sudden and capricious changes of the atmosphere, too, arising from the effect of heat and cold upon aqueous vapour, and generating the fluctuating aerial currents, called winds, must have soon suggested the expediency of adopting artificial heat, in addition to architectural covering, as a means of aiding the respiratory organs in their work, and in sustaining a wholesome range of temperature in the dwelling house. This is a subject which has much occupied the attention of architects and engineers, and an extraordinary amount of ingenuity has been displayed in the various suggestions promulgated, with a view to make combustion perfect; to distribute its radiation widely, and to carry off the chymical products of ignition. There are many gentlemen present more skilled in the treatment of these matters than I am, I shall therefore confine my attention to a few points with which I am familiar. Notwithstanding all that has been said in favour of warming inclosed spaces, with hot water, steam pipes, air flues, close stoves, &c., the open fire is still the favorite method in the popular mind. We continue to consume our fossil-fuel coal with an enormous waste of caloric and combustible matter. Large lumps, or ingots of coal, are placed in contact and subjected to ignition, the surfaces, which are immediately exposed to the active fire, are decomposed and consumed, but the adjacent strata are heated at the same time, in different degrees; some to a degree not adequate to sustain combustion, but quite sufficient to expel the carboniferous gas which escapes up the chimney unconsumed. It has been calculated that by these losses, and the heat carried away in the smoke, a waste of 80 per cent. is experienced.

To mitigate this great loss, and to obviate other inconveniences, Dr. Arnott has endeavoured, with some success, to impart to the fire-grate some of the properties of the gas-retort, and to retain for use the carburetted hydrogen gas, and the solid particles of fuel, which are otherwise lost in the current of the smoke. With the same object I contrived my "solid gas fire," named "the Atmopyre," which I was permitted to exhibit to this Society sixteen years ago. On that occasion, I had the pleasure of showing an artificial cinder made incandescent by the combustion of hydrogen in air; a fact, indicating, as I then thought, and as I still think, the possibility of applying the hydro-oxygen fire to common use. The difficulty of economically separating hydrogen from oxygen in the decomposition of water postpones that triumph of art to the future; and our immediate care must be directed to the better management of our most comfortable, but very unscientific coal-fire.

If Dr. Arnott's excellent idea of consuming smoke could be realized, there would still remain the need of carrying upwards the products of combustion, and the impediments which I experienced in applying my Atmopyre are still unsubdued in all chimneys of the usual character. In consequence of these impediments, my attention was early turned to the means of ventilating ordinary chimneys, in such a way, as to command the occurrence of a constant upward draught.

The ascent of the gases generated by combustion may be impeded by two different causes. First, in a still and humid state of the atmosphere, chimneys are filled with a body of air very nearly saturated with vapour, and, consequently, so conditioned as to resist the first feeble pressure of the rising smoke and its cognate gases. This hindrance can only exist during a perfect calm, and the first wave of air crossing the chimney-top dispels it. The most frequent and pertinacious obstacle to the easy escape of smoke, consists, secondly, in the disturbing effects of air-currents upon the chimney finials, which are generally terra cotta pots, or contorted zinc tubes. It is a law in pneumatics, the necessary consequence of the universal force of gravitation, that wide and strong currents of air over-rule and attract to themselves all minor breezes. The impulse of wind is simply its local weight, but a degree of rarefaction is produced on the edge of every current, which causes an influx of the adjacent quiet air, and exerts bencficially an exhaurient effect upon the draught of flues. Such a strong gust of wind approaching an ordinary stack of chimneys, of course, displaces, by its weight, the lighter atmosphere round about,

and, descending into the flue, drives down the ascending smoke.

When undisturbed by such moving columns of air, the tranquil atmosphere permits the ascent of smoke, or rarer air, which obeys the law of gravitation as implicitly as floating bodies on the surface of water. It is by the lateral pressure of the colder air that the heated products of combustion shoot upwards into the sky. The proper function of the chimney is to convey the air and gases, rendered light by the heat of combustion, from the grate, where they are coerced by the atmospheric weight in the apartment, to the top of the flue, where they are immediately subjected to the lateral stress of the outer atmosphere, and either drawn away by the attraction of passing currents, or propelled upwards to the normal height suited to their levity. To the perfection of this effect, two circumstances are required, first, that the air of the warmed room shall be equal in barometric pressure to the air above: and, secondly, that a body of air, protected from disturbing currents, shall always surround the upper aperture of the flue. The first effect is secured by the adoption of the atmode, or air channel, already described; and the second result, I believe, may be always insured by another arrangement which I have invented.

