The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1842-02-15 00:00:00

ON VENTILATION

The lecturer commenced by stating that be had no new
theories to advance, his sole object being to apply existing
laws to explain well known phenomena, most of the results he
was about to show being already no doubt attained by others
whose attention had been drawn to the physical laws in force
for the maintenance of the wide extended necessities of life,
while all the results could be arrived at by any member of the
society who would direct his mind to their mode of action.
He proposed, first, to consider the chief ventilatory aera-
tory forces of the atmosphere; secondly, the aeratory forces
of the ocean ; and thirdly, to endeavour to show what venti-
lation would have been in an atmosphere often by geologists
supposed to have existed round our globe at the commence-
ment of the first transmutation of the matter at its surface :
this was an aqueous atmosphere, the greater part being sup-
posed to consist of the vast waters now forming the
ocean. He bespoke the indulegence of his auditory,
inasmuch as his paper, previously written, was on the
solicitation of their indefatigable secretary, remodelled for
the occasion. He then proceeded to show that the atmos-
phere as to moisture, and consequently its conducting power
for caloric, governed to a considerable extent the diffusion of
the artificial gases given out at a temperature 20 or 30 de-
grees above the surrounding atmosphere; while it would be
found that gases thrown off at the existing temperature of the
soil, only obeyed one set of laws, whether they were elimi-
nated by the acts of men, or by the infinitely more extended
processes of nature. The laws which appeared to act as
direct agents in ventilating our atmosphere were, Ist, the law
for the diffusion of gases discovered by Dalton and Graham ;
2d, the winds now said by meteorologists to be of two kinds,
ascending currents, and impelled currents; 3d, the ascending
and descending currents of air, which show that in a serene
atmosphere the air derives its heat by contact with the earth ;
4th, the elastic state of the atmosphere; and sth, evapora-
tion. Proceeding to these heads the lecturer furnished a
most ingenious exposition of the laws regulating ventilation,
but we regret that the subject is of so extended a nature that
justice cannot be done to it within the circumscribed limits
of a newspaper, particularly at a time when political subjects
almost exclusively occupy the public mind. Suffice it, for
the present to say, that he displayed great research and in-
genuity in his expositions, which he couched in language at
once select and comprehensive, showing the relative powers,
of diffusion of the various gases, natural and artificial, the
winds prevailing in different parts of the world, the diffusion
of cbaloric, the electric forces, evaporation, seasons, climate,
currents of the ocean, &c., -quoting' the most distinguished
authorities, explaining several phenomena, and expressing a
hope that the study of the subject would lead practical scien-
tific men to the most beneficial results, in introducing an im-
proved and effective system of ventilation of towns and
public buildings.
An interesting discussion took place, in which several gen-
tlemen took part, and which elicited some satisfactory ex-
planations from the lecturer, who was listened to with great
attention, and sat down amidst much applause.
ON THE RISE, PROGRESS, AND EXTENSION OF THE