of privy vaults may have penetrated, commercial zinc sulphate may be used, either by sprinkling it in powder in the cellar, or by watering the ground when the water has gone down with a concentrated solution of this salt. Concentrated solution of iron sulphate does well, but the disinfection is not so complete as with salts of zinc; it is, however, cheaper. VentilationVentilation.—The objects of ventilation are twofold—first to get rid of the poisonous gas (carbonic acid) exhaled from our lungs, and second to furnish a supply of life-supporting gas (oxygen, as it exists in fresh air) to our lungs. For healthy living, every adult individual requires at least 1000 cub. ft. of space, or a room 10 ft. square and 10 ft. high; into this room should pass 3000 cub. ft. of air every hour. In dwelling-rooms, and especially in bedrooms, the fireplace should always be left unclosed, and the flue or damper open for ventilation. The windows should pull down from the top, and a piece of wire gauze should be fixed along the open space at the top; or a pane of glass should be perforated with holes capable of being closed in stormy weather. All rooms, and especially sleeping apartments, should be well aired during the day. A good and simple test for impure air is to take a clear glass bottle with a glass stopper, holding about 10 oz., and wipe it carefully inside and out. On entering a room, the air of which you wish to test, stuff a linen cloth into the bottle and rapidly withdraw it, so as to allow the air of the room to enter the bottle. Then carefully place a tablespoonful of clear lime water in the bottle, and replace the stopper. Shake it for a few minutes; then, if the air is pure, the lime water will remain clear. If bad, and loaded with carbonic acid, the lime water will become turbid, or even milky. This is because lime and carbonic acid together form chalk, which gives the milky appearance. It must be remembered that this test has no reference to the ammonia which often exists abnormally in the bad air of towns, nor does it indicate the presence of disease germs or poisons due to paint, wall-paper, &c. A fire in an open fireplace is a good ventilator in a way. We may ventilate a room easily by raising the lower window sash, and by placing inside the frame a piece of wood 3-4 in. high, and 1 in. in thickness, and reaching from one side of the frame to the other. When the inside sash is brought down to rest on this piece of wood, it is thus raised 3-4 in. A current of fresh air moves inwards and upwards to the ceiling between the sashes, and if a piece of wood or glass, sloping upwards, be attached to the top of the lower sash, the current of air will be sent upwards to the ceiling, whence it will diffuse itself through the room. Draughts must be avoided; and it is wonderful how easily they may be prevented. Pettenkofer has shown that if air at ordinary temperatures does not move at a greater rapidity than 1½ ft. per second, its movement is not felt. What is needed, therefore, is some kind of screen that will not prevent the entrance of air, but that will break its force, divide its currents, and make it flow unfelt into the room. Perhaps the simplest plan of effecting this is the following: Open your window at the top to whatever degree is necessary to prevent closeness in the room, but if there is a draught open it wider still; place a little loosely-packed cotton-wool between the upper In the hot months it is worth while to bear in mind the plan adopted by Martin in order to keep the rooms of the sick in a state of freshness. This consists in opening the windows wide, and then hanging wet cloths before them. The water, as it vaporises, absorbs the heat, and lowers the temperature of the apartment by several degrees, while the humidity which is diffused renders the heat much more supportable. By adopting this plan, the inmates find themselves, even in the height of summer, in a freshened atmosphere, analogous to that which prevails after a storm. This fact is well known to and utilised by the natives of India. Another plan is to close all windows facing the sun and cover them with blinds or curtains, to exclude the sun’s rays and the heated external air. Carpets may be replaced by matting, and the latter may be sprinkled with plain or perfumed water. In very cold weather it is equally desirable to close all cracks and chinks against the influx of draughts. Cracks in floors, around the skirting board, or other parts of a room, may be neatly and permanently filled by thoroughly soaking newspapers in paste made of 1 lb. flour, 3 quarts of water, and a tablespoonful of alum, thoroughly boiled and mixed. The mixture will be about as thick as putty, and may be forced into the cracks with a case knife. It will harden like papier-machÉ. Old windows that do not close tightly may be remedied by smearing the edge on which they close with putty, and that of the sash with chalk, and then closing them as firmly as possible. The putty will fill up the crevices, and the excess pressed out at the sides may be removed with a knife, whilst the chalk prevents adhesion to the sash. A system in very general use is Moore’s patent glass louvre ventilator, consisting of a number of louvres (or slips of glass), which can be opened to any angle up to about 45°, thus always directing the incoming current of air upwards. They are easily regulated and secured by a cord, which when released allows the louvres to close practically air-tight. Moore’s circular glass ventilator, which consists of (usually five) pear-shaped openings, neatly cut in the window square, and fitted with a circular glass cover with corresponding holes working on a centre pivot, are also very effective for admission or extraction of air. Moore’s sliding ventilator consists of oblong vertical holes, with the cover sliding between guides horizontally, the principle being the same as in the circular ventilator, but it is more suited for the top of shop fronts or shallow fanlights. These are all made by J. Moore and Sons, Sekforde Works, St. James’s Walk, Clerkenwell Green, E.C. Another simple method of admitting fresh air to a room consists in leaving an aperture in the external wall, at a level between the ceiling of one apartment and the floor of the room immediately above, then to convey the fresh air through a channel from the external wall to the centre of the ceiling of the apartment below, where the air can be admitted by an opening, and dispersed by having a flat board or disc to impinge against, suspended 4 in. or 6 in. below the opening of the ceiling, and so scattered over the room. The cold air, however, thus admitted, plunges on the heads of the occupants of the room and mixes with the hot air which has risen near the ceiling. A top window-sash lowered a little to admit fresh air has the same disagreeable effect, the cold air being drawn towards the floor by the chimney draught, and leaving the hot air to stagnate near the ceiling. In any siphon system placed vertically the current of air will enter by the short arm, and take its exit by the long arm, and thus the chimney flue acts as the long arm of a siphon, drawing the fresh air from the nearest opening. Fresh air may be Butler recommends, while admitting the cold air through side walls near the floor level, and allowing the foul air to escape at the ceiling, that the fire draught should be maintained quite independent of the air inlet to the room, the requisite amount of air for combustion being supplied by a separate pipe led through the hearthstone with its face towards the fire, the latter acting as a pump, which is sure to procure its own allowance from the nearest source; thus the draught which would otherwise be felt by the fire drawing its supply from the inlet across the room is considerably reduced. The foul air may enter the ceiling in the centre, and be conducted by an air-flue either to the outside or to the chimney. The chimney is the best extractor, as its heated condition greatly favours the ventilating power. Dr. Arnott was one of the first to draw attention to the value of a chimney as a means of drawing off the foul air from the interior of an apartment. He invented a ventilator consisting of a well-balanced metallic valve, intended by its instantaneous action to close against down draught and so prevent the escape of smoke into a room during the use of fires. If the fire is not alight, what is known as the register of the stove should be closed, or a tight-fitting board placed in front of the fireplace, with the adoption of all chimney-ventilators fixed near the ceiling. 27. Harding’s Ventilator. Harding’s ventilators are better known in the north of England than the south. They are recommended by Pridgin Teale, surgeon to the General Infirmary at Leeds, as a means of securing freshness of atmosphere without draught, and free from all mixture of dust, soot, or fog. The outside air is conducted through a grate and aperture in the wall about 7 ft. 6 in. above the floor level, where it is made to pass through a series of small tubes fixed at an angle of about 30° with the wall. The currents of air are said to be compressed while passing through the tubes, but to expand and diffuse in all directions as soon as they are liberated into the apartment. In all filtering arrangements it must be remembered that if air is to pass through a screen or filter without retarding the current entering the room through a tube, the area of the screen must be greater than the area of section of the tube. This can be effected by placing the screen diagonally within the tube which admits the air. In some buildings the filter is dispensed with, and the apparatus is used simply to diffuse the air as it enters the room. An outlet for the vitiated air is provided by the chimney flue, either through the fireplace or by a mica valve placed in the flue near the ceiling. In rooms where Another system for admitting fresh air into a room, free from fog and other impurities, is that recommended by the Sanitary Engineering and Ventilating Co., 115, Victoria Street, Westminster. They provide for the introduction of fresh air in vertical currents by means of a suitable number and disposition of vertical tubes, varying in size, section, and weight according to each special case. The current can be regulated in amount by throttle valves, and the heated or vitiated air is removed by means of exhaust ventilators, placed directly over the roof or in connection with air flues and shafts. The exhaust ventilator is thus described by the makers: There are no working parts to get out of order, and no attention is required to ensure its constant action. In this respect, a great improvement is claimed over the numerous forms of revolving cowls, which require occasional lubrication, otherwise the working parts become corroded and the cowl ceases to act. They are made of circular or rectangular section, or other shapes to suit special circumstances. One great merit of the system is the element of length which is introduced by means of the tube arrangement, and thus a current is continually passing which diffuses itself over the room. The system admits of a patent air-cleansing box being built into the wall at the foot of the tube, fitted with special deflector plates and a tray to hold water or, when necessary, disinfectants. When the arrangements of furniture or fittings in a room preclude the use of vertical tubes fixed near the ground, they recommend the substitution of a ventilating bracket fixed at 6-7 ft. above the floor. This bracket may contain an air purifying or cleansing box; if required, a valve is provided for regulating the admission of fresh air, and a 9 in. by 6 in. hinged air grating to cover the opening outside. The air-cleansing box is illustrated in Fig. 28: a, inside of room; b, floor; c, trough or tray for holding water or disinfectant fluid; d, tube. 28. Sanitary Ventilating Company’s Ventilator. Boyle’s patent self-acting air-pump ventilators are well known, and are found to answer well in their continuous action under all varieties of wind pressure; they are often adopted without any inquiry being made as to the scientific principles on which they are constructed. They consist of 4 sections, each acting independently of the other. The exterior curve baffle-plate prevents the wind blowing through the slits formed in the immediate interior plates, and tends to concentrate the current. These interior plates are curved outwards, so as to take the pressure off the vertical slits, A somewhat similar arrangement to Boyle’s ventilator is patented by Arnold W. Kershaw, of Lancaster, and consists of 3 rims of deflectors or plates with openings in each, so arranged that the openings in one rim are opposite the deflectors in the next inner or outer rim, the effect being that whatever the direction of the wind, it passes through the ventilator without being able to enter the central shaft, and in passing creates a partial vacuum, which induces an upward current in the upcast shaft without the possibility of down draughts. Both Boyle’s and Kershaw’s roof ventilators are suitable for fixing in ventilating towers or turrets. While Kershaw’s is somewhat simpler in construction, Boyle’s is said to possess the additional advantage of preventing the entrance of snow by the curve in which the inner plates are fixed. In the case of chimney flues where there is any obstruction that breaks the wind and produces a swirl, such as would be caused by close proximity to higher buildings or raised gables, a down draught may be prevented by the use of a properly-constructed chimney cowl. Kershaw’s chimney cowl is a modification of his pneumatic ventilator, and consists of deflecting plates so arranged that there is no possibility of a down draught. Boyle’s chimney cowl is better known than Kershaw’s, and is very effective. It consists of deflecting plates so fixed that if a body of air is forced in at the false top, instead of passing down the vent, it is split up by an inner diaphragm, deflected over the real top, and passed over at the side openings, thus checking the blow down and assisting the up draught. Kershaw’s patent inlet and air diffuser consists of a tube connection between the outside and inside of an apartment rising vertically on the inside, the upper extremity having radiating plates, which diffuse the incoming current. Generally speaking, a sufficient amount of fresh air enters under the door to a room or between the window sashes or frames; but in apartments where doors and windows fit tightly, some arrangement for the admission of fresh air becomes indispensable. In this climate, during 7 months of the year, the external air is usually too cold to be admitted directly into the room. The plan of admitting fresh air to a space behind the grates, leading up the air through channels on each side of the fireplace, and ultimately passing it through perforated gratings within the wall or through perforations in the skirting board on each side of the fireplace cannot be commended, as the passages are apt to get choked up with dust, and the temperature of the air cannot be well regulated in its passage into the room. The true object of a fire and chimney flue should not be to supply fresh air, but to extract it after it has done its work. 29. Boyle’s Air-cooler. Fig. 29 illustrates Boyle’s arrangement for cooling the air entering a room in hot weather. It consists of an air-inlet tube of bracket form, made of iron. The part WarmingWarming.—In connection with warming an apartment, it is obviously a necessary condition that the warmth shall be conserved as much as possible. Hence there is an evil in having too much glass, as it cools the room too fast in the winter season: 1 sq. ft. of window glass will cool 1½ cub. ft. of warm air in the room to the external temperature per second; that is, if the room be warmed to 60° F., and the thermometer stands at 30° F. outside, there will be a loss of 90 cub. ft. of warm air at 60° per second from a window containing a surface of glass of 60 sq. ft. In colder climates than that of England, this subject is of much greater importance. In America, for instance, during the cold weather, there will always be found, no matter how tightly or closely the sashes are fitted and protected with weather-strips, a draught of cold air falling downward. This arises from the contact of the heated air with the cold glass, which renders the air cooler and heavier, and causes it to fall. The air, at the same time, parts with a considerable proportion of its moisture by condensation upon the glass. The cold air thus formed falls to the floor, forming a layer of cold air, which surrounds the feet and legs, while the upper part of the body is enveloped in overheated air. The layers of cold and warm air in an apartment will not mix. The warm air will not descend, and the cold air cannot go upward, except the one is deprived of its heat by radiation, and the other receives its heat by actual contact with a heated surface. This radical difference in the upper and lower strata of atmosphere of the rooms, in which people live during the cold season, is the prolific cause of most of the throat and lung diseases with which they are afflicted. Double windows to the houses, therefore, would not only be a great economy as to fuel, but highly conductive to human longevity. There are only two ways in which dwelling-houses can be heated, namely, by radiant heat and by hot air. The former is produced by the open fire, and by it alone. The latter is obtained in various ways. The question whether we shall use hot air or radiant heat in our rooms is by no means one to be lightly passed over. Instinct tells us to select radiant heat, and instinct is quite right; it is so because radiant heat operates in a very peculiar way. It is known that as a matter of health it is best to breathe air considerably below the natural temperature of the body—98° F.; in air heated to this temperature most persons would in a short time feel stifled. But it is also known that the body likes, as far as sensation is concerned, to be kept at a temperature as near 98° F. as may be, and that very much higher temperatures can be enjoyed; as, for example, when we sit before a fire, or bask in the sun. Now radiant heat will not warm air as it passes through it, and so, at one and the same time, we can enjoy the warmth of a fire and breathe that cool air which is best suited to the wants of our system. Herein lies the secret of the popularity of the open fireplace. But in order that the open fireplace may succeed, it must be worked within the proper limits of temperature. If air falls much below 40° F. it becomes unpleasant to breathe; and it is also very difficult to keep the body warm enough when at rest by any quantity of clothes. In Russia and Canada the temperature of the air outside the houses often falls far below zero, and in the houses it cannot be much above the freezing-point. Here the open fire fails; it can only warm air by first heating the walls, furniture, and other materials in a room, and these, in turn, heat the air with which they come in contact. But this will not do for North American winters; and accordingly in Canada Heat radiated from a fire passes through the air without increasing its temperature, in the same manner that the sun’s rays in warming the earth pass through and leave the atmosphere at the higher altitudes so bitterly cold that water and even mercury will freeze: it is for this reason that open fires should be lighted some time before the apartment is required for use, so that firstly a glowing fire be obtained (flames do not radiate any material quantity of heat, and practically heat by contact only), and secondly the surrounding objects, walls, &c., be heated by radiation, and these in their turn warm the air. In discussing the various methods of warming, it will be convenient to classify them under general heads. To put the reader upon a more familiar basis with this subject, a short explanation of the cause of heat will be here given. Combustion is the chemical union of oxygen (contained in the air) with some other substance for which it has an affinity; as applied to coal, it is the combining of oxygen and carbon producing carbonic acid gas, and it is known to every one that all chemical combinations evolve heat. Combustion may be said to be complete when coke, wood charcoal, or anthracite coal is burnt, as there is no smoke, the up current is colourless, and these fuels burn quite away, leaving nothing except a little ash, &c., which originally consisted of earthy impurities in the fuel. Ordinary coal contains bitumen (pitch) in its composition, which at a temperature of about 500° to 600° F., distils off as a smoky gas (carbon and hydrogen), but at a higher temperature this is ignited, forming flame by the union of oxygen with the smoke (carbon); the main principles of underfed, smoke-consuming grates are based upon this, with the object of causing all gaseous products from the fuel to pass through the incandescent portion of the fire and so render the consumption of the fuel complete, as will be explained later on. A good authority says that “the correct method of warming is to obtain everywhere, at will, the warmth most congenial to the constitution with air as pure as blows at the mountain top,” and it might have been added “without an unreasonable consumption of fuel.” Open Grate.