LIFE IN MID-AIR.

Evening Post, Volume LXXVIII, Issue 9, 10 July 1909, Page 10

LIFE IN MID-AIR.

ADVANTAGES OF A LOFTY HOME. The roof of a proposed thousand feet New York skyscraper will, says the chief of the American Weather Bureau, yield a climate equivalent to that of a hundred miles further north, with an air pressure seventy-pounds lighter than that in the street level. This building, when completed, will be the loftiest in the world, and the top of it will be nearly one-fifth of a mile above the street. If one should take a notion to" establish living quarters in the uppermost story of such a building, he would find that more time was required to cook an egg properly in a saucepan of water than on the first floor. This is because water boils at a perceptibly lower temperature at such an elevation. Water in a saucepan cannot be heated beyond boiling-point, of course. Accordingly, at the top of this building it will not 'be so hot. This means that it will take longer to cook the egg. ' If at the street level four minutes be required to boil an egg properly, on the top floor of the new skyscraper two and a half extra seconds ought to be allowed. The breezes in summer time will blow just about one-fourth more rapidly than at the level of the street, thus bringing greater coolness. Thus the breezes enjoyed by the people who occupy the upper floors will be steady and delightful — not gusty and disturbing to comfort. The temperature, too, will be about three degrees lower than at the street level. Only three degrees, but in effect the difference will be much greater, because of the breeze and the freshness of the air. The matter of dust is one of great importance where human comfort is concerned. It is a surface phenomenon, as far as the objectionable part of. it is concerned. Disagreeable dust does not rise above three or four hundred feet, even when the wind blows hard. This is because all Buch dust is composed of large and heavy particles, chiefly sand, which tend to gravitate. The bacteria in the air usually adhere to dust particles. Hence it follows that with no dust worth mentioning, or perceptible (impalpable dust exists at all altitudes in the atmosphere), there will' be comparatively few disagreeable germs to bother occupants of the upper floors of this upper-air structure. It has been ascertained that the air of_ an ordinary theatre commonly contains a hundred million bacteria to the cubic inch. That of an open city' park contains perhaps two millions. On the upper floors of the contemplated skyscrapfer the latter figure would probably not be exceeded, supposing that the rooms were well ventilated, while on the roof the number of microbes would be greatly less. But it should be remembered that comparatively few bacteria, relatively speaking, are harmful ; and those of them which do cause disease of one kind or another are seldom found more than five hundred feet above the level of the ground. Such a camp would be admirably adapted for persons threatened with •tuberculosis — a sort of skyscraper sanatorium. The reduced air pressure would be excellent for the lungs, rendering bieathing easier. Besides, the great purity of the air at a thousand feet of elevation would be an important advantage.