An enquiry into certain principles of architectural physiology / by D.O. Edwards.

  • Edwards, David Owen, 1801-1878.
Date:
[1866]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: An enquiry into certain principles of architectural physiology / by D.O. Edwards. 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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    ]30 The force of air current devoted to the expulsion of impure gases should be considerable, for such flirids have a kind of attraction to clothing and all porous surfaces, such as tapestry, lath and plaster walls, hock papers, ^d coarse deal boards. In these sinuosities, animal effluvia are decomposed, and produce and foster the seminium of fever, which under certain atmospheric accidents may become epidemic, and spread from the hut to the palace. 3rd. In England, the architect depends for his supply of air chiehy upon his windows; and, doubtless, there are times in the summer months when these defensive glass screens may be left open without detriment. In dormitories, in the absence of a better contrivance, it is found more prudent to resort to this simple expedient for purifying the apartments, than to inhale the offensive malaria with which they are filled. Glass is so rapidly diathermal a substance that, in cold weather, the radiation from closed windows is so copious, that the temperature of apartments is often quickly lowered, and chilly currents of air are driven inwards from the surface of the glass. These avenues for light are also often too large for the room, and render it impossible to keep up an equable temperature. I have known many cases of fatal inflammation produced in persons sitting incautiously near closed windows, and continual relapses are induced in valetudinarians by the same imprudent act. The jDiice of glass is now so much reduced that double-sashed windows could be supplied in the generality of houses ; but where this protection cannot be obtained, the construction of windows of a size proportionate to that of the apartment, and the adoption of the invention which I have ventured to recommend, would diminish the force of the draughts thus created. Large windows and a bright light form a gi’eat luxury, and are, in some respects, salubrious, but heat is the want of every moment. 4th. In his efforts to aid nature in her struggle to uphold the normal heat of the blood, the architect has a right to expect that the inhabitants of houses should second him by protecting themselves, whilst indoors, with clothing suitable to the season. This is a care which, in England, is universally neglected; a kind of semi-nudity is practised in the house, especially by women, who often provoke the attacks of serious maladies by exposure to sudden chills in passages, halls and staircases. In the South of Europe, where often no fires are Idndled in sitting rooms, the people are wiser, and invest themselves in as warm raiment indoors as in the open air. They, therefore, circulate with perfect impunity all over their houses. To a person properly clad, a temperature of 50° would afford a genial sensation. This is a degree of warmth which is shewn, by this table, to be maintainable without difficulty where good architectural covering is aided by artificial temperature. These tables, shewing the influence of architectural covering in preserving and controlling temperature, and also the additional effect of fire, I have computed from observations, most carefully noted and recorded, for more than twenty years, at Chelsea, by the late Mr, Charles Soare, a retired Commissariat Officer, assisted by Mr. Bacon, a schoolmaster in the same neighbourhood. The neatness and accuracy displayed in these records furnish a pattern for all meteorologists, and would satisfy the exigencies even of Mr. Glaisher. The comparative notations of indoor and outdoor temperature were made in a small house, situated in the King’s Road, Chelsea, an average sixth class residence, displaying all the usual defects observable in such erections, yet the actual amount of retained heat was considerable, and the daily, monthly and yearly range of the thermometer was (as is seen) greatly lessened. From the facts demonstrated here, we may conclude, with certainty, that a house constructed on scientific principles, would insure the maintenance of a wholesome degree of warmth without much aid from artificial heat. 5th. One of the first physical conquests of the refugees from Eden must have been the invention of fire, which was soon discovered and applied by Abel in his sacrifices. Man is a cooking animal, and his digestive organs are not capable of assimilating many of the crude aliments presented by nature. The