  THE GRAND PRIZE AWARDED AT THE PARIS EXHIBITION. Added to the many other gratifying signs of a rapidly increasing interest in the all-important subject of the proper supply of pure air to our houses, is the awarding of the grand prize of the Paris Exhibition to Dr. Evans, for an American sanitary collection. The Sanitary Commission, during our late war, acted upon the principle since expressed by the report of the Board of Health of New York. They say: "And viewing only the causes of preventable diseases and their fatal results, we unhesitatingly state that the very first sanitary want in New York and Brooklyn is VENTILATION—ventilation supplied in all existing tenant-houses, work-rooms, school-rooms and places of assemblage—and in all that shall hereafter be constructed." The early recognition during the late war, both by the Sanitary Commission and the government officials, of the important fact that many more men are killed by breathing foul air than are killed by the enemies' bullets, led them to use very active exertions to secure good ventilation in hospitals and camps, and to teach the men themselves the value thereof. The result has been highly satisfactory. The fact that we must make some positive provision for a constant supply of fresh air to every occupied room, and not rely on accidental cracks and openings, is now very generally felt. The simple, practical and efficient means used by the government has done much towards creating this wholesome public opinion. The annexed plan (excepting a stove and twelve beds, omitted from centre of plan, indicated by the space) is a copy of one I furnished the Committee; and which was faithfully executed in preparing one of the models of hospitals, the arrangements of which have been so highly appreciated, and has shared one of the grand prizes at the Paris Exhibition. It is a representative plan, showing the general arrangements of wards in a large number of the hospitals. Fig. 1. The special arrangements of flues, V, for winter ventilation, and the introduction of the fresh air around the stove, were not introduced into the hospitals in Philadelphia, built at the commencement of the war. And the subsequent orders of the Surgeon General and Quarter Master General for the introduction thereof were protested against by the Surgeons of Philadelphia, owing probably partially to their proverbial objection to changes of any kind, and partially to that dread of "ventilation" made but too popular by the many erroneous theories which propose to introduce the fresh air directly into the room, and at times, too, when it is even below the freezing point, without first warming it. These arrangements, shown in the accompanying plan and section, were thoroughly tested, however, in many of the hospitals subsequently built in many of the Western cities. The plan of ridge ventilation, shown in the accompanying section, I applied first in St. Louis, in the summer of 1863. It is Fig. 2. But of course these openings had to be closed in winter to prevent I at first made large wooden boxes, placing them in the centre of the wards, and allowing them to extend down to within twelve or eighteen inches of the floor. This was of great advantage, but as the true principle of ventilation is to have an opening for the exit of the contaminated air at the feet of each occupant of a room, or at the head of the bed of each patient in a hospital, it was soon observed that these shafts were too few and far between to make a very perfect arrangement. The necessity for providing for the escape of the foul air from the level of the floor in winter, so as to utilize the heat, was, after much opposition, finally established and officially acknowledged by the government officers. Then arrangements were made for its introduction into the government hospitals in a more perfect manner. I believe in no case, however, was it so fully carried out as to place a ventilating flue between each bed, but in some they were arranged, as shown (marked V) in the accompanying plans between every other two beds. These flues were carried together and extended through the ridge of the roof and capped as an Emerson ventilator; the opening into the large flue, extending to just below the ceiling, was closed in winter at all times, excepting when the room was too warm. This was for the exhaust, but of no less importance was the supply. The popular dread of ventilation arises in a great measure from the supposition that good ventilation implies a strong draught of cold air upon your back or feet or some other unfortunately exposed place. Such an unfortunate occurrence must be fully remedied in any system of ventilation before it can become popular. As the simplest way of getting at this, all the fresh air required to supply the partial vacuum created by the exhausting shafts was brought in around the stoves, and partially warmed before entering. At the first the stoves were entirely encased, and the fresh air allowed to encircle them completely, but