—The ordinary open grate is too familiar to need any description, but it is wasteful of fuel to a degree that could only be tolerated in a mild climate where fuel was cheap. As a matter of fact, only some 10-12 per cent. of the heat generated in an open grate is utilised, the remainder going up the chimney. But this very fault is in one sense a virtue, in that it performs the ventilation of the apartment in an eminently satisfactory manner. By the addition of a contrivance for regulating the combustion in au open grate, the fuel consumption is much reduced, the combustion is rendered more perfect (diminishing or preventing smoke), the radiated heat is much increased, while the appearance of an open grate is retained, though it is in reality converted into an open stove. It would not be out of place to explain the cause of draught. After a chimney has been used, the brickwork surrounding and forming it becomes warmed and retains its heat for a very considerable period even if no fire is lighted; this heat is slowly radiated, and warms the air contained in the chimney, rendering it lighter and causing it to rise and flow out at the top; this is immediately replaced by cold air from below, which is warmed and rises as before, and so continues, causing an up current of air to be passing through the flue, its swiftness varying with the heat. The more intense the heat produced by the fire, and the greater the height of the chimney, the more swift is the current of air known as the “draught”; and when once the draught is established it will remain for a very long time without any fire being lighted. A good draught is not to be despised, as can be certified by those who have suffered from the annoyance of a smoky chimney; yet too strong a draught is a disadvantage, as consuming the fuel too rapidly, robbing the fire and apartment of its heat, and causing draughts of another kind, which materially cool the room and tend to cause discomfort; this only applies to the old form of grate, as all or nearly all modern grates have a means of regulating the draught; even the common and old form of grate is provided with a “register” or flap at the back, immediately over the fire (certainly not an economical position for it), through which the smoke passes into the chimney. This flap is provided with the view of having it full open to assist combustion when fire is first ignited, and afterwards partially closing it when fire is established, and so prevent undue loss of heat, but although this “register” is provided with every stove of its kind, it has not, nor never has had, any means of regulating it. If the reader has one of these stoves in his residence, as most probably he has, for they are still used in the upper rooms of nearly every building, he can by a simple experiment experience the benefit of regulating this flap. By placing a piece of coal, or stone, or metal, with the tongs, after the fire is established, at the joint or hinge of the register, and then drawing the register forward and letting it rest, so that it is closed all but about 1½ in., it will be immediately found that one-fourth or one-third more heat is thrown into the room, for a similar result is brought about as with the modern projecting or overhanging brick backs, which cause the heat to be deflected forwards which would otherwise have passed directly up the chimney. If an existing stove of this description be fitted with a rack adjustment for the register flap and with an “economiser,” an advance of 30 to 40 per cent. in economy and comfort will be experienced, for in the ordinary manner in which these stoves are fitted and used, it can be taken that one-half the heat passes directly up the chimney; a good proportion of the heat radiated is drawn back by the current of air proceeding from the room towards and up the chimney; a proportion is lost by conduction, the heat being passed away to the walls and surrounding parts, and a fair proportion is lost by the smoke, which is really unconsumed fuel; but this form of stove is improving rapidly in various ways, as will be described hereafter. Open Stove.—This subject has been most ably discussed by Dr. Pridgin Teale, in connection with the economising of fuel in house fires. His remarks will well bear repeating. “It is hardly possible to separate the two questions of economy of fuel and abatement of smoke. None who, in their own person, or as the companion or nurse of friends and relatives, have gone through the miseries of bronchitis or asthma in a dense London fog, can fail to perceive that this is a serious medical, not less than a great economical, question. Nine million tons of coal—one-fourth of the domestic fuel consumption in this kingdom—is what I estimate as a possible reward to the public if they will have the sense, the energy, and the determination to adopt the principles here advocated, and which can be applied for a very small outlay. Much has been said by scientific men about waste of fuel, and strong arguments have been advanced which make it probable that the most economical and smokeless method of using coal is to convert it first of all into gas and coke, and then to deliver it for consumption in this form instead of coal. Theoretically, no doubt, this is the most scientific and most “1. As much fire-brick, and as little iron as possible. “2. The back and sides of the fireplace should be fire-brick. “3. The back of the fireplace should lean or arch over the fire, so as to become heated by the rising flame. “4. The bottom of the fire or grating should be deep from before backwards, probably not less than 9 in. for a small room nor more than 11 in. for a large room. “5. The slits in the grating should be narrow, perhaps ¼ in. wide, for a sitting-room grate, ? in. for a kitchen grate. “6. The bars in front should be narrow. “7. The chamber beneath the fire should be closed in front by a shield or economiser. “There is one caution which should be given. There is no doubt about the fact that immediately beneath the fire the hearthstone is hotter, and the ashes remain much hotter when the ‘economiser’ is used. This may increase the risk of fire whenever wooden beams lie under the fireplace. In any case of doubt, the best plan would be to take up the hearthstone and examine, and relay with safe materials; but should this be impossible, safety may be secured by covering the hearthstone with a sufficient thickness of fire-brick, just within the space enclosed by the ‘economiser’—leaving a space of 2 or more in. between the fire-brick hearth and the bottom of the fire. In lighting the fire, if there be no cinders on which to build the fire, it is well to draw away the ‘economiser’ for a short time until the fire has got hold; but, if there be cinders left from the previous day, on the top of which the paper and wood can be placed, then the fire may be lighted with the ‘economizer’ in its place. There is a great art in mending a fire. It is wasteful to throw lumps of coal higgledy-piggledy on the fire. The red embers should be first broken up so as to make a level surface, then pieces of coal should be laid flat on the fire and fitted in almost like pavement; lastly, if the fire is intended to burn slowly and last very long, small coal should be laid on the top. An ‘economised’ fire so made will, in a short time, heat the coal through, and give off gases, which will ignite and burn brightly on the surface of the black mass, and when the gases are burnt off there is a large surface of red-hot coke.” 30. Kitchen Economiser. 31. Bedroom Economiser. The annexed illustrations show the application of the economiser. Fig. 30 is a kitchen range, a being the economiser and b the front damper. The latter should always be used in warm weather, unless the front of the fire is needed for roasting and should be put on at night. Fig. 31 is a bedroom fireplace having fire-brick sides a, fire-brick back b leaning over the fire, narrow front bars c movable, grating d with The “economiser” is a shield of sheet iron which stands on the hearth, and rises as high as the lowest bar of the grate, against which it should fit accurately, so as to shut in the space or chamber under the fire. If the front of the range be curved or angular, as in most register stoves, the economiser will stand, owing to its shape—but if the front be straight, the economiser needs supports such as are shown. “Ordinary economisers” are made of 16-gauge charcoal iron plate, with ? in. bright steel moulding at the top, ½ in. moulding at the bottom, and 1 or 2 knobs as required. “Kitchen economisers” are made of 16-gauge iron, with ½ in. semicircle iron at the top edge; and with supports in scroll form of ½ in. semicircle iron. Some makers use rather thinner iron plate and give strength by the mouldings. Some have used too thin plates, little better than tin, which have warped and so become more or less useless. Great care should be spent in taking the dimensions—as every grate has to be measured—as a foot for a boot. This renders it almost impossible to send orders to a maker by post. Some skilled person must take the measure, and take it accurately. The dimensions to be taken are: firstly, the outline of the bottom bar of the grate. If it be curved, or angular, the outline can be well taken by a piece of leaden gas-pipe, which, moulded to the outline can then be traced upon paper or carried carefully away to the makers; secondly, the height must be measured from the hearthstone to the bottom bar. This is the “economiser” in its simplest and cheapest form, as applicable to nearly every ordinary range. Ornament can be added to taste. It is obvious that the adaptation of the economiser need not displace the old-fashioned ash-pan, and that the two can be combined, or that the economiser may be made like a drawer and catch the ashes. All such variations will work well, provided that the main principles be adhered to of “cutting off the under current,” and “keeping the chamber under the fire hot.” But the simplest form is the best. 32. Some Modern Open Grates. Fig. 32 illustrates a few typical specimens of modern improved open grates devised to increase the radiation of heat and perfect the combustion of the fuel: A is a combination of Parson’s grate and economiser with a Milner back; B is Nelson and Sons’ “rifle” back; C is a Galton back; D, Jaffrey’s grate. “The Manchester Warming and Ventilating Grate” (E. H. Shorland, St. Gabriel’s Works, Manchester) is somewhat similar in principle to Captain Galton’s grate, i.e. the warm fresh-air inlet is at the ceiling, and the vitiated air is carried off by the chimney, or in some instances ventilation at a lower part of the room is provided. Fig. 33 will acquaint the reader with the details: a, fireplace; b, outer wall; c, inner wall; d, smoke flue; e, f, cold-air inlets; g, h, warm-air passages; i, inlet for cold or warm air into room. 33. Shorland’s Manchester Warm-air Grate Back. The shape of the back brick advocated by Dr. Teale (first invented by the celebrated Count Romford, to whom much is owing for the various means undertaken by him to promote the consideration of the question of improving our fire-grates and to abate the smoke nuisance) has since its discovery met with universal favour, and is coming into general use by all makers, as the expense of the stove is scarcely increased and its result in use is a most decided improvement. The actual shape or section of this brick varies with the different stove makers, but the result is the same; the brick is made to slope forward from the bottom up to about 15 or 16 in. high; at that height the top of the brick overhangs the bottom by about 5 to 6 in.; its section is appropriately defined by a maker, who likens it to a “dog’s hind leg.” Some makers shape the brick like a curved scallop-shell, inclining forward at the top; the effect is that as the heat ascends from the fire, it strikes or comes in contact with the projecting part, and rebounds or is deflected into the room; it is a similar action to that which takes place if an object, say a ball, is thrown upon a wall and comes in contact with a similar projection—it would bound off or be deflected. It would be impossible to describe all the existing improvements upon the ordinary or old form of open-fire stove (commonly known as a “register grate”), but the following are some that are tolerably well known and have a good share of favour. “The Abbotsford Slow-combustion Grate” (Mappin and Webb, Cheapside, London), which has now been used some years, was about the first recognised form of stove that had the bottom closed, so that the supply of air for combustion is carried through the front only. This is a great improvement (as explained by the economiser), by lessening the consumption of fuel without decreasing the efficiency or its heat-giving properties. The bottom of the fireplace is a solid fire-brick slab, and the chief property of this stove is truly named “slow combustion.” Many people have tried to apply this 34. Wharncliffe Grate. “The Wharncliffe Patent Warming and Ventilating Grate” (Steel and Garland, 18 Charterhouse Street, London, E.C.) Fig. 34, is an excellent form of grate, and is fixed back against the wall, wholly projecting into the room, an air-chamber surrounding the fire-box; this air-chamber is, whenever convenient, connected with the outer air by means of a pipe, and within the chamber gills or ribs are provided, attached to the fire-box (the principle and advantages of these gills or ribs, which are to increase the heat-giving surface and to prevent over-heating of air, will be explained under Gill stoves). When the fire is established, the metal of the fire-box becomes heated, which then heats the air contained in the air-chamber, rendering it lighter, whereupon it rises and flows out into the room through the perforations provided in the pattern of the ironwork; cold air immediately flows in to take its place, which is then heated, and passes out, so that as its name implies it is a ventilating as well as warming grate, and has the further advantage of the cheerful open radiating fire; but it must be remembered that with ventilating stoves there must be provision made for the removal of vitiated air, which in this case is taken up the chimney along with the products of combustion. Another improved form of warming and ventilating grate is that invented by and named after Captain Douglas Galton (makers, Yates, Hayward & Co., Upper Thames Street, London). The principle advocated in this instance is contrary to that generally adopted, insomuch that the warmed fresh air is admitted into the room near the ceiling, and the abstraction of vitiated air is performed through the grate by the chimney draught. This is an open-fire grate fitted within a mantel in the usual way, and is provided with an air-chamber at the back, and which is connected with the outer air as before explained. From this air-chamber a perpendicular shaft or flue is carried, terminating by being turned into the room with an inlet grating or louvre. As before explained, the air within the air-chamber is warmed, and rises and passes into the room close to the ceiling; from there it is drawn down towards the fire, and eventually passes up the chimney, so that there is always a current of warm fresh air from the ceiling downwards. There are as many advocates for this down-current system as for the up current, as in the Wharncliffe and others. The Captain Galton has had about 14 years’ trial, and is still largely used. A rather peculiar and advantageous action takes place, by the fact that the apartment becomes fully charged with fresh air and the supply for combustion and draught is not drawn from the crevices beneath doors, &c., so 35. Nautilus Grate. 36. Nautilus Grate. “The Nautilus Grate” (Jas. B. Petter & Co., Yeovil), Figs. 35 and 36, is, as the name signifies, shell-shaped. The products of combustion rise from the fire, and after revolving within the centre or axis pass off by two concealed flues at the back of the grate to a flue prepared in the back of the fireplace; the ashes fall through a small grating into a closed ash pan. The warmth radiated direct from the cheerful open fire and indirectly from the outer case is considerable, and the results are very satisfactory, as no heat is lost by conduction. This grate is also cleanly, economical, and portable. The back, cheeks, and hearth should be tiled; the extra expense is fully compensated for by the handsome appearance. 37. Eagle Convertible Grate. The “Ingle Nook,” Wright’s Patent (George Wright & Sons, 113 Queen Victoria Street, E.C.), Fig. 38, is a combination of all the most recent improvements, with two new features never before introduced into this class of grate, viz. the regulation of Special features and advantages. 38. PLAN through line C.D. Radiation and complete utilisation of the heat generated from all parts of the grate, as not only the heat given off from front of fire, but also all heat radiated from sides and back of grate, which is usually absorbed in brickwork, is here passed into warm-air chambers and thence into the room. Economy of fuel, with increase of heating power. Prevention of down-draught, and partial consumption of smoke. Simplicity of construction and fixing, so that easy access is afforded to all parts of the grate, more especially those likely to want renewing. Pleasing appearance of the ordinary open fire, with heating power of a warm-air stove. This stove being complete in itself can be fixed by any ordinary workman without removing the mantel-piece or in any way interfering with the decorations of the room. The whole construction and principle of the grate are so simple that they can be readily understood by reference to the plan and section annexed. The interior portion of fire-box is of fire-brick, and can readily be removed from the front without disturbing any other portion of the grate. The back leans forward, deflecting the radiant heat into the room, and contracts the throat of the flue so as to quicken the draught directly the fire is lighted, which flue then expands and is again contracted at the top by means of the damper. Less than half the quantity of fuel is required to warm any given space, and more than double the quantity of heat is given off than from an ordinary grate with the usual supply of fuel. By introducing a fresh-air flue where practicable the perfection of ventilation may be obtained. The cost does not greatly exceed that of an ordinary grate, and is very much below that of any other grate of this description at present in the market. See advertisement in front of title page. “The Rumford-Teale Grate” (made by Verity Bros., 98 High Holborn, London), is made nearly wholly of fire-brick, upon strictly scientific principles, as the name An improvement upon the Rumford-Teale grate is the “Eclat,” by the same makers, shown in elevation and section in Fig. 39. Its distinguishing features are a double flue (one for quick and the other for slow draught), and the projection of the fire in advance of the chimney breast. The figure shows: A, damper for regulating combustion; B, perforated fire-clay back; C, tiles to taste; D, economiser; E, ashpit; F, chimney breast; G, frieze; H, removable bottom grate with fine mesh; J, valve for regulating combustion. There are several forms of combined open- and close-fire stoves, which stand independent of any brickwork, and are generally known as “American stoves.” These stoves are good heat givers, ornamental, and have several advantages, and can be obtained at almost any hardware stores; they do not work upon strictly hygienic principles, as they are apt to get overheated when closed, and render the air unpleasantly dry; but this can be remedied to some extent by using a vaporising pan, as will be explained later on. 39. Éclat Grate. Éclat Grate. There is another form of open-fire grate that should be mentioned, viz. those that have the fire replenished by placing the fresh fuel underneath, and are known as underfed smokeless grates. This idea, which deserves high commendation, has been rendered practical, but cannot be said to be perfected yet. It originated in Dr. Arnott’s stove, which was made with the usual set of front bars fixed about 12 in. high from the hearth, and the space under the bars closed in front. The bottom of the fire, which is movable, is lowered down to the hearth and the space filled with coal: the fire is laid, and ignited on the top of this store of fuel. As the fire burns down, the bottom grating is raised by means of a lever bringing fresh fuel within the fire-basket, and this bottom is raised as often as the fire burns down; it will be seen that the gaseous products given off by the fresh fuel must pass through the incandescent fire, and so be perfectly consumed, and the space below the front bars is sufficiently large to hold fuel for one day’s consumption. “The Kensington Smoke-consuming Grate” (Brown and Green, Finsbury Pavement, London) is an underfed grate, and has received high commendation from good “Hollands’ Patent Underfed Grate” (Hollands & Co., Stoke Newington) is a still further improvement, and, except for a little complication in construction, may be considered the best in action and results. The advantages of underfed grates are, firstly, an abatement of the smoke nuisance, full utilisation of the fuel, and more powerful radiation from the top of fire, which is always incandescent. There is commonly no provision made for the supply of air for combustion, nor to replace that which is taken from the apartment by the draught in the chimney—the cracks and fissures around doors and windows sufficing for this purpose, is the too commonly general idea; but for perfection in warming upon hygienic principles, there must be a proper supply from external sources; but this will be more fully treated under Ventilation; it will, however, be noticed that some of the ventilating stoves make provision for this in themselves; this particularly applies to Captain Galton’s principle. Close-Fire stoves.—The old form of close-fire warming and ventilating stove is that known as the “Cockle.” It consists of a closed circular fire-box with a dome top and a similar shaped outer casing; between the fire-box and the casing is a space of a few inches all round, known as the air-chamber, which by means of a pipe is connected with the outer air. The action is similar to a flue; the air within the air-chamber, being in contact with the heated surface of the fire-box is warmed, and rises and flows out at the top through an aperture provided at the top (as explained with the Wharncliffe grate), or it is made with a nozzle at top to attach a pipe and carry the warm air wherever required, so making it a hot-air furnace, in which case it would be fixed in a basement or cellar as at the best it is not ornamental, but this primitive form of stove has gone somewhat into disuse. 