On the economical applications of charcoal to sanitary purposes : a lecture delivered at the Royal Institution, Albemarle Street, on Friday evening, March 2, 1855 / by John Stenhouse.

  • Stenhouse, John, 1809-1880.
Date:
1855
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: On the economical applications of charcoal to sanitary purposes : a lecture delivered at the Royal Institution, Albemarle Street, on Friday evening, March 2, 1855 / by John Stenhouse. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    more than a year ago, been so unaccountably over- looked. The charcoal air-filter consists of a thin layer of charcoal powder interposed between two sheets of wire-gauze, and can be readily applied to buildings, to ships, to the gully-holes of sewers, to respirators, and to various other purposes. One of these char- coal air-filters was fitted up in the justice-room of the Mansion-house, about three months aofo, where it has ever since been in successful operation. This room, as many of my hearers are probably aware, is ventilated from a very naiTow street, con- taining a large urinal and several other nuisances, and was often so offensive as to have become the subject of general complaint. Since, however, it was furnished with a charcoal ventilator, through which all the air entering it was made to pass, the atmos- phere of this apartment has become quite unexcep- tionable. As the most satisfactory proof of the successful operation of the air-filter at the Mansion- house, I need only state that within the last few weeks the City authorities have fitted up a similar apparatus in the Justice-room at Guildhall. The utility of charcoal ventilators inserted into the framework of buildings, of ships, and in other situations where foul air is apt to accumulate, as in water-closets, in the close wards of hospitals, in the many back courts and mews, lanes of great cities, is, therefore, abundantly clear; all the im- purities would, with such an arrangement, be ab- sorbed and retained by the charcoal, and a current of pure air alone admitted into the apartment.