experience soon demonstrated the desirableness of having a portion of the hot stove exposed for direct radiation, so that the feeble and chilly ones might come near to it and warm themselves. There should always be a considerable amount of direct radiation in every hospital; that from an open fire is the best, but that from a stove or steam-pipe is very good. Arrangements were also made for the evaporation of a large amount of water. As the first winter approached after the commencement of the war, the idea seemed almost shocking to me of putting the sick and wounded men in such open barracks, generally without plastering, and made, as many of them were, with rough boards and very open. But experience soon taught me the very great superiority of these light and airy buildings over many of the elaborately finished, dark, air-tight structures, such as hotels, colleges, new-fashioned asylums, &c., which the government was compelled to take for hospital purposes. In fact, when completed with the ventilation as above described, with the abundant sunlight on both sides, without any obstructing partitions and abundantly warmed in winter, and with the proper supply of moisture, they made undoubtedly the most comfortable and wholesome class of buildings, as a whole, that have ever been erected for hospital purposes, not excepting even many of the recent elaborately finished buildings, where not unfrequently too much dependence has been placed on the very meagre and insufficient effect produced by attempts at artificial ventilation, instead of relying more upon the great natural means of ventilation—an abundance of large open windows, open fires and good ventilating stoves. The ventilation of the latrines or water-closets of a hospital, as well as any other place, is a matter of great importance. In the spring of 1863, I had put up in a hospital in Washington a ventilating shaft for the latrine room, similar to the one shown on the plans. This was an experiment, but it proved so satisfactory that it was subsequently ordered to be applied in all the principal hospitals. The difficulty in the isolated wards was, that it required a separate fire in each shaft in the summer. Where it is possible to get it near the kitchen or bake-oven fire, that answers a splendid purpose; but in the single wards it is not necessary to keep up a constant fire; a few sticks of wood every morning answer the purpose of keeping the air in the shaft warmer than the surrounding atmosphere, which, of course, creates the proper draught. These shafts were made very large—never less than thirty inches square and sometimes three feet by six feet. The popular plan of opening the water-closet windows and allowing much of the fresh air to enter the building that way was strenuously avoided; the windows Wherever it was possible, a sheet iron or cast iron pipe was carried up into the centre of this shaft from the kitchen, laundry, bakery or any other constant fire, and where no heat from a permanent fire or from a steam coil could be obtained, a small stove for the purpose was provided. Lewis W. Leeds, 7th mo. 26th, 1867. The subjoined are a few of the Letters received from prominent Sanitarians and others. Office of the Superintendent of Health, Friend Leeds. Your Lectures on Ventilation have been received. I am much interested in them, and think the views given are correct. I hope they will be widely circulated. Too much cannot be said to the people upon the subject. Ventilation is all-important. Indeed, I think that if the air could be constantly kept in motion, the worst sources of impure air in our cities would be rendered almost free from danger. In seasons of epidemic cholera, the most oppressive feature of danger is the stagnation which exists in the atmosphere. There was good sense and true philosophy in the old custom of burning bonfires to keep off disease. I must close, wishing you much success in your efforts to awaken the people to the importance of this subject. Truly yours, EDWIN M. SNOW, M. D., Bangor, Maine, August 23, 1867. My Dear Leeds. Your pamphlet was duly received. I have read it with much interest, and believe it to be worthy of extended circulation. It is the clearest paper on the subject I have yet read. Yours, in haste, A. C. HAMLIN, M. D. 64 Madison Avenue, New York, Aug. 23, 1867. My Dear Friend. I have just read your Lectures on "Ventilation," and I am very much obliged to you for the entertainment and instruction they have given me. You have very happily hit upon a style which is neither flippant nor dry. I am sure the lectures will be read, and if read, they will do a great deal of good. I have all my life been talking and writing in this direction, imploring the people to take less medicine and more pure air; and I feel truly grateful for the help your strong shoulders have given me in what has thus far proved to be a labor of Hercules. Your particular method of ventilating buildings I had many opportunities of proving while I was Medical