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Hints on the drainage and sewerage of dwellings
May, 1884.]
.Book Notices.
389
Liquefaction of Gases and Solidification of Bisulphide of (~arbon a n d Alcohol.--Caillettet, in a note published in 1882, recommended liquefied ethylene as a means of obtaining an intense cold. Wroblewski and Olszewski have employed a new appai:atus~ which allowed them to submit considerable quantities of gas to pressures of several hundred atmospheres, so as to congeal bisulphide of carbon and alcohol and completely liquefy oxygen with great facility. By boiling ethylene in a vacuum they have obtainc
Book
Notices.
HIx~s oN T~IE Dn.~I~AGE AN]) SEWERAGE OF DWELLIlqGS. By Win. Paul Gerhard, Civil Engineer. New York: W. T. Cornstock, 1884. Again we are called upon to chronicle the advent of a new work on sanitary science; and that before us is well calculated to impress one with the magnitude that the branch to which it is devoted has grown. In the first chapter the author quotes from an English report on filth diseases in which the following passage occurs: "Whether the ferments of disease, if they could be isolated in sufficient quantity, would prove themselves in any point odorous, is a point on which no guess need be hazarded; but it is certain that in doses in which they ~an fatally affect the human body they are infinitely out of th~ reach ~f even the most cultivated sense of smell, and that this sense (though its positive warnings are of indispensable sanitary service) is not able, except by indirect and quit e insufficient perceptions, to warn us against • isks of morbid infection." Such remarks would be superfluous were it not that the absence of odor appears to be regarded by the majority of persons as indicative of freedom from danger, and that the danger is proportioned to the offen~ivene~ssof the smell; apparently ignoring the fact that where persons
390
~oolc Notices.
[Your. Inst. Frank.,
catch the most virulent diseases they have no di~'ect intimation o{" danger until the symptoms manifest themselves. [t is also to be remembered--even if the sense of smell were admitted to be reliable to detect dangerous emanations--that this sense is sub.jeet to the same inequalities in different individuals as the other senses, and is less likely to have the attention directed to its deficiency than in the case of sight or hearing. Among the numerous methods and devices illustrated in the work it is impossible to decide at present upon tl~e most eftbetivc, no doub~ many will be found to be inefficient; a practical test under varying conditions being necessary in many cases to demonstrate their defects ; but it is probable that some possess nearly equal merits, and among them there will result a sharp competition for favor. As illustrating the recent developments of this comparatively experimental stage of" sanitary appliances, the work under consideration is vahmble. W.B.C. TttE AIR WE BREATtIE AND VENTII, ATION. By Henry A. Mort, Jr., Ph.D., E. M., etc. Mort Series, :No. 2. New York: John Wiley & Sons, 15 Astor Place. 1883. 81 pp. This is a treatise upon the two subjects indicated in its title. The first part is a description, chemical and mechanical, of the atmosphere and its impurities, with some statements of the effect of the latter upoa upon the health of the persons inhaling them. The second part consists mainly of descriptions well illustrated with cuts of various patented devices for and systems of ventilation, in some cases evidently copied directly from the manufacturers' circulars. The author lays special stress upon the advantages of ventilation by "aspiration," that is, of draining the fi)ul air from the place to be ventilated, rather than of forcing fresh air into it, in which, on the ground of economy, a question which he does not discuss, he is no doubt correct; otherwise there does not appear to be much practical difference, for, if fresh air is forced in, the foul air must go out, and if the foul air is drawn out, fresh air will come in, and if the points of inlet under it are equally well placed the value of the result attained is not affected by the manner in which it is accomplished. H e advocates the placing of the exhausts near the ceiling rather than the floor, a point as to which there is a difference of opinion among good authorities. G.M.E.
.Book Notices.
389
Liquefaction of Gases and Solidification of Bisulphide of (~arbon a n d Alcohol.--Caillettet, in a note published in 1882, recommended liquefied ethylene as a means of obtaining an intense cold. Wroblewski and Olszewski have employed a new appai:atus~ which allowed them to submit considerable quantities of gas to pressures of several hundred atmospheres, so as to congeal bisulphide of carbon and alcohol and completely liquefy oxygen with great facility. By boiling ethylene in a vacuum they have obtainc
Book
Notices.
HIx~s oN T~IE Dn.~I~AGE AN]) SEWERAGE OF DWELLIlqGS. By Win. Paul Gerhard, Civil Engineer. New York: W. T. Cornstock, 1884. Again we are called upon to chronicle the advent of a new work on sanitary science; and that before us is well calculated to impress one with the magnitude that the branch to which it is devoted has grown. In the first chapter the author quotes from an English report on filth diseases in which the following passage occurs: "Whether the ferments of disease, if they could be isolated in sufficient quantity, would prove themselves in any point odorous, is a point on which no guess need be hazarded; but it is certain that in doses in which they ~an fatally affect the human body they are infinitely out of th~ reach ~f even the most cultivated sense of smell, and that this sense (though its positive warnings are of indispensable sanitary service) is not able, except by indirect and quit e insufficient perceptions, to warn us against • isks of morbid infection." Such remarks would be superfluous were it not that the absence of odor appears to be regarded by the majority of persons as indicative of freedom from danger, and that the danger is proportioned to the offen~ivene~ssof the smell; apparently ignoring the fact that where persons
390
~oolc Notices.
[Your. Inst. Frank.,
catch the most virulent diseases they have no di~'ect intimation o{" danger until the symptoms manifest themselves. [t is also to be remembered--even if the sense of smell were admitted to be reliable to detect dangerous emanations--that this sense is sub.jeet to the same inequalities in different individuals as the other senses, and is less likely to have the attention directed to its deficiency than in the case of sight or hearing. Among the numerous methods and devices illustrated in the work it is impossible to decide at present upon tl~e most eftbetivc, no doub~ many will be found to be inefficient; a practical test under varying conditions being necessary in many cases to demonstrate their defects ; but it is probable that some possess nearly equal merits, and among them there will result a sharp competition for favor. As illustrating the recent developments of this comparatively experimental stage of" sanitary appliances, the work under consideration is vahmble. W.B.C. TttE AIR WE BREATtIE AND VENTII, ATION. By Henry A. Mort, Jr., Ph.D., E. M., etc. Mort Series, :No. 2. New York: John Wiley & Sons, 15 Astor Place. 1883. 81 pp. This is a treatise upon the two subjects indicated in its title. The first part is a description, chemical and mechanical, of the atmosphere and its impurities, with some statements of the effect of the latter upoa upon the health of the persons inhaling them. The second part consists mainly of descriptions well illustrated with cuts of various patented devices for and systems of ventilation, in some cases evidently copied directly from the manufacturers' circulars. The author lays special stress upon the advantages of ventilation by "aspiration," that is, of draining the fi)ul air from the place to be ventilated, rather than of forcing fresh air into it, in which, on the ground of economy, a question which he does not discuss, he is no doubt correct; otherwise there does not appear to be much practical difference, for, if fresh air is forced in, the foul air must go out, and if the foul air is drawn out, fresh air will come in, and if the points of inlet under it are equally well placed the value of the result attained is not affected by the manner in which it is accomplished. H e advocates the placing of the exhausts near the ceiling rather than the floor, a point as to which there is a difference of opinion among good authorities. G.M.E.