40. Thames Bank Iron Co.’s Stove. Where a continual genial warmth is required at little cost in an apartment, the slow-combustion stove, such as that made by the Thames Bank Iron Company, London, (Fig. 40), may be employed. The external air is drawn in by a smoke-pipe channel and impelled through orifices in the stove. The smoke can be made to pass out at any level in the stove that may be found most convenient, but unless there is a high chimney shaft 25 to 30 ft., an underground flue connection is not recommended. The fuel, consisting of coke or cinders broken small, is supplied at the top, the ashes or cinders being removed through a sliding door at the base; a special soot-door is provided for clearing the flue before lighting the fire. This appears an appropriate moment to mention that additional results can be obtained from close-fire stoves, by carrying the smoke flue down, and just below the floor level, in a properly made channel, and covered by a grating, as with hot-water pipes. It is known that a good proportion of the heat must be carried away by the flue, so that by this means nearly the whole of the heat evolved by combustion can be utilised; but it is necessary to bear in mind that the Building Act prescribes that no hot-air or smoke-pipe shall be nearer than 9 in. from any woodwork or inflammable material, and it is necessary that the main flue be high, as a good draught is needed to withdraw this nearly cold smoke or vapour, and in many instances where the under-floor horizontal flue is of good length, a pilot stove or rarifier is necessary at the foot of Improved forms of close-fire stoves are as multitudinous as improvements in open-fire grates; they are made either wholly closed, generally called “slow-combustion stoves,” and are arranged to burn many hours without feeding; or, as convertible open and closed; the latter have the advantage of the cheerful radiating fire when open. “The Tortoise Slow-combustion Stove” (makers, Portway and Son, Halstead, Essex) is finding a ready sale and considerable favour, as maybe judged by the fact of its being obtainable at nearly any ironmonger’s. This stove, as with the majority of slow-combustion stoves, consists of an ornamental outer casing (cylindrical, square, or hexagonal), the height being about 2½ times the diameter; this casing is lined with fire-brick, and constitutes the fire-box; there is an ash-box and door below, in which is fitted a ventilator or damper to regulate the draught and speed of combustion. The fuel is supplied through a door provided at the top, and the smoke outlet is also placed near the top. In use, the fire-box is filled with coke and cinders, and the draught is regulated by the ventilator; it will then burn, and heat an apartment for many hours without attention. It is a very useful form of stove for greenhouses (in which case it would be fitted with a vaporising pan), halls, offices, &c., but hardly suited for living-rooms; the fire-brick lining tempers the heat, but if in use where children or dresses would come in contact, a guard must be provided. Slow-combustion stoves are made in a variety of forms, and the effect is very pleasing when externally fitted with tiled panels, &c. For slow-combustion stoves that are required to burn for a longer than usual period without attention a chamber or hopper is fitted on top to take a further charge of fuel; it is taper-sided and open at the bottom, very much like an inverted pail, but about 2½ ft. high. It will be readily understood that as the coke is consumed, the upper supply gradually sinks down until the whole is consumed; this would utterly fail with a fuel that cakes, such as soft or bituminous coal. 41. Musgrave’s Stove. “Musgrave’s Patent Warming and Ventilating Stove,” Fig. 41 (Musgrave & Co., Limited, 97 New Bond Street, London), is made upon the slow-combustion principle, to burn from 8 to 24 hours, but is much more highly finished than the last named, and is constructed in so many patterns and sizes as to be suitable for almost every purpose, from small dwellings to the largest buildings. The stove consists of an outer casing, within which is contained the fire-box and an air-chamber. The latter is provided with gills to increase the heating surface (see Gill stoves). The smoke and heat when leaving the top of the fire-box is carried down a flue-way to the bottom of the stove, and then up to the top again into the smoke-pipe; this flue-way is within the air-chamber, and so utilises the major portion of the heat passed into the flue; the fuel to be used is coke, which is the most suitable fuel for all slow-combustion stoves. For conservatories or where the air requires moistening these stoves are very neatly and effectually fitted with vaporising pans; and these stoves are also made to act as hot-air furnaces, and in combination with hot-water-pipe heating apparatus. Roberts’ patent terra-cotta stoves operate also by slow combustion and are self-acting, but possess the additional advantage of purifying and radiating the heat by the terra-cotta, which is contained between 2 concentric cylinders of sheet iron united at the base and top, the outer cylinder being perforated to allow of direct radiation of heat from the terra-cotta. The stove consists of 4 separate parts, namely, the stove body, its top or cover, the fire-box, which can be lifted in and out, and the stand, with draw and damper. The fire is lighted at the top and burns downwards, the air sustaining it being drawn upwards through the bottom of the fire-box and thence through the fuel. The stove can be placed in any position on an iron or stone base and connected with the nearest chimney flue by an iron pipe provided with soot-door elbows, care being taken to form a complete connection by abandoning any other open fire-grate in the room and screening it off by an iron or zinc plate. They emit no effluvium, as the terra-cotta gradually and completely absorbs all the caloric in its permeation through the shell before it is communicated to the outer air, which is thus warmed and diffused in a healthy condition over the room. The top of the stove is movable, so that the fire-box can be removed to be cleaned and recharged without moving the stove body, and a sand groove is inserted at the top where the cover rests, which is filled with fine dry sand to prevent any escape of smoke. Close-fire stoves, consisting of a strong iron fire-box, on to the outside of which is cast a series of vertical, parallel plates or ribs, are known as “Gill” stoves, as the plates or ribs referred to somewhat resemble the gills of a fish. These stoves are provided with a door for replenishing the fire, with ash-pan and ventilator below, and the iron base upon which the stove stands is made hollow, and has a series of holes or perforations opening between the gills, and provision is made for connecting the base with the outer air whenever convenient. It must now be explained that the object of the gills is to extend the heat-giving surface of the stove. It is known that iron is a very rapid conductor of heat, and consequently when the iron of the fire-box becomes heated, the heat is as quickly transferred to and felt at the extremities of the gills. It will be readily understood that only a certain amount of heat is given off by the fire, and the greater amount of metal it is transferred to, the lower must be its temperature; this is the chief and real advantage, as instead of a small volume of air being heated to a very high temperature, off a plane surface that would possibly get red hot, there is a larger volume of air at a lower temperature, and this has the further decided advantage that the air does not become unpleasantly dry, and the particles of dust, &c., in the air do not get scorched and burnt, and cause the unpleasantness commonly known as “burning the air.” A further advantage possessed by these stoves is that they are not so much a source of danger, as the size of the gills is so proportioned to the size of the fire-box, that in ordinary use they cannot become excessively hot, and this is especially desirable where children or ladies’ dresses, &c., might come in contact. These stoves can be obtained at any ironmonger’s or stove maker’s. A good form is that made by the London Warming and Ventilating Co., 14 Great Winchester Street, London, and is called the “Gurney” stove (Fig. 42). This is circular or cylindrical in form, with a dome top, and the gills, which are perpendicular, extend around the stove. A novel feature with this stove is that it is provided with a water-pan or trough carried round the base of the gills; when this pan is charged, the lower ends of the gills are immersed, and the heat that is conducted there causes the water to slowly evaporate. The advantage of a vaporising pan is this: before being warmed by an ordinary stove, fresh air holds a certain and proper amount of moisture, but as it becomes heated by such a stove the temperature is raised without proportionately increasing the moisture, It might be mentioned that 13 Gurney stoves have effectually coped with the problem “How to heat St. Paul’s.” 42. Gurney Stove. 43. Convoluted Stove. Another good form is “Constantine’s Convoluted Stove” (J. Constantine and Son, 23 Oxford Street, Manchester), Fig. 43. Instead of solid gills, there are a series of perpendicular convolutions which double the heating surface, and the makers’ claim to greater efficiency is no doubt correct. This stove, however, should be classed with hot-air furnaces, as it is not made in small sizes for direct heating; but for warming large buildings, churches, &c., for heating laundry drying-rooms, Turkish baths, &c., it is to be highly recommended. The German principle, which might advantageously be adopted to a greater extent in England, is to build a fire-brick structure with the furnace at the base and the flue winding from side to side 3 or 4 times, and terminating at the top into an ordinary brick chimney; this structure projects into the apartment and is covered with porcelain ware, and the appearance often exhibits great taste and skill, as it will be understood that the structure is not rigidly square, but is often very beautiful from an architectural point of view. The good effect experienced is that after 3 or 4 hours’ firing, the mass of brickwork becomes thoroughly heated and the fire is permitted to go out; communication with the chimney is stopped by means of a damper, and every confidence can then be placed in the stove giving out abundance of warmth for the remainder of the day, as the brickwork takes hours to become moderately cool, and the whole of the heat Hot-air Furnace.—The close stove is really a hot-air furnace, but it is restricted to heating the air in the room. Other hot-air furnaces are designed to obtain a supply of fresh air and heat it before passing it into the room. The heated air from a fireplace is available to the apartment for only about 12 per cent. of the total amount of heat produced; all the rest passes up the chimney. The close stove, on the contrary, utilises 85-90 per cent. of the heat produced, and loses through the smoke-pipe only about as much as the open fireplace saves—10-15 per cent. And herein lies the striking difference between the relative healthiness of the atmosphere heated by a close stove and an open fireplace. The amount of air which hourly passes through a close stove, heated with a brisk fire, is, on an average, equal to only about 1/10 the capacity of the room warmed, and consequently such stove requires, if unaided, 10 hours to effect a change of the atmosphere in every such apartment. Thus stagnant and heated, the air becomes filled with the impurities of respiration and cutaneous transpiration. Moisture, too, is an important consideration. The atmosphere, whether within doors or without, can only contain a certain proportion of moisture to each cub. ft., and no more, according to temperature. At 80° F. it is capable of containing 5 times as much as at 32° F. Hence, an atmosphere at 32° F., with its requisite supply of moisture, introduced into a confined space and heated up to 80° F., has its capacity for moisture so increased as to dry and wither everything with which it comes in contact; furniture cracks and warps, seams open in the moulding, wainscoting, and doors; plants die; ophthalmia, catarrh, and bronchitis are common family complaints, and consumption is not infrequent. But this condition of house air is not peculiar to stove-heat. It is equally true of any overheated and confined atmosphere. The chief difference is, that warming the air by means of a close stove is more quickly accomplished and more easily kept up than by any other means. Sometimes, by the scorching of dust afloat in the atmosphere, an unpleasant odour is evolved which is erroneously supposed to be a special indication of impurity, caused by the burning air. It is an indication of excessive heat of the stove. But the air cannot be said to burn in any true sense of the word, for it continues to possess its due proportion of elementary constituents. Such is the close stove and its dangers, under the most unfavourable circumstances. The essentials for healthy stove-heat are brick-lined fire-chamber, ventilating or exhaust-flue for foul air, means for supplying moisture, and provision for fresh-air supply. A brick lining is requisite for the double purpose of preventing overheating, and for retaining heat in the stove. For the supply of moisture the means are simple and easy of control, but often inadequate. An efficient foul-air shaft may be fitted to the commonest of close stoves by simply enclosing the smoke-pipe in a jacket—that is, in a pipe of 2 or 3 in. greater diameter. This should be braced round the smoke-pipe, and left open at the end next the stove. At its entry into the chimney, or in its passage through the roof of a car, as the case may be, a perforated collar should separate it from the smoke-pipe. For stoves with a short horizontal smoke-pipe, passing through a fire-board, the latter should always be raised about 3 in. from the floor. A smoke-pipe thus jacketed, or fire-board so raised at the bottom, affords ample provision for the escape of foul air. Hot-air furnaces are simply enclosed stoves placed outside the apartments to be An excellent plan for economising a good portion of the waste heat from a kitchen range is to have (previous to the range being fixed, or after, in some instances) a sheet-iron box or chamber made to fit at the back of the oven flues or wherever the most intense heat is felt. This box, which we may call an air-chamber, should be connected with the outer air, and a pipe for the warm air carried from the top of the box to the part where warmth is required; the heat from the range warms the air in the box and it ascends in exactly the same manner and upon the same principle as a hot-air furnace, but great care must be exercised to see that this box and all connections are made air-tight, or this plan will prove an unusually speedy means of indicating what is being cooked for dinner. The Americans adopt what is called the “drum” principle of heating by means of a furnace; they not only encase the stove with an air-chamber, but the smoke-pipe is surrounded with a larger pipe encasing it all the way up; the space between the smoke-pipe and the outer pipe is thus an air-chamber and has free connection with the furnace air-chamber, but of course is closed at top; from the chamber surrounding the smoke-pipe, branch pipes are taken to the apartments, terminating in perforated cylindrical “drums,” from which the heated air is emitted. It should go without saying that the air which passes from furnaces into living-rooms should always be taken from out of doors, and be conveyed in perfectly clean air-tight shafts to and around the base of the furnace. Preferably, the inlet of the shaft, or cold-air box, should be carried down and curved at a level (of its upper surface) with the bottom, and full width of the furnace. Thus applied, the air is equally distributed for warming and ascent through the hot-air pipes to the apartments to be warmed. On the outside the cold-air shaft should be turned up several feet from the surface of the ground, and its mouth protected from dust by an air-strainer. A simple but effectual way is to cover the mouth with wire cloth, and over this to lay a piece of loose cotton wadding. This may be kept in place with a weight made of a few crossings of heavy wire, and it should be changed every few months. And here, too, outside the house, should be placed the diaphragm for regulating the amount of cold-air supply, and not, as commonly, in the cellar. As the best means of regulating the temperature and purity of the atmosphere from hot-air furnaces, it is necessary to provide sufficiently large channels for both the inlet of fresh air and its distribution through the hot-air pipes. The area of the smallest part of the inlet (or inlets, for it is sometimes better to have more than one) should be about ? sq. ft. for every lb. of coal estimated to be burnt hourly in cold weather; and to A large heating surface of the furnace is a well-recognised condition of both economy and efficiency. As a rule, there should be 10 sq. ft. of heating surface to every lb. of coal consumed per hour, when in active combustion; and the grate area should be about 1/50 of that of the heating surface. For the deficiency of heat, or the failure of some of the hot-air pipes of hot-air furnaces in certain winds and weathers in large houses or specially exposed rooms, the best addendum is an open fire-grate. With this provision in northerly rooms, to be used occasionally, hot-air furnaces may be made to produce all the advantages of steam heat in even the largest dwelling-houses. 44. Boyle’s Warm-air Stove. Boyle’s system of warming fresh air is suitable where hot air, water, or steam pipes are not available. The arrangement (Fig. 44) consists of a copper or iron pipe a about 1½ in. diam. placed in an inlet tube b, preferably of the form of a bracket. This pipe is not vertical, as in the so-called Tobin’s shafts, but of zigzag shape, crossing and recrossing the tube from top to bottom, and so causing the incoming air to repeatedly impinge in its passage through the tube. At the bottom of the tube an air-tight chamber, so far as the interior of the tube is concerned, is fixed, in which a Bunsen gas-burner c is placed, the flame of which plays up into one of the lower ends of the pipe, the upper portion being about 5 ft. 9 in. from the floor. The other lower end of the pipe either dips into a condensation box d in the bottom of the tube or is continued into an existing flue or extraction shaft. If the pipe terminates in a box, the vapour is condensed there and carried off through the outside wall by means of a small pipe. At the bottom of the box is placed some loose charcoal, which needs renewing at intervals. This charcoal absorbs any products of combustion which have a tendency to rise. The heat thus passes through the entire length of the pipe, and warms the air as it travels through the tube to the room or hall as required. Heating by gas is now growing in favour, and under favourable circumstances is to be recommended. There are two general methods adopted; firstly, by gas fires, which are asbestos or metal made incandescent by gas heat; these are made either portable, or by fitting a specially made burner to an existing fireplace, and filling the grate with Lumb asbestos (which is made for the purpose, and when heated has the appearance of glowing coals); and secondly, by gas stoves acting upon a similar principle to a hot-air coal stove. The former are now made in great variety; they chiefly take the form of an ornamental iron frame, in the centre of which is fitted a fire-brick thickly imbedded in front with asbestos fibre; the burner beneath comes immediately under the front of the fire-brick, and when the gas is ignited, the asbestos at once becomes incandescent, making it of cheerful and fire-like appearance, and the fire-brick in a few minutes becomes highly heated, radiating its warmth into the room. This description of stove In nearly all gas fires and stoves the gas is burnt with an admixture of air (atmospheric gas, 1 of gas and 2 of air), by means of an atmospheric burner; this is not only a source of economy, but atmospheric gas has the very great advantage of being smokeless; but for this, a gas fire would be an impossibility; it must, however, be borne in mind that although smokeless this gas gives off products of combustion (carbonic acid, watery vapour, &c.), which must be carried away by a flue or other means. The portable stoves are always provided with a nozzle for attaching a smoke-pipe. There is still a doubt as to which is most economical, coal or gas: we cannot do better than quote the words of a well-known gas-stove maker, Chas. Wilson, of Leeds. He says, speaking of heating by gas: “It is not cheaper than coal, taking fuel for fuel and continually used, unless, as in the case of offices where labour has to be employed to light fires, clean grates, &c.; but it is cheaper than coal if occasionally used, as in the case of bedrooms, or sitting-rooms used by visitors, or rooms used by children for music, &c.; for bedrooms it is especially adapted for use for an hour or two at night or in the morning or for giving an unvarying heat all night. It is preferable in the matter of cleanliness, and a true solution of the smoke-abatement problem” (probably a coal-stove manufacturer would speak as much in favour of fire-grates). It should be seen when purchasing gas fires that they have silent burners, as some make an objectionable hissing noise when in use. 45. Calorigen Stove. “The Calorigen” Gas Hot-air Stove, Fig. 45 (Farwig & Co., 36 Queen Street, Cheapside, London), consists of an outer sheet-iron casing with a burner at the base inside, and proper accommodation for exit of products of combustion. A coil of good-sized sheet-iron pipe is affixed within the stove; the lower end of the coil is connected with the outer air and the upper end opens into the apartment, thus producing a free inflow of fresh air at any temperature desired, from 60° to 200° F. or higher at will. The chief advantage of a gas stove is the immediate lighting and extinguishing, and needing no attention. Another modern and very useful application of gas as a heating medium is the “Geyser” or rapid water heater for the supply of hot or boiling water to baths, lavatories, &c., or for business purposes where it is not convenient or desirable to fit up a circulating boiler (see hot-water apparatus). These heaters can be obtained from any ironmonger’s or gasfitter’s. The principle is somewhat different in the various makes, but it all results in the same thing, which is to bring a small volume of water in contact with a large heating surface. The apparatus is generally cylindrical in form. A cock is at one side for attaching the cold supply, and the heated water flows out from a spout at the other side; there is also a cock for attaching the gas supply; they are made in various sizes to supply and fill a bath three parts full of water at 100° F. in 5, 10 or 15 minutes, or to boil water at the rate of ½, 1 or 2 gal. per minute. These are extremely useful appliances where gas is available, being ready for use at a moment’s notice, and the water can be had at any temperature at will; with a modern and properly constructed “Geyser” the water is quite suitable for drinking purposes. The Marsh-Greenall Gas Heating Stove, Fig. 46 (makers, Greenall and Company, 120 Portland Street, Manchester), is both regenerative and radiating, the heat developed and utilised per foot of gas by this system being far greater than by the ordinary 46. Marsh-Greenall Gas Stove. 