Occasional Notes.

Clutha Leader, Volume II, Issue 83, 10 February 1876, Page 3

Occasional Notes.

By-Colonus. Xv: .vMiirii^TLoWdvAßviL^ t li, the-atmdsph"eriQ T air rwhich -surl rounds us and, which : \^e arjecontiniially receiving' into and'-exhaling yfrom'oufr lungs-; • was as p'erceptable -to the- sight as *water is} probably "we -should be more 'particular' than Ware about the' pir'vr. Me'athe^ 1 A 1 riiariWiirthirikjtte^ fore. he plunges his hands, face', or body into foul : aiid -dirty ' •water ;- c fbutr filthy $ir, defiled by a large aimount* of carbonic acid rgas^ >-iri conseguehe'e of its passage through -the 1 humftite lungs, 'the bulk_of human 5 -beings O w |ii- * breathe without the slightest; hesitation, except when the" air has .at' length become so impure that it makes its offensive character known in manner. In dwelling-houses and public buildings, in sitting-rooms and bedrooms, human /beings; have for:ages been accustomed » to ■ -take . into itheir lungs air more oorr r less ; dirty, and unfit to be. breathed. This very undesirable habit of humanity has resulted from various causes; to a considerable ..extent from ignorance. Many - people'are .not- thoroughly aware of -the evil effect on their health of breathing impure? air, and unless the. air in a room becomes '.very foul in<|eed,. are. hardly conscious that they are breathing bad air. Though the prejudicial effect oi'breathing impure airymay:not be immediately felt, yet the. frequent breathing of such -air. is. oertain^ more-or. less to -injure and undermine; the health, and -occasionally to culminate in serious or fatal disease of the lungs. Another reason why people have so long persisted in breath-; ing foul air is, that until the important discovery which lias' lately been made, so means had been found of intf oducirig fresh air into; closed rooms in any manner except such, as was more or. less disagreeable aiid' 'inconvenient. -Most ■people have a strong, antipathy to what they call a draft, and .certainly, a lively stream bf cold air playing on apportion of the body is riot pleasant, arid U likely to produce cold or . rheumatism. A great problem which has been waiting fOr-lsolution by human ingenuity and observation, has been, -how'to let iresh air idlp a closed room without producing a draft; •- The> expedients .hitherto adopted for the purpose of ventilation, have been more* or" less inconvenient and imperfect, and consequently have never come into general use. Fortunately for the inhabitant^ at least of cold and.temerate climates, this great problem seems to have been at last solved by Mr Tobin—^l think a- Liverpool gen-tleman-^-but at present described „a s -a retired merchant, living near Leeds in Yorkshire. The solution of the "prob^ lem seems so simple, that it -iss a.wb'nr der our scientific men, upon, whom : we are wont tci rely for discoveries of this sort, never thought of it before. Perhaps, however, many of these gentle* men have . been. so_ much . engaged in proiriulgating. atomic ;theories^ in dissecting live animals and collecting the bones of dead, ones, arid otherwise , delving for abstruse knowledge^ ; that tbey have had neither time or iricliricliriatibn to attend to a srriall matter of this sort. I am not. aware rthat 'Mr Tobin either \ dubs himself or is dubbed-by, -others, • ■M Professor,"; and yet he seems to have : ;made one of the most useful and bene- ! .ficial .discoveries of the, "age, viz., how i ito iritrop\uce fresh air in,to closed apart- ; I merits' without producing *a draft. ' Mi* iTbbiii observed that a strearii r of water iflows inta a still pond;: kept its own' arid jheld together till its course was arrested ;!by the opposite, bank, .when it curved 'gently' round on either ' side, s arid was i lost inevitably in the general body of i water. So thinks Mr Tbbirii perhaps a ;stream .of. fresh air let into a closed : roora would act in a similar manner, ?and iupon making the trial/found -it would ;do so. Therefore he concluded that "to" !jet a stream of fresh aii?" t into a room so ias to avoid a draft, nothing ihbre w'ai ; required than; i tori have cpipes placed in Ithe side . ot the; raoni,, and rising ,abqu,t 'four feet, through 'which theioutslde iair could pass : iv. . • {Entering ; through i these pipes, the f .strcam^t fresh : air iascended direct through the air in the iroom until it reached the ceiling", or ■upper part of the walls" when it broke ;into a : sort of spray," diffusing itself Ithrough-' the?, apartment;. -purifying the internal air, and occasioning no draft 'or inconvenience to theinmates of the iroom. Mr Tobin found also that it was unnecessary to form ; ari aperture to"' let. ithe foul air outj hut that the internal lair would be purified without any such special arraageriierit.-^That seems about jail. ;it may ''hot seeiri much'but itie probably a good deal, yln Leeds "the invention seems Aio* have Veen extensively utilised, And to have given great 'satisfaction. . The heat ana stench in jthe Borough PpliceCpur f t at Leeds had been so great that I'd wi- Council lhad expended j between .•£14,000 -and^ i£ lSjOOO 1 ori successive ventilation desc-j itore, each, pf whoni had- j.<eft ; « matters as; ibad or worse than ..th'ey : w^ere before^ (She iffect, however, of v Mr^Tobin^s^in"-; jyention : was, '" w!thou^ r produo ; ing 'any inconvenient draft, immediately td'-'ren-* jder the Court as freshtand^ sweet asithe"-? external air around the ! buflding.i e Theinvention has been adopted by the leading merchants and bankers, tne. Church 'war^s'^Si'-iGf^^V^™^ ah\d the publishers of the "'laeMsf^Mercury.' /oTheT^riJbfafibtf^ltheT^y^^^ •moreover/ Vvoted" Mr- /Ilobin .an hbrio'rariiim of £25 : .^0/expressr-ite;^ the benefit' he had .confjerred-on the

town.. .'T,. suppose we may -conclude then- that the invention is-rnp.tf a duffer, but ttat, ngurativeiy speaking, Mr Tobin has "alighted upon a nugget of great value, or struck' a very rich claim . Mr Tobinlt r seems"ha¥ someT-cdiiveriTent arid cheap method of applying his^ indention to dwellirig-rooms. " Whether our people avail themselves or npt ;i of Mr Tobin's 1 discovery, and all—but especially townspeople — would *db well to do s„o, I .trust' our Governments, General and Provincial, "yfi&? promptly set a good example by thoroughly ventilating all our public rooms arid school rooms, now they have been shown by Mr Tobin how to doit. "$ •-* ■