I have found that, in my experiments with the atmopyre, wherever the orifice of my escape-pipe for the products of combustion entered, (a passage of some length and open at both ends), the currency of these gases remained perfect, and that in these passages there prevailed, invariably, a flow of air in one direction or the other. These facts suggested to me the idea of my vomitorium, or smoke exode, the principle of which, I think, is established by my experiments on lamps. In order that the column of smoke should disembogue itself freely from its channel of escape,-the chimney, it is necessary to prevent the rude contact of the wind with the immediate vent of the flue, and this object is achieved by the inclosure of the chimney vents in an oblong chamber, or ample tunnel, of which the calibre must rather exceed twice the sum of that of all the flues. The mouth of each flue should project, in the shape of a collar, into this receptacle, which would extend from one parapet to the other, and each end would be on opposite aspects of the house. Each mouth of the tunnel may be closed by a perforated door; and on either side, on a level below the collars of the flue, there should open several holes of a dimension proportionate to the number and size of the flues.

A careful observation shows that the phenomena exhibited in my apparatus, as well as by the experiments made on two small houses in Chelsea, occurs as follows, and are well displayed in the lithographed illustration. The chamber of the vomitorium is filled with air of the temperature and density of the atmosphere, and proceeding from the lateral holes, or from the foramina, at either end. This air is either in a state of gentle motion along the tunnel, or moves in a more rapid current from end to end, in which last case it exerts an exhaurient, or suctional force, upon the flues, and, consequently, vivifies combustion in the grates below. This is a power which can be utilised, in vigorously ventilating the abodes of the poor, in spite of their perverse hostility to the admission of air. The fires being kindled, the jets of smoke issuing from each flue rise to the arcaded roof, sustained by the cushion of cold air, already existing, and which is constantly fed from the sources described. Finally, the smoke escapes outwards along the roof of the vomitorium, and the superior apertures at the obturated ends; making its exit, sometimes at both ends, when the atmosphere is tranquil, sometimes at one or the other end, when the commanding current is active. This succession of effects seem due to the maintenance of an equilibrium between the air within, and the air without the house, and in theory, is as simple in principle as the adjustment of weights in the scales of a balance.

6th. I have shown what an important agent, in the production of animal heat, oxygen is, but its absorption into the blood would be absolutely sterile, unless it were chymically married in the latent recesses of the living frame with its consort, carbon, which can only emanate from the digestion of certain viands

by the stomach, and their nutritious principles being conveyed into the blood. It is the charcoal burning which occurs in the course of the circulation that generates the vital heat. The importance to health of a proper preparation of food is therefore patent. A deficiency of skill in the art of cookery is everywhere observable amongst the wives of our working men. Hence arise immense waste, discomfort and domestic contentions; and it is a consideration, I think, which may be urged on the architect and economist, whether, as experience proves, the erection of a house for an aggregate of families is more advantageous than the construction of a separate small dwelling for each family; the same principle does not indicate the establishment of general kitchens, where wholesomely cooked food may be purchased by all. I believe such undertakings would prove excellent speculations, would be a convenience to many middle class families, and, most certainly, greatly promote the cleanliness and comfort of poor householders.

7th. The invention of means for carrying off the solid and liquid excrements of the animal frame is, of course, a want not less urgent than the extrusion (by sharp currents of air) of the gaseous exhalations. The first differ from the last only in the fact that hollow viscera are provided for their temporary retention in the body; they are all alike, in a continual state of elimination from the blood. When once ejected from the body, and exposed to the action of the air, heat and moisture, they rapidly decompose, and generate vapours equally tending to provoke the outbreak of disease.. As all these exuvia are convertible into food for plants, it is certain that, as soon as chymists shall have invented a formula for this conversion, the value of the products will awaken the capitalist into efforts for their utilisation; and the opprobrium will no longer rest upon this metropolis, of throwing away "native guano," equal in worth to three millions sterling annually.

There is nothing, perhaps, in the habitations of the poor people, more urgently calling for reform than those retreats where the human being is called upon to perform his most humiliating function, an act in which he is placed on a level with the most humble of his mammalian fellow creatures, and with which nature has associated a feeling of shame. In the performance of these physiological acts, it is desirable that the individual should be protected from gross familiarity by decent seclusion, and that self respect be sustained, by the supply of means for personal cleanliness and purity. The wretched boxes which are placed in our small houses for the gratification of these wants, are deficient in all the postulates for modest decency and health, they are in fact, prolific sources of diseases. These cabinets ought to be capacious, well supplied with water, ventilated, sufficiently secluded; and each dwelling should possess a number proportionate to the number of inmates.

8th. As the builder of cities, and as the cause of accumulated edifices, and a concentrated population, the architect is responsible not only for the hygiene of particular dwellings, but also for the general salubrity. It is for him to supply remedies for the evils which his own acts produce. We look to the ingenuity of this artist for the preservation of wide streets, and open spaces for air and exercise, for copious supplies of water, for perfect facility of drainage, and for every aid that can be required for the health and cleanliness of the population.