47. Eureka Oil Stove. Oil Stoves.—Warming stoves which burn oil fuel are to be commended for many purposes, but are not generally considered suitable for living rooms—bedrooms, for instance—unless the air is continually changed by open doors, &c., as there is a noticeable odour from the burning oil. Rippengille’s are considered the best, and are obtainable at almost any oil, lamp, or ironmonger’s store, or at the chief retail agents, the Holborn Lamp Co., 118 Holborn, London. Fig. 47 is their “Eureka” cheerful reflector stove, suitable for office or shop use. These stoves are adapted for warming conservatories where a high temperature is not required, as a very small stove will suffice to keep the frost out; they are also suitable for servants’ bedrooms and attics where no fireplaces exist. They are made with metal (unbreakable) oil containers, which slide out for lighting, trimming, &c., and they burn the ordinary petroleum oil; it naturally follows that the better and more refined oils give the best results with these stoves, with less liability of smell. Flues.—It will not be out of place to give a short treatise upon flues, as the flues in a residence govern the efficiency of the stoves and the comfort of the whole household. There is a common error in blaming the flue for all faults. It can be asserted that half the smoky chimneys are in no way the fault of the flue at all, and when a smoky chimney does exist, nearly every one flies to the chimney top with some device to govern the wind, and this in very many cases is a total failure. Flues are now generally constructed of two sizes, 9 in. and 14 in. A 7 in. flue would be sufficient for most warming stoves, but it has to be borne in mind that the accumulation of soot quickly diminishes the size internally, so that they are now never built less than 9 in. internal diameter. In building a residence, the following plan is often adopted when cheapness is not the primary object, that is, to build the usual square brick chimney, and within this to carry up a 9 in. flue of glazed earthenware The very general cause of smoky chimneys is that the chimney top is below the level of some adjacent building, tree, or other object that obstructs the free passage of the wind. In this instance the trouble is only experienced when the wind is in certain quarters, and sometimes this can be cured by a wind-guard or cowl (no particular make can be recommended, as their efficiency differs under different circumstances); but the only reliable remedy is to raise the chimney either by pipe or brickwork to the required height. The manner in which the annoyance is brought about is, that when the wind passes over the chimney top its progress is arrested by the higher object, and it may be said to rebound (the action is rarely quite alike in any two instances), causing either a portion of the gust to pass a short way down the chimney or to momentarily stop the up draught; this will be noticed by the gusts of smoke that come from the stove into the room. When the smoke slowly oozes into the room, it is caused by sluggish draught, or often by the construction of the grate. If the grate has considerable distance between the fire-bars and the opening into the chimney above, it permits the heavy cold air to accumulate and obstruct the heated up-flow from the fire; this generally is only noticeable when the fire is first lighted or heavily fed. It is exactly the same result as is experienced with the old-fashioned open kitchen ranges, which nearly always require a sheet of metal or “blower” across the opening to prevent their smoking. The above-mentioned grates require a strong draught to work them perfectly; or if a strong draught does not exist, a small piece of sheet-metal should be provided to fit over the open space above the front bars when necessary to establish the fire, as explained with the “Eagle” grate. Sluggish draughts are from a variety of causes, among which might be named, insufficient height of chimney; chimneys which by any cause may become damp or cold, or lose their heat rapidly; leakages, holes or fissures, and a variety of causes too numerous to mention here. The interior surface of a chimney should be as smooth as possible, and should be swept at regular and moderately frequent intervals, otherwise the draught will be reduced. Every fireplace should have a distinct and separate flue; sometimes two fireplaces can be successfully worked into one chimney, but provision must be made for tightly closing off either one when not in use. Hot Water.—Heating by means of the circulation of hot water has been in vogue many years, but has not found favour for warming living-rooms and apartments, owing chiefly to the want of the air of comfort, and the warmth is not quite so agreeable as that radiated from an open fire; but this mode of heating is especially well adapted for conservatories, cold halls, public buildings, &c., as the heat-giving surface can be extended wherever desired, and so heat the place equally throughout; and upon the low-pressure system there is no danger, as the water cannot heat higher than boiling-point, 212° F., an advantage that the hot-air system does not possess. The principle and cause of hot-water circulation will be found fully described under hot-water apparatus; but in this arrangement there are no draw-off taps, the services being for circulating only. For small purposes the apparatus can be attached to the ordinary bath boiler of the kitchen range; but there is a serious disadvantage in this when the heat is for conservatories or where warmth is particularly required at night, as that is the time when the kitchen fire is not in use. For larger purposes, independent boilers are used, varying in size according to the requirements. Portable boilers with fire-box, &c., complete, can be obtained almost anywhere, and most slow-combustion stoves (the “Tortoise,” for instance) can be fitted with boilers for this purpose. It will be understood that these boilers do not require cleaning out like kitchen-range boilers, as there is no appreciable deposit, the same water being heated day after day and only losing say a quart per month by evaporation. The arrangement for a hall with an independent boiler is to have several horizontal pipes suitably fixed one above the other and known as a “coil,” from which the heat is radiated, and this coil is connected by a “flow” and “return” pipe with the boiler: a small cistern of about 2 gallons capacity is connected with, and fixed a little above the level of the highest part of the coil in some convenient place. The apparatus is charged through this cistern, and a small quantity of water is added thereto periodically to make good loss by evaporation and to keep the coil full; these coils are usually covered with an iron grated casing, with a metal, slate, or marble top, which is both a useful and ornamental adjunct to the hall. For conservatories the coil is not used, the radiating pipes being run along the wall near the ground; a portion of the pipe has a shallow open trough cast upon it, and this is filled with water. As the apparatus becomes heated, evaporation takes place, and this saturates the air, moisture being essential for this purpose. For public buildings, &c., coils are sometimes used; but more often the pipes are run in grated-topped channels just beneath the floor, the grating being level with the floor-boards; they are taken around or across the building, as is most desirable to obtain an equable heat. The radiating pipes, whether single or forming coils, are generally 4 in. diameter, of cast iron (cast iron being a better conductor or dissipator than wrought), and at the highest point m the apparatus a hole is drilled and a small cock is inserted; this cock is opened when charging, to allow of the free escape of the air in the pipes, and it is sometimes of service to discharge any steam that is generated. The pipes are made with a socket at one end, into which the plain end of the next pipe is inserted and packed with yarn, &c.; but a modern and rapid method of joining the pipes is that patented and manufactured by Jones and Attwood, of Stourbridge; this joint consists of two flanges with indiarubber packing between, which makes a perfectly secure joint by tightening the flanges together; in this method the ends of the pipes are of equal size. As explained, the principle of circulation is exactly the same in this as in a domestic hot-water supply apparatus. The most popular form is that known as the Desideratum. The makers have also introduced a singularly useful tool for cutting all pipes from 2 to 13 in. diameter. High-pressure Heating, or which might be correctly termed steam heating, consists of piping wholly, the pipe is smaller and of wrought iron unusually strong, and a coil of it placed within the fire-box fulfils the duty of a boiler (no boiler or large container can be used on account of high pressure); from the furnace coil the pipe is carried wherever required, a small quantity of water is put within the apparatus and the air is driven out, after which the apparatus is sealed or closed air and steam tight. When the heat is applied, the water quickly forms steam, which at once finds its way throughout the apparatus and heats it to a much higher temperature than boiling water; and there is comparatively no danger whatever pressure is exerted, as at the worst the pipe only splits, and no disastrous explosion can occur; but this mode of heating cannot be recommended, as it rarely works for any length of time without requiring attention or repairs. Bacon’s system of heating by water under pressure (J. L. Bacon & Co., 34 Upper Gloucester Place, London, N.W.) is very good, as the pressure is regulated by a valve, and the temperature and pressure never become excessive. This system is worked by small, strong wrought-iron pipes, and the apparatus is wholly filled with water. The great convenience of the small-pipe system recommends it for all purposes, as it can be carried into almost inaccessible places, and can be utilised for warming air, as it passes through inlet ventilators, and for small drying and airing closets, towel dryers, and for numberless small but exceedingly convenient purposes which large cast-iron pipes would be very unsuited for; and the advocates of this system contend that as much heat is radiated from their small pipes as from the ordinary large ones, as the former are heated The subject of a supply of hot water for baths and other purposes will be discussed in the chapter dealing with the Bath-room. See also p. 995. Steam Heat.—Steam heat may well be compared with stove and furnace heat. Stove heat corresponds to direct radiation by steam, and furnace heat to indirect. The supply of fresh air from the outside to and over the hot-air furnace, and through hot-air flue into the rooms through registers, is virtually the same as when it is conveyed by means of steam-heated flues in the walls. Exhaust flues, for getting rid of foul air, are equally essential. The stove, as representing direct radiation in the same manner as the steam coil, or plate, in the room, has the advantage over the latter of some exhaust of foul air, however little, even when the smoke-pipe is not jacketed, for the steam heat has none. In comparison with open-stove heat, steam heat is at still greater disadvantage; for open stoves supply all the qualities of complete radiation—the introduction of fresh air and the escape of foul—to a degree wholly unattainable by steam heat, whether direct or indirect, or by hot-air furnaces, which always require special provision for the escape of foul air. The advantage of stove and furnace heat over steam may be summed up thus:—It is more economical, more uniform, more easy of management, more suitable for small areas to be warmed, and is free from the noises and dangers of steam. Irregularities of the fire in steam heating are a constant source of inconvenience, and sometimes of danger. The going down of the fire during the night-time, or its neglect for a few hours at any time, is followed by condensation of the steam. On the addition of fuel and increase of heat, steam again flows quickly into the pipes where a partial vacuum has formed, and here, on coming in contact with the condensed water, it drives the water violently, and creates such shocks as sometimes occasion explosions; or, at least, produces very disagreeable noises and general uneasiness, and frequently causes cracks and leaks. Hence direct steam heat, which for warming purposes alone is altogether superior to indirect, has been well-nigh abandoned. Indirect steam heat places the leaks out of sight, but they commonly lead to mischief, and require special and expensive provision for access and repair. Chemical Heaters.—Many salts in solution are capable of absorbing a considerable amount of heat and slowly giving it off as they resume a crystalline state. That most generally used is soda acetate, but an improvement consists in mixing 1 lb. of soda acetate with 10 lb. of soda hyposulphite, the latter assisting the melting of the mass and retarding crystallisation. The mode of applying this principle is to nearly fill a sheet copper or other metallic vessel, such as a foot-warmer, with the solution, and seal it up. When required for warming purposes, the vessel is placed in boiling or hot water till the contents are quite fluid, after which it may be used as a source of heat for 12-15 hours. Obviously the vessel may be placed in an ornamental structure resembling a stove, or used as a foot-warmer, or a muff-warmer, and in many other ways where fire is inadmissible. Hints on Fuel, &c.—Suggestions for materials which may be used to eke out a scanty supply of coal cannot fail to be useful. One plan consists in well bedding lumps of chalk under small coal. This gives a long-lasting fire, but is apt to emit an unpleasant odour. Another plan is to make clay fire-balls, using common clay, coal dust and cinders with sand, in about the following proportions:—1 cwt. coal dust, 2 cwt. sand, 1½ cwt. clay, well mixing the ingredients, shaping into fist-like lumps, and drying over night before the fire; to be put on when the surface of the fire is clear. Some further hints for reviving fires will be found under the Sick-room. LightingLighting.—The illumination of a dwelling is a most important consideration, as regards comfort and health. Daylight.—Natural lighting is provided for by windows. The window area of a room should be well proportioned. In dwelling-rooms, it may amount to half the area Luminous Paints.—Several bodies possess the property of absorbing a certain amount of light and emitting it slowly. The most important of these is calcium sulphide. This property has been utilised by mixing the mineral with paint as a covering for surfaces where the light is required. The illumination, however, is very feeble. Candles.—Candles will long retain a place in domestic lighting from their safety and convenience for carrying about. At the same time they are an expensive source of light, and not very powerful. It may here be mentioned that there is a right and a wrong way of blowing out a candle. If the candle is held on a level with the blower’s mouth, or blown down upon, as usual, as it stands on a shelf or table, the wick will smoulder and smoke till the room is filled with its disagreeable smell, and the wick burned away so that it can be lit next time with difficulty. If the candlestick is held well above the blower’s head, and the flame blown out from below, the ignited wick will almost immediately be extinguished, and no trouble will be found in re-lighting the candle. Avoid cheap candles; they burn rapidly to waste and play havoc with clothes and furniture by “dropping.” The best form of candlestick yet introduced is the “silver torch,” made by Wm. Nunn & Co., 204 St. George Street, London, E. By this the candle is converted into a lamp, with or without a globe as desired; the candle is completely consumed, leaving no ends, and guttering and dropping are quite prevented. Nightlights should always be burned under a glass shade, such as Clarke’s. Oil Lamps.—All lamps intended for burning animal, vegetable, or mineral oils as illuminants should have the following objects in view:—To supply oil regularly to the wick; to apportion the supply of air to the description and quantity of oil to be burnt; to provide simple means for regulating the height of the wick, and consequently, the flame; and finally, to place the burning portion of the lamp in such a position as not to be obscured by the reservoir and other portions. The oldest lamps, as the antique Etruscan, and the cruisie of Scotland, were on the suction principle, and the wick depended for its supply upon its own capillary action. As the level of the oil was constantly varying, so the light varied also, and the first attempts of inventors were directed to maintaining an equal level of oil. The bird-fountain and hydrostatic reservoirs partly attained this end, and the Carcel and Moderator systems were perfect of their class, mechanical or pressure lamps. It is evident that suction lamps depend for their efficacy upon the gravity of the combustible. A spirit lamp, with a good wick, will burn very well, though the wick be several inches above the liquid. With liquids volatilising at low temperatures, there is always a danger of the formation of explosive mixtures. In the Silber lamp the burner is a simple aggregation of concentric tubes. The use of these, especially of the innermost, bell-mouthed pipes, becomes very apparent in the lighted lamp. Remove the interior tube, and immediately the flame lengthens and darkens, wavers and smokes. The current of air which is, by this internal conduit, directed into the interior flame surface, is the essential principle of Silber’s invention. The wick is contained in a metal case, surrounded by an air-jacket, which passes down the entire length of the lamp, leaving a small aperture at the base, through which the oil flows from the outer reservoir to the wick chamber. Thus, by the interposition of an atmospheric medium, the bulk of the oil is maintained throughout at a low temperature; 2 concentric bell-mouthed tubes pass down the interior of the wick case, and communicate with the air at the base of the lamp, which 48. Hinks’s Safety Lamp. The many fires and fatal accidents arising from explosions of mineral oil lamps has drawn official attention to the subject of rendering them safe. Sir F. Abel has stated that all channels of communication between the burner and the reservoir of mineral oil lamps should be protected on the principle of the miners’ safety lamp; he added that a simple arrangement which effected the desired object “with perfect safety” was to attach to the bottom of the burner a cylinder of wire gauze of the requisite fineness, which prevented the transmission of fire from the lamp flame to the air-space of the reservoir. Acting upon this suggestion, Hinks and Son, 60 Holborn Viaduct, have introduced a wire-gauze cylinder for use with their duplex lamps, which renders them absolutely safe. Another advantage with their lamps is the ease with which they are lit and extinguished, as shown in Fig. 48: for lighting, a turn of the thumb-key a gently raises the cone, globe, and chimney, giving free access to the wicks; to extinguish them, it is only necessary to press the lever b. The Defries safety lamp (Defries Safety Lamp and Oil Co., 43 Holborn Viaduct) is attracting much notice, on account of economy, safety, and illuminating power. The construction of the lamp is such that neither ignition of the vapour, nor outflow of the oil in the event of the lamp being overturned, can occur. Moreover, the oil reservoir, being of metal, is not liable to fracture. It therefore follows that the risks attaching to the employment of mineral oils as illuminating agents in lamps of the ordinary description are non-existent in this lamp. The light emitted is remarkably white, the flame is perfectly steady, and the combustion is effected without the production of the slightest odour or smoke. Results of photometric tests by Prof. Boverton Redwood were more favourable than any he had hitherto obtained with mineral oil lamps of other forms. The illuminating power is, for the size of the burner, in each case very high, while the consumption of oil per candle light per hour is remarkably small. The products of combustion are odourless, even when the normal size of the flame is much reduced by lowering the wick. Any mineral oil, as well as the Defries safety oil, can be used in these lamps. This is quite odourless when spilled or heated, requires a temperature of 308° F. (or 96° F. above the boiling point of water) for its ignition, and does not vaporise below 270° F. Such oil is no more inflammable than colza oil, and is moreover free from the risk of spontaneous combustion. Its price is 1s. 6d. per gal. The absolute necessity for using, in any and every lamp, the most refined and safest grades of mineral oil cannot be too seriously insisted upon, Cheap low oils mean personal risk. Gas.