New-York tribune., 1876-02-16
rHE BAD AIR IN THE CAPITOL.

STARTLING DISCOVERIES MADE DOWN IN TIE BAsE-
MENT-wHAT THE AIR ~ HE LOWER HOUSE Is
IMPREGNATED wIru-THE PRACTICAL VALUE ot
CIVIL SERVICE EXAMINAIIONs.
IRON THE REGULAR CORRESPONDENT OF THE TRBuNE
WASHINGTON, Feb. 15.-The Chamber of the
House Of Repr sentatves has long been known to be tho
worst ventilated hall of similar capacity in America.
shut in from the outside ali by the lobbe7 which sur
round it, and lighted only from above where the Of
fhe sun struggle feehy through ground and stained glass
with natural means of ventilation at all, ana WIN
very imperfect machinery for removing in an arilhca
way the foul air which accumua,es, and replacing II
with pure from without the atmosphere III tins cham
beI has al times become polluted as to make it almost
impossible persons easily affected by foul air to re
main in It, There doubt that every year officers
Of the House members OF Congress, and Teprcs ntatvcS
of the press who are Obliged TO spend many consecutive
hours daily in the House. receive INTO their systems the
seeds of disease which never aferward eradcaed
The subject OF securing better ventilation has repeat
edly occupied the attention Of tie House ITSELF and
efal committees have within the last few years, given
the subject careful Investigation The result has always
been recommendation TO reconstruct the House Itself
generally at an enormous expense, but neither the en-
gDeer in charge OF the heating and yenlatnG apparatus
nor any committee OF Congress has heretofore succecCed
III securing the least improvement.
At the beginning Of the present session the Clerk OF the
House. Mr. Adams. determined to apply the principles Of
TO be in charge Of heating and ventlang the chamber
Four applicants for the place selected and they
submitted to a competitive examination before officers
Of the Bureau OF Steam Engineering Of the Navy The
successful c mpetItor was Col George r. Ellison.
petent engineer ana active Liberal Republican of
NewYork City, whose average percentage, shown by
the examination, upward Of 80, while the ext best
competitor secured only between so and 60. Col Ellison
entered upon the discharge Of his duties late last month";
and has already made very startling discoveries,
including among them few of the reasons Why II has
heretofore been impossible to supply the House Of Repre-
sentatiyes with pare air.
The method Of heating the Capitol may he briefly de
scribed: In the su-basement Of the House wing are
placed engines which drive immense fan-wbeos These
draw in pure air from out doors and Olce II coll Of
pipe heated ~ s;ean aud by this means its temperature
IL properly raised. Thence the air is forced into the
chamber lobbies aud cOnmittee-rOOs, while by
of exhaust fan attempt is made to the Ou
air through openings in the top Of the chamber OF the
steam-cOs mentioned, there 26 81 each Of which
placed the brick inclOsure aud the OF these
in separate rooms vaults Each of these Enclosures
has from three TO five east iron doors which, when
opened allow free communication between the IN the
room OF vault In which it is situated and that passing
over the steam-cOils. These doors all sup
posed to be kept closed, in order TO prevent
any dead air In the vault from passing in aud
mixing with that supposed to be pure which is passing
the coils. A recent examination Of these doors
showed that 81 of them warped sprung by
the heat 10 make them far from air tight The aper
lures caused by these mperfecOns in width vary from
the thickness Of sheet of paper TO half inch The
vaults in which these Enclosures situated have been
used as storerooms, in which all OF rubbish
been deposited. One OF them was a kind OF paint
shop In which turpentne oils. paint &c, &c were
stored In another several coils old rubber hose vefy
mody and filthy had been deposited besides several
barrels containing taow aud other similar articles The
temperature in these rooms from 90 1852
and OF course the stencil arising from this was
10 some cases very offensive he gases generated from
1t PASSED through openings left by the imperfect doors
described and became mixed with the pure air as 1t
passed over the COILS and then forced into House
of Representatives to viate the atmosphere there.
But this ALL The kitchen of the House
Is also situated In the basement and the doors and
leading from into other parts Of the base
ment, where these coils situated of such char
aeter a. TO make 1t impossible to prevent the whole
basement from being filed with the fumes Of the cook
ing which goes there during the whole day Still
further watercloset used by workmen about the base
ment which is very imperfect in its arrangement far
fombeng kept gives forth almost sitting fumes Of
ammonia and other foul gases. Finally, water from
waste pipes has been allowed to drop into the duct
leading the Committee and the corridors about
the House. and II has Of escape, has stood
there, stagnant, covered with green scum and filed
with masmatc accumulatlons Tue length Of that part
Of this duct in which the stands about 33s
and Ia two feet WIDE at the bottom thus giving
lace Of 676 square feet Over this the is forced
way 10 the corridors and Committee rooms aud Of
course receive of poisonous matter which
carries up for Members Of Congress to breathe This
also passesint the House of Representatives
nom the corridors being frequently open, and the