Page:Architectural Review and American Builders' Journal, Volume 1, 1869.djvu/316

 256 Sloan's Architectural Review and Builders' Journal. [October, remaining bright and untarnished, as long as the wall it so beautifully clothes shall remain ; and not being liable to split, or crack, as is too much the case with wainscoting. If any inventive genius will now in- troduce a ready method of porcelaining, or so coating ceilings, that they, too, may be washed and kept bright, he will deserve the patronage which such a boon to domestic construction is certain to draw forth. Sliding doors are a great improvement on the venerable folding principle. And these have received great aid from the excellent invention of Newman's Patent, by which the old, and too often cranky, rollers and tramways on the floor have been quite superseded ; and now an in- fant can move the doors, which under the ancien regime, often resisted the strength of an athlete, and the patience of a Job. There are a thousand aids to elegance, in fact, which have been introduced into our modern houses, more or less remark- able. But the systems of Heating and Ventilation are, by universal acknowl- edgment, the most prominent of all. For, lacking either, or both, of these, what becomes of our positive comfort, even though possessing all others ? Of such absolute necessity, to a full and true enjoj'ment of health and hap- piness — for comfort is happiness — are both these great principles, that it be- comes imperative that we shall enjoy them ; and, knowing such to be the fact, men of an inventive mind bring their genius to the determined study of the subject, — if not for the sake of philan- thropy, certes for the acquirement of that wealth, which is the prize of him, who distances all competitors. Philosophers have given deep atten- tion to the subjects of heating and ven- tilation; and their thoughts, surmises and propositions, are to be found, in pamphleted importance, upon the tables of all our architects. And how many, how various and how unfounded in some instances, are these speculations and theories ? On a coming occasion, we will look into their respective merits, giving to all and to each a clear stage, and no favor ; and where we consider it desirable, will present illustrative cuts of their peculiarities. It is a subject of vast importance to the great human family, this ventilation. It is the natural food of the lungs, and should be unexceptionable. Nature in- tends that it be so. Art has no higher aim, than to make it so, It therefore becomes the peculiar study of the archi- tect, to which in his compositions, he should sacrifice much that he retains for the mere sake of effect. A well-venti- lated building, he should remember, is intrinsically beautiful, not as a thing to be looked upon with satisfaction bj r the critical eye of the limited circle of tasto merely, but to be enjoyed as a blessing by all. Let the architect's ever-present precept be : The greatest amount of GOOD TO THE GREATEST NUMBER. Heating is, or ought to be, the great adjutant to Ventilation, For Heat certainly exercises a very great influence on the atmosphere, which rises, or falls, just in proportion to the amount of that element. The architect then, who would become master of the subject of venti- lation, should apply his mind to this kindred topic, that the two may be made, as nature meant, to assist each other. There are still more aspirants to fame in this latter science than in the former. For the great mass of inventors and designers— who present the communit}' with their ideas of what stoves, furnaces and heating apparatus of eveiy sort, should be — seem to have had but one idea — that of producing heat, and noth- ing more. Yet so blind are they, that even with the broad hint given them, in the fact that draught is necessary to combustion, they fail to make provision for ventilation ; and are only desirous of producing the one eflect,wholly regard- less of the other. Now, what would be