The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1882-07-23
VENTILATION.
Ventilate! Ventilate! Ventilate
is the Cry.

! Many travellers Of culture and sci
entifc attachments are spending
summer vacation on the Pacific
Slope, with note book and pencil as
companions.
Much that is CLEANED On the tril
| in the form of memorials may
never appear before the public, but
those who have a special pursuit
will nat rally closely examine anG
criticize that which pertains to
their particular profession. B ing
ali architect and civil engineer,
naturally examine more or less
critically, all the public structures
on my route; that which strikes me
most fOrcibly is the absence of ali
sanitcry ventilation in public build
ings this side of the Missouri. This
is more particularly the case in Salt
Lake City. No eastern audience
could endure the atmosphere which
appears to be reSpirable for a west
ern congregation.
This is doubtless owing to the
more robust constitution of our
western neighbors. Nevertheless
the absolute injury done by defin-
tie amount of foul air mingled with
carbonic acid gas from the lungs of
the audience and lights of the build
ing is of necessity the same on a
western audience as on an eastern
one.
The westerner, owing to a greater
store of vitality, does not as quickly
feel the effect, and would, under or
binary circumstances require a
longer exposure to its influence be
fore disease OF death would result.
But do our western friends realize
that all persons are subject to periods
of indisposition, in which state they
may become an easy pray to the
disease germs with which all your
public buildings are necessarily
filled, owing to lack Of proper
ventilation.
Many persons of otherwise sound
Judgment ignorantly believe that a
series of holes cut through the roof
of building, and extending thence
TO the outer air constitutes ample
ventilation. Nothing can be more
false, as your Assembly Hall, New
Opera House, and other places of
public meeting forcibly attest.
In an experience Of many years
both in the eastern and western
hemispheres, and under the most
unfavOrable conditions, | never suf-
fered so much from lack of proper
ventilation, as l did recently in tt
buildings which l have just design
ated.
Are you western people too busy
with shipments of bullion and toe
much occupied with mining opera
tons to pause for but one moment
and reflect OIL your unsanitary con-
dition which may be chiefly attrlb-
uted to an imperfect knowledge of
rational laws as applied 10 the ven
tilation of your public and private
buildings? And are yOu determined
to breathe a deadly atmosph ere
when YOU assemble for devotion OF
for pleasure?
Down the broad avenue OF your
city sparkle the purest of mountain
brooks. your streets happily combine
rustic simplicity and city eleg tnce,
such as is nowhere else to be found.
WHY will you breathe over and
over again the reeking emanations OF
diseased humanity, mingled with
the combined nastiness OF rum, to-
bacco and filth in its most vicious
forms, which 1 leave to the vivid
ness of your individual imagina-
tons.
AS a passing stranger, having the
interest of my fellOw-beings at
heart, I would urge you in the name
of civilization to keep pace with
the science Of the age in which we
live. Ventilated VentiLGte! VEN
TILATE! Respectfully yours,
J. BARNET RODRIGUEZ, G. E.
The evil complained of by our
correspondent is one to which local
physicians have called attention,
and still call attention. The many
inventions with a view to secur-
ing the better ventilation of build
ings. and the numerous ar ticles ap-
bearing in scientific and popular
publications urging its necessity on
the public mind, are doubtless the
best arguments that can be adduced
in support of this sanitary measure.
It is too true that this feature has
been neglected in majority, If not
all the public structures In our city,
and there is no doubt that, with
the pressure that is being
brought to bear in this matter,
these defects will have to be over
come, however great the expense
may be. The subject Of good ven
tilation is now paramount IN a dwell
ing house, and is more earnestly
sought after than architectural
beauty: while in public structures
it stands side by side in importance
with architectural symmetry and
with the acoustic properties. That
it is essential, every person who has
entered a room in which persons
sleep or sit for a long time with
closed doors and windows, must
know. The greater the number OF
persons and the longer they nave
been in, the more unbeaTable is the
atmosphere one inhales on entering
the room. 1t is sometimes posi-
lively sickening. This must be IN
furious. The purer the air, the bet
ter a persons health. Unless TINS
is so, what would be the object IN
bo1,;To, onIz froch M. miro air at all Z