—Though gas is long since established as one of the most successful and general illuminants, it is surprising what ignorance exists as to the simple rules which should govern its use. This section is not intended for the guidance of the professional gasfitter, yet some of the points to be noticed are really within his province, and are mentioned because the householder should be in possession of such knowledge as will enable him to discover or prevent faulty work. Coal gas, being much lighter than air, flows with greatest velocity in the upper floors of houses; hence the supply pipe may diminish in size as it rises, say from 1¼ in. at the basement to ¾ in. on the 3rd floor. At a point near the commencement of the supply pipe it should be provided with a “siphon,” which is simply a short length of pipe joined at right angles in a perpendicular position and closed at the lower end by a plug screwed in. As all gas-tubes should be fixed with a small rise, this siphon will collect the condensed liquids, which may be drawn off occasionally by unscrewing the plug end. When the lights flicker, it shows there is water in the pipes: the siphon prevents this. The number of gas-burners requisite for lighting a church or other large building may be computed thus. Take the area of the floor in ft. and divide by 40, will give the number of fish-tail burners to be distributed according to circumstances. Example: a church 120 ft. long by 60 ft. wide, contains 7200 ft. area; divided by 40, gives 180 burners required for the same. Burning gas without a ventilator or pipe to carry off the effluvia, is as barbarous as making a fire in a room without a chimney to carry off the smoke. If a pipe of 2 in. diameter were fixed between the joists, with a funnel elbow over the gaselier, and the other end carried into the chimney, it would be a general ventilator. Of course, an open ornamental rosette covers the mouth of the tube; or an Arnott valve ventilator over the mantelpiece would answer the same purpose. In turning off the gas-lights at night, it is usual, first, to turn off all the lights, except one, and then turn off the meter main cock, and allow the one light to burn itself out, and then turn it off. The evil of this system is this,—by allowing the one light to burn itself out, you exhaust the pipes and make a vacuum, and of course the atmospheric air will rush in. The proper way is to turn off all lights first, and finally the meter, thus leaving the pipes full of gas and ready for re-lighting. These few remarks have been derived from Eldridge’s ‘Gas-Fitter’s Guide,’ an eminently useful and practical handbook. It was formerly the practice to make all gas-burners of metal; the openings, whether slits or holes, from which the gas issued to be burned being small, in order to check the rate of flow. This was an error, for heat and light go together, and the metal, being a good conductor of heat, kept the lower part of the flame cold. The part of burners actually in contact with the flame is now invariably of some non-conducting material, such as steatite; and the effect of this simple improvement is most noteworthy. Bad burners show a great proportion of blue at the lower part of the flame, and the upper or luminous portion is small and irregular in shape, and dull in colour. These effects are due to gas issuing at too great velocity from small holes in burners, as well as to improper material in the latter. The illuminating power of coal gas depends upon the incandescence, at the greatest possible heat, of infinitesimal particles of carbon which it contains, invisible until heated. In the lower, or blue portion of the flame, the heat is not sufficient to render these particles incandescent; and it is necessary that this effect should be secured at the nearest point to the burner. Unless this is done, the light is not only lessened, but the unconsumed carbon passes off and is deposited as soot on ceilings and furniture. Blackened ceilings are a measure of the badness of the burners. It will now be seen why a material which cools the flame should not be used for a burner, for the hotter the flame, the more perfect is the incandescence of the carbon for which in reality the consumer pays, and the less danger there is of blackened ceilings. But in addition to the better material, the construction of even the cheapest Clustering of gas-lights is bad. All parts of a room should be as nearly as possible equally lighted, the only noteworthy exception to this rule being in the case of a dining-room, where concentration of light upon the table is not only permissible but is even demanded. Hence in most cases wall brackets give the best effect, and such masses of light as are afforded by pendants of many arms are to be avoided, or are only required in very large rooms where portions of the floor area would otherwise be insufficiently lighted. When it is desired to light a drawing-room with wax candles—than which nothing is more beautiful—they are distributed wherever support can be found for them. As every gas flame may be considered equal to 12 or 15 candles, with all their wicks together, the inadvisability of further concentration is evident. In fact, gas is if anything too brilliant for living-rooms, and if it were always properly distributed, many a dimly-lighted apartment would be perfectly illumined with the same number of burners which, when massed, appear insufficient. Where concentrated ceiling lights are needed for dining-rooms, many-armed pendants are seldom satisfactory, owing to the shadows which most of them cast. In these cases a single powerful argand light in a suitable reflecting pendant, or a cluster of flat flames similarly provided, will give a better result than the usual branched chandelier, and with a material saving in gas. For it is a curious and valuable property of gas, that large burners can be rendered much more economical in proportion than smaller ones. Thus, if the 4 burners of a branched chandelier give altogether the light of (say) 50 candles, the same illuminating power may be obtained from a greatly reduced quantity of gas when concentrated in a single burner of the most improved kind. With regard to the smaller flat flames, which are the most general for ordinary lighting, the selection of glass globes is a very important matter. It may be said at once that all the old-fashioned style of glasses, with holes in the bottom about 2½ in. diam., for fitting into the brass galleries of the older pattern pendants and brackets, are objectionable. The reasons for this condemnation are few and simple. It seems never to have occurred to the makers of these things that the gas flames inside the globes are always wider than the openings beneath them, through which the air required for combustion passes; and that, as a rule, the light of the flame is required to be cast downward. Gas flames always flicker in these old-fashioned glasses, because the sharp current of entering air blows them about. And the light cannot come downward because of the metal ring and its arms, and the glass, which is always thicker and generally dingier at this part of the globe. Perfectly plain and clean glass absorbs at least 1/10 of the light that passes through it; ground glass absorbs ?; and the ordinary The degree to which the luminosity of gas is utilised depends very largely upon the burner, people too often setting down as the fault of the gas, defects which should really be ascribed to the burner. In 1871, the Commission appointed by the Board of Trade to watch over the London gas supply, and whose prescriptions in these matters are more or less recognised by the whole country, made an examination of a collection of gas-burners from a large number of sources, and including those in general use. The greater portion of these gave only ½, some even only ¼ of the light that the gas was actually capable of affording. Two points very often neglected are: (1) that the size of the burner should be proportionate to the quantity of gas required to be consumed by it, and (2) that the gas should issue at a very low velocity. In good argands, the pressure at the point of ignition is almost nil; and in flat-flame burners, the pressure should be only just sufficient to blow the flame out into the form of a fan. It is also very necessary that the body of the chamber below the point of ignition should be of material with low heat-conducting power, so that the gas may undergo no increase in volume which would occasion a proportionate increase of velocity, and that the heat may not be conducted away from the flame. To establish this, Evans had 2 argand burners made, differing only in that one had the combustion chamber of brass, and the other of steatite. The latter gave more light than the former in the proportion of 15 to 13 for the same quantity of gas. As another example a No. 8 metal flat-flame burner, consuming 5 cub. ft. of gas per hour, gave a light equal to 11·5 candles, while a steatite burner of corresponding size, with non-conducting combustion chamber, gave 14·6 candles. Another metal burner of a description somewhat generally used, gave about ? of the light that the gas was capable of yielding. Worn-out metal burners generally give the best results, as the velocity of the issuing gas is lower than when the burners are new. A much better result is obtained by burning, say 20 cub. ft. of gas from one burner, than by using 5 burners, each of which consumes 4 cub. ft. This is the reason why the modern argands give so much more light than the older ones, which were drilled with a very large number of holes, and were more suitable for boiling water than for illuminating. If the air which is to support the combustion be heated before it reaches the flame, especially in the case of flat-flame burners, better results are produced, as was pointed out by Prof. Frankland more than 10 years ago, and this principle is now being carried out by some Continental burner makers. Of modern argands there are many excellent varieties, which can evolve 15-30 per cent. more light for the same quantity of gas than the best flat-flame burners. One kind consisting of 3 concentric rings of flame with steatite gas chambers was first used in the public lighting of Waterloo Road in 1879. In another the products of combustion are brought down in a flue fastened round the burner, so as to heat the air which supports the combustion as it passes in pipes through the flue above mentioned to the flame; while a third kind has an arrangement for admitting separate currents of cold air to keep the chimney cool. There seems little doubt that the argand lamp will play a leading part in the gas lighting of the future. An important point connected with the use of gas is that the heat generated by combustion, may be made to do the work of ventilation, as in the fish-gill ventilator invented by the late Goldsworthy Gurney. In this strips of calico are nailed, by the two upper corners, across an opening in the wall, in such a way that each strip laps over the strip next below it. This Gas is often accused of heating the rooms; but if persons, when burning candles would increase the number of the candles so as to equal the light of the gas-flame, the heat given out would be found to be less when burning gas than when burning lamps or candles. 49. Stott’s Governor. It is very beneficial to regulate the pressure at which gas reaches the burners, and many complaints of impurity of the air of a room, caused by gas, arise from this want of regulation of pressure. It can be attained by the use of a governor, placed either at the meter or in proximity to the light itself. These are of many forms. Those adapted for placing near the meter are Stott’s, Fig. 49 (174 Fleet Street, E.C.), Parkinson’s, Fig. 50 (Cottage 50. Parkinson’s Governor. 51. Strode’s Governor. 52. Hulett’s Governor. 53. Parkinson’s Burner. 54. Spencer Corona. The most practical methods which have been devised for combining the purity of air in a room with artificial light produced from ordinary coal gas, may be classed under four heads:— (1) The sun burner, in which the products of combustion are removed rapidly from contact with the air of the room. (2) The globe light, in which the fresh air is supplied and the products of combustion are removed to the outside without any contact with the air of the room. (3) The regenerative gas light. (4) The incandescent gas light. Their several merits are thus discussed in one of the Health Exhibition Handbooks. The sun burner is practically a powerful ventilator, which, by means of the great heat generated, draws a large volume of air away with the fumes of the gas; it thus relieves the air of the room of the impurities caused by combustion, and at the same time removes impurities generated from other causes. This burner is indeed a sufficiently powerful ventilator to continue acting even in the face of the counteracting draught of an open fireplace; and is consequently much used for crowded rooms. For this dual purpose, it requires to have its fumes carried up through a straight vertical tube direct to the open air. This burner is made by Strode & Co., 67 St. Paul’s Churchyard, and shown in Fig. 55. 55. The Sun Burner. The globe light has been designed to prevent the products of combustion from mingling at all with the air of a room, but it does not provide for the ventilation of the room at the same time. The principle of the best form is that it should be burned in a glass globe separated from the air of the room; that is to say, the air required for supporting combustion is brought into the globe from the outer air, and the products of combustion are carried away into the outer air without mixing with the air of the room. This light, like the sunlight, is limited in its application. It can be placed near an outside wall, or in a room directly under a roof. If fed with fresh air from the room itself, and if a fire-proof flue be constructed in the ceiling leading into a vertical flue, this light can be put in any part of a room; but the draught from the open fire would be very likely to draw the products of combustion back into the room. This is also made by Strode & Co. The Grimston regenerative burner looks like an inverted argand burner. The gas is brought down a central tube, and the products of combustion are carried away through a tube which lies round it, and the air required to feed the burner is brought through passages in this latter tube which are heated by the products of combustion in their course. The light is enclosed in a half globe, and the products may be carried away into the outer air, so that the light need not injure the air of the room in which it is burned. A very remarkable feature about these regenerative arrangements is that the temperature of the outflowing products of combustion at the top of the tube is so low that the hand can be held over the top of the tube without any unpleasant sensation of heat; and the combustion appears to be so perfect that even if the products are not removed from the room, there is much less unpleasantness than with ordinary gas-burners. Other very important regenerative burners are that bearing the name of F. Siemens, the Fourness (S. Gratrix, jun., and Bro., Alport Town, Manchester), and the well-known Wenham (Wenham Co., 12 Rathbone Place, W., and Milne, Sons, and Macfie, 2 King Edward Street, E.C.), two forms of which are shown in Figs. 56 and 57. Sugg’s “London Argand” and “Cromartie” burners are sufficiently familiar to need no description, and are made in a great variety of designs. The “Osborne” pattern is shown in Fig. 58. 56. Wenham Pendant Light. 57. Wenham Standard Light. Incandescent gas lamps, even if burned in contact with the air of a room, present certain hygienic advantages. In the first place, the air required for combustion is brought into the room from the outside, in the proportion of six volumes of air to one of gas, and therefore the oxygen in the air of the room is not consumed for combustion. In the second place, the gas is consumed in a very perfect manner, so that the injury to the air of a room produced by the combustion is reduced to a minimum. These lights The Albo-carbon light, Fig. 59, (74 James Street, Westminster), consists in superheating ordinary gas and carburetting it by admixture of the vapour generated from the albo-carbon material, which is stored in a reservoir that can be attached to any existing fittings. By its means, the light is very much intensified, steadied, and purified, at very small cost for albo-carbon with a reduced consumption of gas. 58. Sugg’s “Osborne” Burner. 59. Albo-carbon Light. When gas has been laid on to a house, and the main connected with the meter or even before the latter has been done, it is extremely important to have all the gas-pipes tested, in order to ascertain whether any leakage exists. A very good method is as follows:—All the brackets and pendants, with one exception, are first stopped up with plugs or screwed caps, and the meter is turned off or disconnected. Upon the one outlet not stopped up a force-pump is attached, into the interstices of which have been poured a few drops of sulphuric ether. The force-pump is then connected with a gauge, and is worked until a high pressure has been registered upon it, in order that should the pipes have any latent weaknesses, the pressure exerted will develop and discover them. When the gauge indicates a certain figure, the pumping is stopped, and if the mercury is noticed to fall, it is evident that there are palpable leaks, which are at once searched for. The escaped ether will guide the operator to the whereabouts of these leaks, and the defaulting pipes are at once replaced by others. The pumping is then continued, and the same routine recommences. If the mercury still descends in the gauge glass, and the sense of smell cannot detect where the leak exists, the joints and portions of the pipes are lathered over with soap, whereupon the weak places will be found indicated by bubbles. These parts where the bubbles escape are then marked, heated by means of a portable spirit lamp made for the purpose, and covered over with a durable cement. After a short time, the pump is once more set in action, An excellent portable gas-making apparatus is made by H. L. MÜller, 22 Mary Ann Street, Birmingham. See also p. 998. Matches.—An American writer, speaking of the defacement of paint by the inadvertent or heedless scratching of matches, says that he has observed that when one mark has been made others follow rapidly. To effectually prevent this, rub the spot with flannel saturated with any liquid vaseline. “After that, people may try to strike their matches there as much as they like, they will neither get a light nor injure the paint,” and, most singular, the petroleum causes the existing mark to soon disappear, at least when it occurs on dark paint. Matches should always be kept in metallic boxes, and out of the way of children and mice. Countless accidents, as every one knows, arise from the use of matches. To obtain light without employing them, and so without the danger of setting things on fire, an ingenious contrivance is now used by the watchmen of Paris in all magazines where explosive or inflammable materials are kept. Any one may easily make trial of it. Take an oblong vial of the whitest and clearest glass, and put into it a piece of phosphorus about the size of a pea. Pour some olive oil heated to the boiling point upon the phosphorus; fill the vial about one-third full, and then cork it tightly. To use this novel light, remove the cork, allow the air to enter the vial, and then re-cork it. The empty space in the vial will become luminous, and the light obtained will be equal to that of a lamp. When the light grows dim, its power can be increased by taking out the cork and allowing a fresh supply of air to enter the vial. In winter it is sometimes necessary to heat the vial between the hands in order to increase the fluidity of the oil. The apparatus thus made may be used for six months. (Chicago Times.) Electric Lighting.