From the enlightened influence of the architect we may hope for the abatement of that greatest evil of towns-the ground rent. The accidental proprietor of land in the neighbourhood of a growing town becomes, without the slightest personal merit, a magnate of wealth; by competition his land commands a fabulous price, which in future years imposes an absolute veto upon all improvement. Now the improved value of this person's land is entirely the work of society, and society has an undoubted right to measure out its benefits to this its member. The law of supply and demand is good, but there are social considerations which are paramount to it.

T

In such an unprecedented hive of human beings as London presents, every facility for cleanliness in person, clothes and habitation, should be supplied, not only in dwellings, but by such general establishments as baths and wash-houses, the erection of which is clearly within the municipal obligation of parishes. The accumulation of household dirt, and personal filth, is the result of the close agglomeration of the population in small spaces; it is produced by society, and society is bound to provide an adequate remedy.

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The sketch of a house, which an artistic friend, eminent in another branch of pictorial art, has condescended to make for me, and which is shown in the appendix, is intended to show the appearance which a habitation, constructed in the way I suggest, would present. The vomitorium and the atmode are both represented, and shown not to be eyesores. A staircase of stone is supposed to ascend from the basement. to the terrace, and to be the general approach to all the apartments. It has been objected to the idea of the common" staircase, so universally prevalent on the continent, that it is repulsive to the habits of our people. The vanity of this objection is immediately shown, by the fact, that thousands upon thousands of persons, in London, do actually live in lodging houses, and use a common staircase, much narrower and more inconvenient than the one here proposed; and that these persons are of various ranks and means, a fact which brings the working people into proximity with the more opulent inhabitants, and places them within the compass of kindly counsel and sympathy.

It has been said, and perhaps truly, that the single sentiment of charity, notwithstanding the example of Mr. Peabody, is not powerful enough to produce such an outlay of capital, as the erection of solid and durable houses of this class implies. The wretched system of building dwellings upon leasehold security, instead of freehold, is the cause that the architecture of these edifices is so unsatisfactory, most of these houses being built merely with a view to sale, and a quick return of the capital with interest. It is rarely that a man erects a house for himself on his own ground; and no man ever thinks of building houses upon a large scale as a patrimony for his family, as many noblemen in France, Spain and Italy do. Speculating builders, even at the Court end of London, erect showy rows of mansions, decorated with the ordinary architectural millinery, but deficient in scientific construction, and intended only to last a limited time. Great expense will never be incurred in the production of ephemeral structures, but when ample revenues are to be created for centuries, in the form of estates in houses, then large investments of capital would be devoted to the construction of mansions, and the best materials, with the most skillful workmanship only, would be employed. If we look at the old cities on the Rhine, and in Belgium, and at many large Continental towns, we shall see that such investments are both safe and profitable.

Our vicious system of building, in England, is so rooted in the habits of small capitalists, that it will, probably, require an act of the legislature to restrain it. And this interference will not be long delayed, when public opinion becomes conscious that policy, as well as philanthropy, suggests that it is desirable the homes of the poor should be improved. That society is not safe, where the majority of its members do not very obviously see what benefit accrues to them from its action. There are signs which indicate that contentment is not the master sentiment in the minds of our industrial classes. Handsome churches are erected, and gorgeous rituals are invented to attract them, but they still hold back. Museums and literary societies are formed for their edification, but these compete too feebly with the fascination of the gin palace; and the poor man has no pleasant sentiment associated with the word home, because, to him, it is cramped, dirty and unhealthy.

Is it quite visionary to hope, that all the forces of this great English society, actuated by all the motives which press themselves upon our attention, are strong enough to accomplish such a reform in our domestic architecture, as that the hearth and home of the poor man may become the abode of peace,

Description

of

House.

health and contentment, the nursery of piety and the pure affections? I believe it is not. Perhaps we have all all been too solicitous to garnish, each his own little cell of self-interest, and careless of the security of that great social dome that should cover us all? Happily this supineness is now dispelled and the public heart is pregnant with great designs. It is felt that too great a repulsiveness has been allowed to grow between the several ranks of our people. They have been too much segregated, and the several ranks do not know each other, or appreciate their mutual virtues. In all coteries, there prevails a desire for reconciliation; and from my long intimacy with the character of our working men, with their good sense and right feeling, I feel sure that all efforts undertaken, with earnestness and in a proper spirit, will satisfy their judgment, and call forth their gratitude and affection.

I. TABLE, showing the comparative Length of Life, of the well-housed inhabitants of certain districts; and of the mass of inhabitants in the same districts, including paupers.