Inspector U. S. A., and I assure you that no plan was ever more simple and inexpensive—none could have been more effective. Indeed, I may say that I never knew it to fail. To you, therefore, I fully believe the country is indebted for the lives of many thousands of men. With sentiments of esteem, I remain yours truly, FRANK H. HAMILTON, M. D., L. W. Leeds, Esq. Office of the Metropolitan Board of Health, Friend Leeds. Your Lectures on Ventilation have given me much pleasure, and have renewed my confidence in the utility of popular instruction upon the subject. I heartily thank you for the thoughtful care with which you have set forth all the essential principles of ventilation, in language so free from technical words, and so full of plain and homely illustration, that even an uneducated reader can fully understand all you have written. The good Dr. D. Boswell Reid, Dr. Wyman and myself had each attempted to use such a style of explanation and instruction; but you have far excelled us all. The first want of every living being is fresh air, and unless the human lungs are supplied with such air constantly at the rate of from ten to thirty cubic feet every minute, by night as well as by day, perfect health and vigor cannot be preserved. Then, too, there are exhaled from the surface of the body and from the lungs, such quantities of waste organic matter, which tend to immediate putridity, that it, together with the carbonic acid, would keep the human body immersed in a deadly vapor of these exhalations, were not fresh air supplied. The illustrations by which you have made these truths easily understood, are admirably given in your lectures, and the method, by which you would best insure success in removing the foul and supplying the pure fresh air in every place where persons live or sleep, are, as I believe, from my own careful studies of this subject, most correct and trustworthy. Indeed, I am able to say that, in my examinations of the vast number of hospitals and buildings which you ventilated during the late war, under authority from the intelligent and humane Quartermaster-General of the army, the proof of entire success in your work was everywhere witnessed. Simplicity, invariable certainty and a liberal sufficiency characterizes these admirable methods of yours. I wish every family in the land had a copy of these lectures. Sincerely yours, ELISHA HARRIS, M. D., To Lewis W. Leeds, Esq. Vaux, Withers & Co., Architects, Dear Mr. Leeds. I am glad to receive your Lectures in printed form, and trust that they may be widely read throughout the community. Having been in the habit for several years past, of consulting with you professionally in regard to the arrangements to be made for heating and ventilation in plans for public and private buildings, I take this opportunity to acknowledge the value of the aid thus given; and as I feel assured, from a lengthened personal experience, that your thorough knowledge of the subject, both theoretically and practically, is calculated to render your assistance particularly valuable in the adjustment of complex and intricate plans, I trust that one result of the circulation of your interesting pamphlet may be to introduce you more widely to members of the architectural profession. I remain, Dear Mr. Leeds, Yours faithfully, Lewis W. Leeds, 110 Broadway, New York, Aug. 30th, 1867. Mr. Lewis W. Leeds was employed early in the war of the rebellion by the Sanitary Commission, as an agent to urge the necessity to the health and strength of the army, of the thorough ventilation of tents and quarters, and to devise and suggest to the proper officers the adoption of the best means for this purpose. At a later period of the war, at the suggestion of the Commission, the Quartermaster's Department engaged his services, and gave him large discretionary powers for the ventilation of hospitals. He was thus employed during all of the war, with great advantage, and the improvements which he brought about were unquestionably the means of saving thousands of lives. * * * * Mr. Leeds has a special talent for making improvements in houses of ordinary construction, by means which may be readily adopted, and with materials which may be anywhere procured without difficulty or great expense. Mr. Leeds' course of lectures on Ventilation is calculated to supply instructions of great practical utility. An invaluable addition to the health, happiness and wealth of the nation would result, if they could be delivered before every school in the country. FRED. LAW OLMSTED, Treasury Department, My Dear Friend. Your valuable Lectures on Ventilation have been received, and have been read with much pleasure, more especially as you are about the only person I have ever met, who, after making the ventilation and heating of buildings a specialty, has condescended to follow the laws of nature, and provide the means of adapting Very respectfully, A. B. MULLETT, Lewis W. Leeds, Esq., |
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