—This must not be undertaken without due knowledge or the assistance of skilled workmen. The subject is altogether too large for discussion here with any chance of making it clear and simple. The reader should refer to the works of Hospitalier and others who have made it a study. Allusion may here be made, however, to an essentially domestic system recently introduced by Hospitalier. His object is to provide 10 volt and 1½ ampÈre lamps operating 3 or 4 hours daily. The result aimed at is that the pile shall daily furnish a quantity of electric energy equal to that expended, and keep the accumulators continually charged. The accumulators form a reservoir, and compensate for the differences between the daily production (which is sensibly continuous) and the irregular production according to needs. This demands a continuous pile of slow discharge, in which the products consumed can be easily renewed, while repairs and supervision are minimised. The choice is a potash bichromate battery. In a single liquid potash bichromate pile, the elements to be renewed are the zinc and the liquid which contains at once the excitant (sulphuric acid) and the depolariser (potash or soda bichromate). In order to obtain an easy renewal of the zinc, Hospitalier employs the metal in the form of a rod 18 in. in length that dips for about 3 in. only into the liquid, and that is placed in a perforated porous vessel which supports it and prevents all contact with the carbon. A certain mobility is secured to it by means of flexible attachments, so that as it wears away it descends into the liquid. Its lower extremity dips into a mass of mercury, and this keeps it amalgamated. When one rod is used up, another may be substituted for it in a few seconds. The remaining portion of the old zinc is thrown into the porous vessel. The mercury suffices to set up a perfect electric communication with the new rod that has just been introduced. The zincs are thus entirely utilised. The flow secures the continuous renewal of the exciting and depolarising liquid. The precaution to be taken is to cause the liquid to enter at the upper part, and to remove it from the lower. This prevents the elements from getting choked up, and so they may remain mounted several months, operating day and night, without any attention having to be paid to them. The positive pole consists of three or four carbon plates which surround the porous vessel that contains the zinc, and which are connected with each other by a strip of copper and screw clamps. The connection of a zinc with the following carbon is made by means of flexible wires, in order to permit the zinc to descend into the liquid as it wears away, as has already been seen. The four elements are mounted one above another. The liquid enters them from an earthenware reservoir of 5-6 gal. capacity, through a rubber tube. The discharge is regulated by means of a pinch-cock. Practice has shown that it is useless to make the solution of bichromate. It is only necessary to throw some crystals into the upper reservoir and to pour into the latter some water, acidulated with a tenth of its volume of sulphuric acid. A sufficient quantity of the salt dissolves every time to assure depolarisation. The same liquid may serve 10-12 times before renewal. There are no precise directions to be given as to the velocity of the discharge, since this must vary according to the needs of consumption. A good average is 1-1½ gal. per day. When the liquid is nearly exhausted, it is well to cause it to circulate a little more quickly. The regulation of the velocity of the flow by the Mohr pinch-cock is one of the simplest operations. After traversing the four pile elements in succession, the liquid enters glass bottles of 2 gal. capacity provided beneath with a pipe to which is affixed a rubber tube. It is only necessary to take a full bottle, place it over the reservoir, and put the pipe into the reservoir, in order to empty it in a few minutes. An inspection of the piles is advisable every two days. Were a larger reservoir employed and the velocity of flow moderated, the interval might be still longer. The four elements in tension alternately charge two series of accumulators each containing three elements. This arrangement allows the use of two kinds of lamps, 6 volt ones in the cellar and small rooms, and 10 volt ones in the dining-room and office. The cellar lamp is so arranged that it is lighted by opening the door, and extinguished by closing it. Aside from the lamps just mentioned, another is arranged for lighting a dark ante-room, and which lights up for three minutes, only, whenever a button near the door is pressed. The use of accumulators and flowing piles presents the following advantages: (1) Convenience, the apparatus being always ready to furnish light upon turning a tap; (2) Ease of keeping in repair and of supervision, the flow and the dimensions being capable of regulation so that the consumer need look after the piles only at irregular intervals. (3) Better utilisation of the products as a result of the use of a pencil of zinc instead of wide plates. The surface attacked is reduced to the dimensions that are strictly necessary for the production of a current, and local action is thus diminished. On the other hand, the active liquor is not thrown away until completely exhausted. (4) Quality of the light. This remains steady during the entire time of the lighting, without any manipulation of the pile or any special appliance. A few hints may be culled from Preece’s lecture on Domestic Electric Lighting, read before the Society of Arts last session. Makers of lamps seem to consider that there is great credit in securing long life. Unfortunately, glow lamps deteriorate sadly with age. The carbon wastes imperceptibly away, and we are scarcely conscious of the fact that, after 200 or 300 hours, the lamp gives only half the light it did at first. The fact is lamps last too long. The price of a lamp should be such that we could afford to give them a short and merry life. Long life is therefore an objection. Lamps fail in giving their light occasionally from having an imperfect vacuum. This is very easily detected by feeling the globe. If the vacuum is bad it gets quite hot. Occasionally, but very rarely, lamps explode with a loud report when the current is first At the present moment, both the nomenclature and the efficiency of glow lamps are in a very unsatisfactory state, and we are buying pigs in a poke at a very high price. Considerable difference of opinion exists as to the character of the globe enveloping the carbon filament. Some like them clear, some like them ground; others envelope them in shades, or make the globe of a beautiful opal glass. It is very objectionable to have the optic nerve irritated by a brilliant glowing filament; but it is equally absurd to produce a good thing and then strangle it. Grounding and shading mean loss of light. Lamps can be placed so high that they need not affect the eye, and if they do, the light can be so reflected as to be useful elsewhere. The art of lighting a room is to flood it with light without the delicate eye being offended with the direct rays from the source of light. Switches to turn the lamps on and off are a source of great trouble in a house. As a rule, they are cheap and nasty. When fixed away from the lamps, they introduce into the circuit additional resistance, and therefore waste energy, but they are distinctly serviceable when they are fixed outside the door of a room, so that you can light it before you enter it. In many cases the lamp is its own switch, but it is objectionable to handle a lamp, and attempts have been made to utilise the weight of the lamp itself when suspended from the ceiling to maintain contact, and to break that contact when the weight is released. Cuts-out or safety-valves are essential to the security of a house. Short circuiting ought not to occur, but it does, and generally when showing off. It may occur when cleaning. The cut-out is so cheap and so effective that there is no excuse for its neglect. They should be fixed on every circuit. No one must imagine that electric lighting is absolutely safe from fire. It certainly possesses elements of danger, but elements that are perfectly under control. It is very simple to secure safety if the rules and regulations to avoid fire risks be carefully followed. The simplest rule is to use nothing but the best insulated wire, and to employ none but experienced men to put it up. All accidents that have occurred have arisen from careless wiring and ignorant handling. The design of the circuits of a house, the dimensions of conductors, the quality of the materials used, the provision against fire risks, the testing of the work done, the adaptability of means to an end, should come within the province of the professional adviser, and not be left to the successful competing contractor, however eminent the firm may be. Estimates for furnishing electric light installations, ranging from about 3l. upwards, can be had from Messrs. Woodhouse and Rawson United, Limited, 88 Queen Victoria Street, London, E.C., and of Messrs. Appleton, Burbey, and Williamson, of 91 Queen Victoria Street, London, E.C. See also p. 1001. Furniture and DecorationFurniture and Decoration.—Obviously half the benefit to be derived from good sanitary arrangement of the house itself will be lost if the internal fittings are not arranged with similar regard to healthy conditions. Good drainage and ventilation are thrown away if every corner is to be a receptacle for accumulated dirt and every carpet and curtain a resting-place for dust. Yet that is just the condition of ninety-nine houses out of every hundred. Existing systems of furnishing and decorating are faulty to a degree in this respect, and have called down the strictures of many sanitary reformers. Foremost among them is Edis, who has made this branch of sanitary science a special study. His suggestions for improvements in furnishing and decorating our homes are worthy the attention of every housewife. The following remarks are mainly culled from his paper in one of the Health Exhibition handbooks, and deserves to be more generally known. Kitchen Walls.—Commencing at the bottom of the house, Edis advises lining the whole of the scullery walls, and, as far as possible, those of the kitchen also, with glazed tiles, so that there be no absorption and retention of the smells, which must necessarily accrue with the ordinary work of this portion of the house. For a large house, he strongly advocates finishing all the walls in a London basement, so far as the working portion of it, together with the passages, are concerned, with glazed tiles; they are cleanly, absolutely non-absorbent, reflect and give light, are easily washed, and tend to make the house sweet and healthy. The pantries and larders should be so arranged that they have continual ingress of fresh air, and should in all cases be lined with glazed tiles or bricks, so that the smells arising from the contents should not be allowed to be absorbed in the distempered walls, and to render them stuffy and unhealthy. The shelves should be of slate, or better still, of polished marble, so as to be absolutely non-absorbent and easily cleaned. In every basement a comfortable room for servants should be provided: some small sitting-room fitted up with book-shelves and cupboards, and, if possible, facing the street, so that the workers of the house may have some sort of spare room, in which they may be at rest from their ordinary duties; for, if we want good servants, we must treat them as ordinary beings like ourselves. Floors.—It is particularly desirable to counteract as far as possible the deleterious influences which are brought about by the absorption of offensive odours in the common deal floors of the various rooms, by having all the joints carefully stopped in, and the whole surface painted over with three or four coats, so that the pores of the wood may be effectually closed, and the crevices, through which dirt and filth of all kinds can enter, and lodge in the spaces between floor and ceiling, practically sealed up. Or the floors may be stained and varnished all over, for varnish of the cheapest kind, whether made with resin in place of hard gums, or petroleum in place of turps, is not only healthy in its application, but cleanly and economical, as it can be readily cleaned of all impurities by a wet cloth, and lasts longer than a mere painted surface, if done properly at the onset, and every coat left to dry and become thoroughly hard before a second coat is put on. Good varnish will dry and be free from all stickiness in one or two days, if the general atmosphere is free from damp. (Edis.) Boarded floors are at present much more fashionable than carpeted. Whether they are stained or not is a secondary consideration. In hospital wards it is, no doubt, desirable that the boards should be as closely laid as possible, and well waxed, to obviate the necessity of scrubbing, and the possibility of any organic matter sinking into the floor. But in private houses, so long as the carpets are loose and can be taken up, and the boards either scrubbed, dry rubbed, or waxed, we have all that health demands. Were it practised by some Continental nation, and not by ourselves, we should be horrified at the custom of keeping carpets nailed down for a year or more to collect all the dirt that falls throughout that time. Of course, a stained floor looks better than plain deal boards, and oak parquet looks better than either. But in a bedroom the appearance is of secondary importance, and staining, however it is put on, does not last long in a room where there are children or schoolboys. A strip of carpet by the side of the bed, and a square of matting or linoleum before the washing-stand, is sufficient for health. All carpets, of whatever kind, wear better if the boards are perfectly even, and if they are laid down over “carpet lining,” brown paper, or coarse canvas; but this plan is not feasible unless the carpet is fastened down, and a much better plan than nailing is to have loops on the carpet and nails in grooves on the floor, when it can so easily be unhooked, that there is no excuse for not taking it up frequently. Very often carpets and heavy furniture are left untouched because of the difficulty of getting a man in to help where a man-servant is not kept. Of the different sorts of carpeting, those that cost most to start with are certainly not the dearest in the end. Compare, for instance, a good Brussels with a tapestry of about half the first cost, Furniture.—It must be evident to common-sense people, that all furniture which collects and holds dust and dirt, which cannot be easily detected and cleaned; that all window valances and heavy stuff curtains with heavy fringes, which cannot be constantly shaken; and that all floor coverings which are fastened down, so that it is impossible to clear away the dust, that gradually, but surely, finds its way under them, and prevents the coverings themselves from being constantly shaken, are objectionable and unhealthy. Such people will therefore avoid all wall coverings which offer resting-places for dirt—such as the high-relief flock patterns, which, however good artistically, are certainly to be avoided on sanitary grounds; will not cover the whole of the floor surfaces with thick carpets, which absorb and retain dust and disease germs, and which cannot be easily removed and cleaned, or shaken, at least once a month; will do away with all heavy window-curtains and valances, which, in small rooms, add so materially to their stuffiness and unhealthiness; and will, as far as practicable, avoid filling their rooms with heavy lumbering furniture, which cannot easily be moved for cleaning purposes, and under and above which dust and other impurities may collect and remain. (Edis.) Second-hand furniture is often preferable to new. The warps and started joints are plainly visible if bad wood has been some time in use; no more warping will take place, and the price, in comparison with that of new, is often much less than the amount of wear and tear would indicate. There are circumstances that give to old furniture a distinct excellence, quite apart from the existence of a fashion for buying it. It was made by hand; generally the same man worked on each piece throughout, acquiring a special interest in every detail, and thinking no trouble too great to make it more perfect. (E. A. B.) In choosing chairs and tables for the drawing-room, the more varied they are in size and shape the better. Let the wood be all fairly similar, but the materials may be as With regard to dining-room furniture, get a suite of some light wood—ash or oak—and leather seats to the chairs, or American leather. Sideboards of the present day are very handsome and rather elaborate. You can sometimes pick up very good second-hand dining-room suites, upholstered in the best style, for half their original price. If you intend to have a mirror over your dining-room mantelpiece, see that it is framed in wood similar to your chairs and table, and eschew gilt mirrors in any form, as they are the very acme of bad taste and vulgarity. In choosing the dining-room curtains, bear in mind the colour of the wall paper, or they may clash most inharmoniously. The cheapest way of getting these curtains would be to buy some tapestry stuff by the yard, and make them up at home. Everything in a dining-room should match, see therefore that the curtain pole, bell handles, and coal scuttle are all of the same wood as the rest of the furniture. If the drawing-room is on the first floor, with a small landing outside, cover the latter entirely with carpet, do not simply continue the stair carpet across it, it will look as well again covered. Should it be a good sized landing, put a square carpet down and stain the edges of the floor. By way of keeping out draughts, and making the hall and staircase look less bare than is usually the case, get some curtains and hang them outside the dining-room and drawing-room doors. Indian dhurries are useful, as they are so cheap, but the objection to them is that there are none made between 6 ft. 6 in. and 11 ft. in length. There are no special rules to be laid down about furnishing a morning room or boudoir: the remarks made on drawing-rooms would apply to a great extent; the furniture should be suitably small, and only very cosy and comfortable chairs and couches allowed, and no great expense should be incurred. If the lady of the house cannot afford to have more than one bedroom handsomely furnished, it should be the one occupied by herself. Many advocate most strongly a “half tester” bedstead, as in the event of sickness, the hangings and curtains keep away draughts and shade the eyes from any strong light. Brass and black bedsteads look best, with some pretty coloured dimity hangings, and of course a spring mattress. Be particular about the stuffing of the pillows, and if you decide on feathers, have them of the very best, as the inferior ones are apt to have a slight smell, besides being hard and uncomfortable to sleep on. Choose a suite of some light wood, consisting of a wardrobe with a plate-glass door, a washstand with tiled back, and a toilet table with a fixed glass and with plenty of small drawers, the latter being invaluable for keeping light easily crushed articles, such as feathers, flowers, &c., which otherwise are apt to litter about the room in cardboard boxes. For the windows, Syrian curtains are the cheapest, and have the extra advantages of being fashionable and pretty, but coloured dimity to match the bed look the nicest, though of course they would never do in London. Buy (second-hand) a comfortable, old-fashioned armchair, covering it with some serviceable material; and a small table, the height of the bed. It is a good thing to have a small cupboard under lock and key, to hold medicine bottles, &c. You can get very artistic-looking oak ones, quite small, with a shelf above for books, and they form a handsome ornament to the walls. The spare room or rooms need never necessarily have the “half tester” bedsteads, and so you are saved the expense of buying a quantity of bedhangings and what follows in their train—a heavy washing or cleaning bill. In the event of your not wanting to spend much money on the furnishing of your spare bedroom, remember that at sales very often good things can be picked up at a low price. If you will have a charming bedroom suite at a low rate, be on the look-out for some common deal furniture—never mind its being second-hand and the paint dirty, so long as the wood is whole. Perhaps a friend has an old toilet table or a chest of drawers that she wants to get rid of, or you come across a cheap lot at a broker’s; do not be dismayed at the paint being gaudy, perhaps, or dirty, for this is the secret—have them all painted some uniform neutral colour (grey, picked out with dark mouldings, looks well), and then varnished, and you will be delighted with the result. In conclusion, a good substitute for a wardrobe may be made in this way. If there is a small recess in the room (there very often is one by the chimney), put across it a deal board, stained or painted, and varnished, about 6 ft. from the ground, with an ornamental moulding depending from the front edge, and hang curtains in front, putting up underneath as many dress pegs as the width of the recess will allow. (C. H. D., in the Queen.) Ceilings.—If the cornices of the rooms be deeply recessed and filled with heavy plaster ornaments, they must of necessity hold dust and other impurities, which are increased by the action of damp air causing decomposition, and by mixing with the air in the room, when stirred or blown away from their resting places by draught from opened door or window, must render it impure and unhealthy. In addition to this, they are more or less choked up by every coat of so-called distemper decoration, and this again, by absorbing damp and obnoxious exhalations, adds materially to the sense of stuffiness and foulness which can be appreciably felt on first opening up the room after it has been closed for some hours. It is better, if possible, to paint all ceilings and cornices than to distemper them, so as to render them as non-absorbent as possible; by painting, the plaster-work is covered with a non-absorbent coating, on which if desired a coat of distemper may afterwards be added. Walls.