Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 42.djvu/223

 Rh of similar panels fastened in pairs. They rest on the walls against which the corner-pieces of paper abut. Although the thrust is weak enough, the two parallel walls are connected by a number of tie-beams composed of thin wire of galvanized iron, particularly if the construction consists of a long hall without any bearing wall. By means of the double walls, which inclose a cushion of air all around the construction, we get houses nearly insensible to variations of temperature, and consequently very comfortable to live in. The floor is composed of panels about a metre and a half square, constituting a wall of paper six millimetres thick, nailed to V-shaped wing-beams.

The use of these houses may be particularly commended for temporary constructions. They are remarkably well adapted to



places used for exhibitions, for ambulance services, military campaigns, etc. Hospitals made upon this system appear to have given very satisfactory results. Besides the general advantages accruing from a rapid building, the particular fact may be taken account of that the paper used in the construction of the walls may be made with antiseptic water, which will communicate to it the precious quality of not harboring germs of infection.

[An ingenious portable hospital or barracks of paper, the invention of M. Espitallier, captain of engineers, is described in another number of La Nature, by M. J. Comportey. Its interior dimensions are sixteen by five metres, and it will accommodate twenty beds. Folded up, it forms a load for three two-horse trucks.