LECTURES ON VENTILATION:
BEING A COURSE DELIVERED IN THE
FRANKLIN INSTITUTE,
OF PHILADELPHIA,
DURING THE WINTER OF 1866-67.
By LEWIS W. LEEDS,
Special Agent of the Quartermaster-General, for the Ventilation of Government Hospitalsduring the War; and Consulting Engineer of Ventilation and Heatingfor the U. S. Treasury Department.
Man's own breath is his greatest enemy.
NEW YORK:
JOHN WILEY & SON, PUBLISHERS,
2 Clinton Hall, Astor Place.
1869.
Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1868, by
LEWIS W. LEEDS,
In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States forthe Southern District of New York.
New York Printing Company,
81, 83, and 85 Centre Street,
New York.
PREFACE.
These Lectures were not originally written with any view to theirpublication; but as they were afterwards requested for publication in theJournal of the Franklin Institute, and there attracted very favorablenotice, I believed the rapidly increasing interest in the subject ofventilation would enable the publishers to sell a sufficient numberto pay the expense of their publication; and, if so, that this veryspirit of inquiry which would lead to the perusal of even so small awork, might be one step forward towards that much-needed more generaleducation on this important subject.
It was not my desire to give an elaborate treatise on the subject ofventilation. I believed a few general principles, illustrated in afamiliar way, would be much more likely to be read; and, I hoped, wouldact as seed-grain in commencing the growth of an inquiry which, when oncestarted in the right direction, would soon discover the condition of theair we breathe to be of so much importance that the investigation wouldbe eagerly pursued.
L. W. L.
CONTENTS.
LECTURE I.
Philadelphia a healthy city—Owing to the superior ventilation of its houses—But the theory of ve