—As a rule it is desirable as far as possible not to disturb the general flatness of wall surfaces, and to avoid all patterns which obtrude themselves too prominently upon the eye, or cause the space, whether covered with paper or painted decoration, to be broken into groups of ornament, or into distinct lines cutting it transversely or horizontally. The wall surface may be divided either by a chair or frieze rail and be treated in different shades of colour with good effect; or the upper portion may be covered with good artistic painting, which will add to the beauty and picturesqueness of the room. Where the upper space is covered with paper or distemper, the pattern or colouring should offer no startling contrasts, and the lower portion may be painted and varnished, so as to be readily cleaned. The colour of the wall surfaces of the different rooms must naturally depend upon the purposes for which the rooms are used, as the apparent warmth and pleasurable appearance of the room is materially enhanced or detracted from by the treatment of the wall-colouring; and while it is necessary to treat the surface of one room as a background for pictures, it may be desired to have another brighter and more decorative; but wherever possible, in passages, halls and staircases, it is desirable to varnish as much of the wall surface as possible, so as to render it non-absorbent and readily cleaned. In the selection of paper or other hangings, and in the arrangement of all ornament in wall or panel decoration, it becomes a matter of importance to select none which shall have distinct and strongly marked patterns, in which the ornament stands out and repeats itself in endless multiplication and monotony. All staring patterns should be avoided. Almost all papers may now be considered practically free from arsenic; the largest printers of machine-printed papers now use little or no arsenical colours; the principal manufacturers of block-printed papers allow on colours with a known trace of Paper-hangings must enter largely into the decoration of all the wall surfaces of our houses; but, on sanitary grounds, all flock papers, however beautiful in design, are especially to be avoided, for, from the very nature of their design and treatment, they are detrimental to the healthy condition of the room. The patterns stand out in relief, and offer innumerable spaces for dust and dirt, while the generally fluffy nature of the material, practically powdered wool, renders it more absorbent and therefore more unhealthy; and the surface holds dust and dirt to a much larger degree than the ordinary printed papers, thus tending to a stuffy and unwholesome feeling, which is essentially at variance with all laws of health and comfort. Stamped papers, in which the pattern is raised in relief, offer the same objections in a minor degree, as the surface is smooth and can be readily cleansed; and in the case of the imitation leather papers, the surface is varnished, and can be readily gone over with a damp cloth without injury. These papers can be well used for the dados of rooms or frieze decoration, and as such are exceedingly effective, although, of course, from the very nature of the manufacture, much more expensive than plain painting and varnishing. A good deal of illness often arises from the bad nature of the size and paste with which the ordinary wall-papers are hung, and great care should be taken that no such inferior, and practically stinking materials are allowed. Cupboards.—In most houses it is common to have the store places for clothes and other household goods, practically self-contained in every room, and therefore we put therein furniture sufficient for our requirements; but we all know how soon our drawers and wardrobes get overcrowded, and the nuisance and annoyance it often is to have to take out coat after coat, or dress after dress, until we reach the particular one we want, which may be stowed away at the bottom of the drawers or chest, and it surely must appeal to ordinary common sense, to utilise in every way, with constructional fittings as far as possible, all spaces which, as a rule, are practically useless. If the cupboards are taken up to the ceiling line, that is to say an extra tier added to the ordinary wardrobe fitting, increased storeroom would be provided for clothing not immediately required. There would be less crowding up of the existing cupboards and drawers, and the ills of the flat exposed tops of the ordinary fittings, to which Edis before referred, would be done away with. Why not, in the window recesses of every bedroom, provide fixed ottoman boxes which can be used as seats, as well as store places, and if covered with stuffed tops, may thus not only be made useful, but comfortable; while in the sitting-rooms they might be used for store places for papers and magazines until bound up, and thus help to do away with the littering of our rooms, or the storing away of all such things in inaccessible places, where they are seldom dusted, and only help to breed dirt and disease. Windows.—If instead of the usual heavy and ugly valances, which so many people still insist upon placing over their windows, as a top-finish to the curtains, we were to provide framed recesses constructed with the architraves, or mouldings, which run round the window-openings, with slightly arched heads, leaving room for a slight iron rod to be fixed behind and out of sight, with space for the proper and easy running of the curtain, we should have not only a much more artistic, but certainly a much more healthy and less expensive arrangement; and these arched heads would form part of the constructive finishing, at no more cost than the framed and panelled window linings and architraves, and if carried up to the ceiling, with the cornice returned round, would leave no spaces for the accumulation of dirt and dust, such as are now provided by the projecting boxed linings and the heavy valances, fringes, and poles, which the modern upholsterer provides. Bedrooms.—The wall surfaces of bedrooms should be hung with some small and simple decorative paper of one general tone, but with no particularly emphasised design, so that we are annoyed at night with flights of birds, or symmetrical patterns of conventional primroses, daisies, or fruits, which might in any way suggest a countless and never-ending procession along the walls. Any pattern or design which shows prominently any set pattern, or spots which suggest a sum of multiplication, or which, in the half-light of night or early morning, might be likely to fix themselves upon the tired brain, suggesting all kinds of weird forms, are especially to be avoided. The design should be of such a description that, saving as regards colour, it should offer no specially marked pattern. The general wall surfaces should be varnished if possible, so that they may be easily cleaned down and be made practically non-absorbent. The general woodwork of the doors, windows, and skirtings should be painted in some plain colour to harmonise or contrast with the wall decoration, and the whole varnished; woodwork finished in this way can be easily washed or cleaned, and the extra expense of varnishing will be saved in a few years. The bedstead should be of brass or iron, the furniture of light wood, varnished or polished; and, now that good painted tiles can be obtained at small expense, they may be used in washing-stands with good effect, or the wall above may be lined entirely with them to a height of 2 or 3 ft. As regards the general floor surfaces, let them be entirely painted, or stained and varnished, so as to present non-absorbent and easily cleaned surfaces, or better still, finished with parquet flooring, which is almost entirely non-absorbing, and which can be cleaned by a damp cloth every day; with rugs or simple homespun carpets laid down beside the bed, and elsewhere, where required, so as to be easily taken up and shaken every day without trouble. There is one objection to square carpets in a bedroom, and that is, if you are lightly shod, or, as is often the case, barefoot, the polished floor is very unpleasantly cold; and also, as it is not every one who can indulge in the luxury of a bedroom fire, a wholly carpeted floor tends to keep out draughts and make the room generally warmer. If you do away with all resting-places for dirt and dust on the tops of wardrobes and hanging closets, and behind and under chests of drawers and other heavy furniture, there will naturally be much less labour required in cleaning and purifying the rooms. Heavy curtains should be avoided, indeed it is difficult to see why curtains are needed at all in bedrooms, if the window-blinds be of some dark-toned stuff sufficient to hide light, and to keep out the glare of the morning sun. Nurseries.—In all the upper rooms of a house, which may be used as nurseries, Edis would, where practicable, construct semi-octagonal projecting bays, so as to provide for the greatest possible light and sunshine; and if this cannot be arranged, the windows should be as widely splayed inside as possible, and no light or sunshine shut out by heavy curtains or venetian blinds; and here, too, as in the best rooms of the house, should be thick plate, instead of the miserably thin glass, which is considered sufficient in the upper portions of so many houses; the thick glass gives truer light, is less penetrated by sound, and helps to retain the warmth of the room after the fires have gone out, and the house is left to cool in the long night hours. The walls of the nurseries should be hung with some bright and cheerful pattern paper, varnished for health’s sake, while the upper portion should be distempered; the upper space or frieze should be divided from the general wall surface by a small deal painted picture rail, but the ceilings and frieze should be cleaned off and re-distempered every autumn, as nothing tends so much to sweeten the rooms as this annual cleaning off and re-doing of the ceilings, which naturally are more impregnated with the impurities of the shut-up rooms than any other portion of them. Paint or varnished papers are always more healthy than distemper, as they can be readily washed, and do not absorb and hold dirt and other impurities. The walls of the night nurseries should be hung with a soft, general toned paper, varnished, so as to be sponged every week, or distempered all over, so as to be re-done at small cost at frequent intervals, for it is essential in the ordinary low-pitched upper rooms of town houses, generally devoted to nurseries, to wash out as often as possible, the peculiar stuffy bedroom atmosphere, which must be absorbed in the walls and ceilings of all low rooms. The tone of colouring or pattern on the walls should above all not be spotty or glaring, with strongly defined forms presenting nightmare effects to drive away sleep, or disturb our little ones in the hours of feverish unrest or sickness. But in the rooms they live in there is no reason why the “writing on the walls” should not be the earliest teaching of all that is beautiful in nature, art, or science, and by good illustrations of fairy lore and natural forms incline the thoughts of our children to all that is graceful and beautiful in nature or imaginative faculties. Bells and CallsBells and Calls.—No house can now be considered complete without it is fitted with call-tubes or bells, especially the latter. Call-tubes are more general in places of business, but they might often replace bells in a house with advantage to all concerned. The wires for bells are carried in tubes and boxes concealed by the finishing of the walls and skirting. These tubes are often of tinned iron or zinc, but they ought to be either of brass or strong galvanised iron. Zinc cannot be depended on: in some places it will moulder away; if not soldered, it opens, and the wires work into the joinings of the tube, which stops their movement. The old-fashioned system of bells is being largely supplanted by electric bells. Electric Bells.—An ordinary electric bell is merely a vibrating contact breaker carrying a small hammer on its spring, which hammer strikes a bell placed within its reach as long as the vibration of the spring continues. The necessary apparatus comprises a battery to supply the force, wires to conduct it, circuit-closers to apply it, and bells to give it expression. 60. Battery. The LeclanchÉ battery (Fig. 60) is the best for all electric bell systems, its great recommendation being that, once charged, it retains its power without attention for several years. Two jars are employed in its construction: the outer one is of glass, contains a zinc rod, and is charged with a solution of ammonium chloride (sal-ammoniac). The inner jar is of porous earthenware, contains a carbon plate, and is filled up with a mixture of manganese peroxide and broken gas carbon. When the carbon plate and the zinc rod are connected, a steady current of electricity is set up, the chemical reaction which takes place being as follows:—The zinc becomes oxidised by the oxygen from the manganese peroxide, and is subsequently converted into zinc chloride by the action of the sal-ammoniac. After the battery has been in continuous use for some hours, the manganese becomes exhausted of oxygen, and the force of the electrical current is greatly diminished; but if the battery be allowed to rest for a short time the manganese obtains a fresh supply of oxygen from the atmosphere, and is again fit for use. After about 18 months’ work, the glass cell will probably require recharging with sal-ammoniac, and the zinc rod may also need renewing; but should the porous cell get out of order, it is better to get a new one entirely, than to attempt to recharge it. On short circuits, 2 cells may suffice, increasing up to 4 or 6 as required. It is false economy to use a battery too weak to do its work properly. The battery should be placed where it will not be subject to changes of temperature, e.g. in an underground cellar. The circuit wire used in England for indoor situations is “No. 20” copper wire, covered with guttapercha and cotton. In America, “No. 18, first-class, braided, cotton-covered, office wire” is recommended, though smaller and cheaper kinds are often used. The circuit-closer, or means of instantaneously completing and interrupting the circuit, is generally a simple press-button. This consists of a little cylindrical box, provided in the centre with an ivory button, which is either (1) attached to a brass spring that is brought into contact with a brass plate at the back of the box on pressing the button, or (2) is capable of pressing together 2 springs in the box. A wire from the battery is attached to the spring of the press-button, and another from the bell is secured to the brass plate. Platinum points should be provided on the spring and plate where the contact takes place. While the button is at rest, or out, the electric circuit is broken; but on being pressed in, it completes the circuit, and the bell rings. 61. Bell. The relative arrangement and connection of the several parts is shown in Fig. 61. a, LeclanchÉ cell; b, wire; c, press-button; d, bell. When the distance traversed is great, say ½ mile, the return wire e may be dispensed with, and replaced by what is known as the “earth circuit,” established by attaching the terminals at f and g to copper plates sunk in the ground. The bells used are generally vibrating ones, and those intended for internal house use need not have a higher resistance than 2 or 3 ohms. At other times, single-stroke and continuous-ringer bells have to be provided, the latter being arranged to continue ringing until specially stopped. The bell may or may not be fitted with an annunciator system; the latter is almost a necessity when many bells have to ring to the same place, as then 1 bell only is requisite. A single-stroke bell is simply a gong fixed to a board or frame, an electro-magnet, and an armature with a hammer at the end, arranged to strike the gong when the armature is attracted by the magnet. A vibrating bell has its armature fixed to a spring which presses against a contact-screw; the wire forming the circuit, entering at one binding-screw, goes to the magnet, which in turn is connected with the armature; thence the circuit continues through the contact-screw to the other binding-screw, and out. When set in motion by electricity, the magnet attracts the armature, and the hammer strikes the bell; but in its forward motion, the spring leaves the contact-screw, and thus the circuit is broken; the hammer then falls back, closing the circuit again, and so the action is continued ad libitum, and a rapid vibratory motion is produced, which makes a ringing by the action of the successive blows of the hammer on the gong. The following useful hints on electric bell systems are condensed from Lockwood’s handy little volume on telephones. With regard to the battery, he advises to keep the sal-ammoniac solution strong, yet not to put so much in that it cannot dissolve. Be extremely careful to have all battery connections clean, bright, and mechanically tight, and to have no leak or short circuit. The batteries should last a year without further attention, and the glass jars never ought to be filled more than ¾ full. (a) 1 Bell and 1 Press-button.—The simplest system is 1 bell operated by 1 press-button. The arrangement of this is the same whether the line be long or short. Set up the bell in the required place, with the gong down or up as may be chosen; fix press-button where wanted, taking all advantages offered by the plan of the house; e.g. a wall behind which is a closet is an excellent place to attach electrical fixtures, because (b) 1 Bell and 2 Press-buttons.—The next system is an arrangement of 2 press-buttons in different places to ring the same bell. Having fixed the bell and battery, and decided upon the position of the 2 buttons, run the wires as follows:—1 long covered wire is run from 1 pole of the battery to 1 of the springs of the most distant press-button, and where this long wire approaches nearest to the other press-button it is stripped for about 1 in. and scraped clean; another wire, also stripped at its end, is wound carefully around the bared place, and the joint is covered with kerite tape; the other end of the piece of wire thus branched on is carried over and fastened to the spring of the second press-button. This constitutes a battery wire branching to 1 spring of each press-button. Then run a second wire from 1 of the bell binding-screws to the other spring of the most distant press-button, branching it in the same manner as the battery-wire to the other spring of the second button; connect the other pole of the battery to the second binding-screw of the bell, and the arrangement is complete—a continuous battery-circuit through the bell when either of the buttons is pressed. Before covering the joints with tape, it is well to solder them, using rosin as a flux. (c) 2 Bells and 1 Press-button.—When it is required to have 2 bells in different places, to ring from 1 press-button at the same time, after erecting the bells, button, and battery, run a wire from the carbon pole of the battery and branch it in the manner described to 1 binding-screw of each bell; run a second wire from the zinc pole of the battery to 1 spring of the button, and a third wire from the other spring, branching it to the remaining binding-screw of both bells. It will not answer to connect 2 or more vibrating bells in circuit one after another, as the 2 circuit-breakers will not work in unison; they must always be branched, i.e. a portion of the main wire must be stripped, and another piece spliced to it, so as to make 2 ends. (d) There are other methods, one of which is, if more than 1 bell is designed to ring steadily when the button is pressed, to let only 1 of the series be a vibrating bell, and the other single-strokes; these, if properly set up and adjusted, will continuously ring, because they are controlled by the rapid make and break of the 1 vibrator. (e) Annunciator system.—To connect an indicating annunciator of any number of drops with a common bell, to be operated by press-buttons in different parts of a house, is a handy arrangement, as one drop may be operated from the front door, another from the drawing-room, a third from the dining-room, and so on. The annunciator is fastened up with the bell near it. All the electro-magnets in the annunciator are connected by 1 wire with 1 binding-screw of the bell, and the other binding-screw of the bell is connected with the zinc of the battery. It is a good plan to run a wire through the building from top to bottom, at one end connecting it with the carbon pole of the battery. It ought to be covered with a different coloured cotton from any other, so as to be readily identified as the wire from the carbon. Supposing there are 6 press-buttons, 1 in each room, run a wire from 1 of the springs of each of the press-buttons to the main wire from the (f) Double system.—A system of bells in which the signalling is done both ways, that is, in addition to the annunciator and bell located at one point, to be signalled by pressing the button in each room, a bell is likewise placed in each room, or in a certain room, whereon a return signal may be received—transmitted from a press-button near the annunciator. This is a double system, and involves additional wires. One battery may furnish all the current. Run the main carbon wire through the house, as before, in such a manner as to admit of branch wires being easily attached to it. Run a branch wire from it to the spring of one of the press-buttons, a second wire from the other spring of the same button to the screw-post of the bell in room No. 2, and from the other screw-post of the said bell to the zinc pole of the battery. This completes one circuit. The other is then arranged as follows:—The main carbon, besides being led, as already described, to the spring of the press-button in room No. 1, is continued to one of the binding-screws of the bell in the same room; the other terminal of that bell is carried to one spring of the press-button in room No. 2; the complementary spring of that press-button is then connected by a special and separate wire with the zinc of the battery, and the second circuit is then also completed. An alternative method is to run branches from the main carbon wire to all the press-buttons, and from the main zinc wire to all the bells, connecting by separate wires the remaining bell terminals with the remaining press-button springs. In the latter plan, more wires are necessary. Although the connections of but one bell either way have been described, every addition must be carried out on the same principle. When 2 points at some distance from one another, e.g. the house and a stable 100 yd. distant, are to be connected, it is easy to run 1 wire, and use an earth return. If gas or water pipes are in use at both points, no difficulty will be found in accomplishing this. A strap-key will in this case be found advantageous as a substitute for a press-button. The connecting wire at each end is fastened to the stem of the key; the back contact or bridge of the key, against which when at rest the key presses, is connected at each end with one terminal of the bell, the other terminal of each bell being connected by wire with the ground. A sufficient amount of battery is placed at each point, and 1 pole of each battery is connected with the earth, the other pole being attached to the front contact of the strap-key. If impossible to get a ground, the second terminal of both bell and battery at each end must be connected by a return wire. (g) Bell and Telephone.—It is a very easy matter to add telephones to bell-signalling appliances, when constructed as here described. The only additions necessary are a branch or return circuit for the telephones, and a switch operated by hand, whereby the main wire is switched from the bell return wire to the telephone return wire. A very simple plan for a bell-call and telephone line from one room to another, can be made as follows: Apparatus required—2 bells, 2 telephones, 2 3-point switches, 2 strap-keys with back and front contacts, and 1 battery. Run 1 wire from the stem of the key in room No. 1 to the stem of the key in room No. 2. This is the main wire. Fix the bell Making an Electric Bell.—The following description applies to 3 sizes—viz. for a 2 in. bell, hereafter called No. 1; 2¾ in., or No. 2; 4 in., or No. 3, which sizes are sufficient for most amateurs’ purposes, and, if properly made, a No. 3 LeclanchÉ cell will ring the largest 2 through over 100 yd. No. 24 (B. W. G.) wire. The Backboard and Cover.—This may be of any hard wood, by preference teak, oak, or mahogany, and if polished, so much the better; the size required will be—
