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 some years ago, states that the first scientific consideration of the subject of artificial ventilation occurred in 1723, when a certain Dr. Desaguliers was commissioned to institute some means for making the atmosphere in the House of Commons more habitable; and the doctor seems to have installed a system which proved satisfactory, although it had been previously attempted by no less a personage than the celebrated architect, Sir Christopher Wren. Since that time the question of ventilation has occupied increasing attention in the minds of physicians, architects and other scientific men interested in the public welfare, but even to this day what may be called "artificial" or forced ventilation remains to a large extent a luxury.

From the earliest times in the latitudes of northern Europe and North America, some form of heating in cold weather has been a necessity for all buildings, whether caves or palaces, but even as late as the latter part of the nineteenth century such a thing as a uniform temperature in heated rooms in severe weather was never expected, while ventilation was invariably secured only by such means as would be accomplished by the circulation of air through doors and other openings. In the days of our forefathers, when houses were built with large rooms and great, high-ceiling halls, and when people spent a large part of their time in the open, air, there was in reality but little need of artificial ventilation; and in the rude homes of the poorer classes that which was secured through poorly constructed walls and through loose windows of oiled paper was generally much more than was desired. With the improvement of transportation facilities, however, and the gathering of large numbers of people into small areas, and comparatively large numbers in single buildings, the need of artificial ventilation, in order to secure anything like a wholesome atmosphere,gradually became apparent, and it is natural that the demand for such ventilation should be recognized first in a building like the House of Commons.

Out of the same economic conditions arose the necessity of heating buildings by steam. Buildings of all kinds had from the earliest days been heated by open fireplaces, in which logs, and later coal, were burned in considerable quantities, while the larger proportion of the heat escaped up the flue. But forests were in time reduced, cities grew, and buildings were made larger and with a much larger number of rooms; and people were forced to find