The cover must be deep enough to cover all the work, and reach to within about ¼ in. of the top and sides of back, and allow ? in. to ¾ in. between the edge of bell and cover; the making of this had better be deferred until the bell is nearly complete. 62. Electro-Magnet. The Electro-Magnet.—This should be of good round iron, and bent into a horse-shoe shape (Fig. 62). The part a b must be quite straight, and not damaged by the forging; the bend should be as flat as possible, so as to make the magnet as short as may be (to save space). When made, the magnet is put into a clear fire, and when red hot, taken out and laid in the ashes to slowly cool; care must be taken not to burn it. Lastly, 2 small holes are drilled in the centre of the ends at c, about 1/16 in. deep; drive a piece of brass wire tightly into the holes, and allow the wire to project sufficiently to allow a piece of thin paper between the iron and the table when the iron is standing upon it; this is to prevent the armature adhering to the magnet from residuary magnetism, which always exists more or less. The measurements are—
The Bobbins or Coils.—These are made by bending thin sheet copper round the part a b of the magnet; the edges at a (Fig. 63) must not quite meet. The thickness of this copper must be such that 4 pieces just equal in thickness the edge of a new threepenny-piece (this is rather an original gauge, but then all can get at the thickness this way). The hole in the brass end b must be just large enough to push on firmly over
The brass ends should be neatly turned true and lacquered. 63. Bobbin. 64. Winding Bobbin. To fill the Bobbins with Wire.—For this purpose, No 28 wire should be used, which is better if varnished or paraffined. The bobbins should be neatly covered with paper over the copper tube and inside of ends, to prevent any possibility of the wire touching the bobbin itself; the bobbin is best filled by chucking it on a mandrel in the lathe, or a primitive winding apparatus may be made by boring a hole through the sides of a small box, fit a wire crank and wooden axle to this, and push the bobbin on the projecting end—thus (Fig. 64): a, crank; b, box; c, bobbin; d, axle. The box may be loaded to keep it steady; on any account do not attempt to wind the wire on by hand—the bobbin must revolve. Leave about 1½ in. of wire projecting outside the hole d, in end of bobbin, and wind the wire on carefully and quite evenly, the number of layers being respectively 6, 8, and 10; the last layer must finish at the same end as the first began, and is best fastened off by a silk or thread binding, leaving about a 3 in. piece projecting. Both bobbins must be wound in the same direction, turning the crank from you, and commencing at the end nearest the box. The bobbins must now be firmly pushed on the part a b of the magnet, and the two pieces of wire projecting through the hole c soldered together. To put the Bell together.—First screw on the bell. This should be supported underneath by a piece of ¼ in. iron tube, long enough to keep the edge of the bell ? to ? in. above the backboard. Cut off the hammer-rod, so that when the head is on it will come nearly as low as the bell screw, and in a line with it. Make a hole in the backboard, and drive the armature post in tightly—it must be driven in so far that when the magnet is laid upon the backboard, the centre of the magnet iron and the armature are the same height. Place the magnet so that when the armature is pressed against it, the hammer-head all but touches the bell; screw it into its place by a wooden bridge across the screw passing between the bobbins. By afterwards easing this screw, any little adjustment can be made. The armature spring should tend to throw the hammer-head about ? in. from the bell. The contact-post should be so placed that when the armature touches the magnet, there is a slight space between the platinum point on the screw and the platinum on the spring. In putting in the posts, a piece of copper wire must be driven in with them to attach the wire to. One post can be moved round a little either way to alter the tension of the spring; the screw in the other post can be turned in or out, to just allow the proper break to take place. By screwing it in and out, the ear will soon judge where the bell rings best. (Volk.) Those desiring further information on batteries, telephones, and all electrical matters, Thieves and FireThieves and Fire.—It would be difficult to name two subjects demanding more attention and forethought from the housewife than the means to be adopted for protecting her household from the incursions of thieves and the horrors of fire. Some years ago, the well-known inventor of Chubb’s locks published a little book on these topics, from which we have taken the liberty of condensing a few paragraphs which are full of import to the safety of the dwelling and its inmates. First with regard to thieves. Chubb remarks that most of the house-robberies so common in all large towns are effected through the common street-door latches in ordinary use being opened by false keys. It is a notorious fact that thousands are made year after year, but which do not afford the least security, as they are all so made that any one key will open the whole. Burglars are sometimes assisted by dishonest servants, but are more often unaided in this way. Frequently some coal-cellar window is left conveniently unbarred, although all other windows and doors are barred and bolted; or perhaps all the windows have safety-fasteners but one, which, of course, will be the one used by the burglars. Beggars or hawkers are often in the pay of thieves, endeavouring to get information—that may not be used perhaps for a long time; and such visitors should never be allowed inside one’s house, though their visits are too often encouraged by the weakness of the domestics. The remedies best adapted to prevent robbery in these various ways are:—(1) Be careful to have trustworthy servants, or all other precautions are unavailing. (2) Have plate-glass to all windows in the house, for this cannot be broken, as common sheet-glass can, without noise. (3) As shutters are really no protection at all, and frequently are not fastened at night, let all windows and openings that can be reached easily from the ground have strong bars built into the stone or brickwork, not more than 5 in. apart, where this can be done without disfigurement; and let the windows on every upper floor have either Hopkinson’s or Dawes’s patent window fasteners, which cannot be opened from the outside, and are simple and strong in construction and cheap in price. (4) Keep a dog, however small, inside the house; this is a wonderful safeguard, and extremely disliked by burglars. (5) Have any number of bells on shutters, electric wires, or other gimcracks that you please, and place no reliance on any of them. (6) Never allow a stranger to wait inside the door. (7) Leave as little property as possible, certainly no silver plate or jewellery, lying about, so that if a thief should overcome all obstacles to entrance, he may not find much ready to hand. Precautions against fire are of still greater importance. A few of the commonest causes of fire are guarded against by observing the following simple rules:—(1) Keep all matches in metal boxes, and out of the reach of children; wax matches are particularly dangerous, and should be kept out of the way of rats and mice. (2) Be careful in making fires with shavings and other light kindling. (3) Do not deposit coal or wood ashes in a wooden vessel, and be sure burning cinders are extinguished before they are deposited. (4) Never put firewood upon the stove to dry, and never put ashes or a light under a staircase. (5) Fill fluid or spirit lamps only by daylight, and never near a fire or light. (6) Do not leave a candle burning on a bureau or a chest. (7) Always be cautious in extinguishing matches and other lighters before throwing them away. (8) Never throw a cigar-stump upon the floor or spitbox containing sawdust or trash without being certain that it contains no fire. (9) After blowing out a candle never put it away on a shelf, or anywhere else, until sure that the snuff has gone entirely out. (10) A lighted candle ought not to be stuck up against a frame-wall, or placed upon any portion of the woodwork in a stable, manufactory, shop, or any other place. (11) Never enter a barn or stable at night with an uncovered light. (12) Never take an open light to examine a gas-meter. (13) Do not put gas or other lights near curtains. (14) Never take a light into a closet. (15) Do not read in bed, either by candle or lamp A few other unsuspected causes of fire may be mentioned. A common habit with some people, when ironing, is to rub the hot iron clean with a piece of stuff, paper, or “anything” at hand, and then throw the same aside without further thought. The small piece of stuff, usually more or less scorched, may lie smouldering for hours unsuspected in some corner, especially if shut up in a cupboard or drawer. The danger here alluded to applies equally to the careless throwing aside of anything likely to smoulder, such as cloths caught up at random for holding hot baking tins, kitchener handles, &c. No room ought ever to be left unoccupied without a guard being placed on the fire. Most of us have had experience of sudden small explosions of the coals, and holes being burnt in the hearthrug, even when there is some one at hand to stamp out the fire at once; and we can imagine what the consequences would be if the hearthrug had been left to smoulder. In the case of steam-pipes, after wood has remained a long time in contact with steam, hot-water, or hot-air pipes, the surface becomes carbonised. During the warm season, the charcoal absorbs moisture. When again heated, the moisture is driven off, leaving a vacuum, into which the fresh air current circulating around the pipes rapidly penetrates, and imparts its oxygen to the charcoal, causing a gradual heating and eventually combustion. The rusting of the pipes contributes also to this result, inasmuch as the rust formed during the hot season may be reduced by the heat of the pipes to a condition in which it will absorb oxygen to the point of red heat. With respect to the detection of fires there is very little to say; but every one should acquaint themselves with the best means of getting from the house in case of fire cutting off the usual exit. At such a critical moment, when, perhaps aroused from a sound sleep, one finds oneself in a house on fire, presence of mind is the first thing required, yet a few simple suggestions that will start to the memory may be of value. If, on the first discovery of the fire, it is found to be confined to one room, and to have made but little progress, it is of the utmost importance to shut, and keep shut, all doors and windows. If the fire appears at all serious, and there are fire-engines at a reasonable distance, it is best to await their arrival, as many buildings have been lost from opening the doors and attempting to extinguish fires with inadequate means. If no engines are within reach, and you have not a hand-pump or an extincteur, the next best thing is to collect as many buckets outside the room on fire as can be obtained, keeping the door shut while more water is being collected. A rough-and-ready protection from breathing smoke may be had by thoroughly wetting a towel and fastening it firmly round the face over the mouth and nostrils. But if the flames have too great a hold to allow of escape by the staircase or roof, and the window of the room is the only means of egress, the situation becomes serious, unless its possibility has been foreseen and guarded against. Only as the last resource should a person run the risk of jumping to the ground; either endeavour by tying the bedclothes together to make some sort of rope, fastening one end to a heavy piece of furniture, and going down the rope hand-over-hand—a rather difficult thing to do without practice—or, if within reach of one, wait as long as possible for the arrival of a fire-escape or ladder. Some people always keep a stout knotted rope in their room, and have an iron hook fixed inside the window, to which it may be attached. Merryweather and Sons, 63 Long Acre, London, make domestic fire-escapes which admit of even women and children lowering themselves from windows. As to means of escape available from the outside for high houses, there are many obvious The Royal Society for the Protection of Life from Fire has published the following directions for saving life at fires. See also p. 1002. For Bystanders.—1. Immediately on the fire being discovered give an alarm to the nearest fire-escape station, not delaying an instant; do not wait to see if it is wanted. Life is more precious than property, and events have too often proved how fatal even a moment’s hesitation is in sending for the fire-escape. It is the fire-escape man’s duty to proceed to the place of alarm immediately. 2. In the absence of a fire-escape, or pending its arrival, ladders and ropes should be sought for. Two constables or other qualified persons should ascend to the roof through the adjoining houses. The most efficient assistance can sometimes be rendered by an entrance to the upper part of the house on fire, either by the attic windows, the loft-door, or by removing the tiles; or sometimes the aid of one end of a rope (knotted) might be afforded from the adjoining window, which, being passed by the person in danger round some article in the room, he could lower himself or others into the street, and the other end of the rope being controlled of course by those rendering the aid from the adjoining house. A short ladder can often be made available at the second or perhaps the third, floor of houses built with a balcony or portico, by the constable or other person first ascending to the balcony, and then placing the ladder thereon, reach the rooms above. 3. In a narrow street or court assistance may be given from the windows of the opposite house, particularly by a ladder placed across the street from window to window. 4. When no other means present themselves the bystanders had better collect bedding at hand, in case the inmates throw themselves from the windows. A blanket or carpet held stretched out by several persons will serve the purpose. The Metropolitan Fire Escape Brigade carry jumping-sheets with them for use upon emergency. 5. Do not give vent to the fire by breaking into the house unnecessarily from without, or, if an inmate, by opening doors or windows. Make a point of shutting every door after you as you go through the house. For Inmates.—1. Every householder should make each person in his house acquainted with the best means of escape, whether the fire breaks out at the top or the bottom. Provide fire-guards for use in every room where there is a fire, and let it be a rule of the household not to rake out a fire before retiring for the night, but to leave the guard on. In securing the street-door and lower windows for the night, avoid complicated fastenings or impediments to immediate outlets in case of fire. Descriptions and drawings of fire-escapes for keeping in dwelling-houses may be seen upon application at the offices of the Royal Society for the Protection of Life from Fire. 2. Inmates at the first alarm should endeavour calmly to reflect what means of escape there are in the house. If in bed at the time, wrap themselves in a blanket or bed-side carpet; open neither windows nor doors more than necessary; shut every door after them (this is most important to observe). 3. In the midst of smoke it is comparatively clear towards the ground; consequently progress through smoke can be made on the hands and knees. A silk handkerchief, worsted stockings, or other flannel substance, wetted and drawn over the face, permits free breathing, and excludes to a great extent the smoke from the lungs. A wet sponge is alike efficacious. 4. In the event of being unable to escape either by the street-door or roof, the persons 5. Persons thus circumstanced are entreated not to precipitate themselves from the window while there remains the least probability of assistance; and even in the last extremity a plain rope is invaluable, or recourse may be had to joining sheets or blankets together, fastening one end round a bedpost or other furniture. This will enable one person to lower all the others separately, and the last may let himself down with comparatively little risk. Select a window over the doorway rather than over the area. 6. Do not give vent to the fire by breaking into the house unnecessarily from without, or, if an inmate, by opening doors or windows. Make a point of shutting every door after you as you go through the house. For this purpose, doors enclosing the staircase are very useful. Accidents to Persons.—1. Upon discovering yourself on fire reflect that your greatest danger arises from draught to the flames, and from their rising upwards. Throw yourself on the ground, and roll over on the flame, if possible, on the rug or loose drugget, which drag under you; the table-cover, a man’s coat, anything of the kind at hand, will serve your purpose. Scream for assistance, ring the bell, but do not run out of the room or remain in an upright position. 2. Persons especially exposed to a risk of their dresses taking fire should adopt the precaution of having all linen and cotton fabrics washed in a weak solution of chloride of zinc, alum, or tungstate of soda. 3. As a means for the prevention of accidents, especially where there are women and children, the provision of a fire-guard is urgently recommended. These are now made at such a reasonable price that it is incumbent upon even the poorest to obtain them. It may be added that Merryweather’s system of periodical visitation by a staff of fire inspectors is now extensively adopted by the nobility and gentry. For the various methods of rendering wood, clothes, &c., fire-proof, the reader is referred to ‘Workshop Receipts,’ Second Series, pp. 289-300. Supplementary Literature. Ernest Turner: ‘Hints to Househunters and Householders.’ London, 1884. 2s. 6d. Eardley F. Bailey Denton: ‘Handbook of House Sanitation, for the use of all persons seeking a healthy home.’ London, 1882. 8s. 6d. H. Percy Boulnois: ‘Practical Hints on taking a House.’ London, 1885. 1s. 6d. C. J. Richardson: ‘The Englishman’s House; a practical guide for selecting or building a house, with full estimates of cost, quantities, &c.’ London, 1882. 7s. 6d. Ernest Spon: ‘The Modern Practice of Sinking and Boring Wells, with geological considerations and examples.’ London, 1885. 10s. 6d. Charles Hood; ‘A Practical Treatise on Warming Buildings by Hot Water, Steam, and Hot Air; &c.’ London, 1885. 12s. 6d. William Richards: ‘The Gas Consumer’s Handy Book.’ London, 1877. 6d. E. Hospitalier: ‘Domestic Electricity for Amateurs.’ London, 1885. 9s. Clarence Cook: ‘The House Beautiful; Essays on Beds and Tables, Stools and Candlesticks.’ New York, 1881. 1l. Lewis Foreman Day: ‘Everyday Art; Short Essays on the Arts not Fine.’ London, 1882. 7s. 6d. M. E. James: ‘How to Decorate our Ceilings, Walls, and Floors.’ London, 1883. 4s. Rhoda and Agnes Garrett: ‘Suggestions for House Decoration in Painting, Woodwork, and Furniture.’ London, 1876. 2s. 6d. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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