" ° - ^O A& . t ' » „ <S^ ft? .o«« 
 
 
 ,v 
 
 .7 ^ 
 
^ 
 
 
 ++ct 
 
 
 
 V* 
 
 3 V 
 
 V 
 
 r.0 V oilT% V ,** , 
 
 ^ 
 
 
 
 
 *> 
 
 v\ 
 
 
 '• A V< V ° 
 
 t *^ 
 
 
 
 
 *> 
 
 
Digitized by the Internet Archive 
 in 2011 with funding from 
 The Library of Congress 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/enlargementofcapOOande 
 

 F 
 04- 
 
 85 
 
 iC'zk? 
 
 ENLARGEMENT 
 
 CAPITOL OF THE UNITED STATES 
 
 CHARLES FREDERICK ANDERSON. ARCHITECT 
 
 ♦II * 
 
 ,.Vo. 44, WALT. STREET, 2iKW YOMK. 
 
 Gmxos k Co., Piiatfp*. 
 
 / 
 
, a As 
 
Washington, June 7th, 1851< -^N 
 
 TO HIS EXCELLENCY <V <$ 
 
 MILLARD FILLMORE, £ H* j&z 
 
 President of the UnitedS£ates . 
 
 Sir: Having responded to the invitation #%the Architects of this 
 country last fall, by the Committee of the Senate on the public build- 
 ings, by presenting a plan for the enlargement of the Capitol, and hav- 
 ing been so fortunate as to have been awarded a premium by that com- 
 mittee for my design; and having, also, in common with other archi- 
 tects, been invited, on several occasions, to explain those plans to the 
 President, in the presence of the members of the Cabinet and those 
 Architects, but not having had an opportunity to explain them so fully 
 as to be understood, duty to my adopted country, duty to the President, 
 the Senate, the Committee, and lastly to myself, requires of me that I 
 should, in as concise a manner as practicable, state the general heads 
 of my plans, and the views which appear just upon the subject. 
 
 As I do not presume that the President has had sufficient evi- 
 dence of my qualifications as an architect, I beg leave, respectfully, to 
 tender testimonials of architectural skill and experience in the erection 
 of public buildings, from the Mayor, the Board of Aldermen, the Board 
 of Assistant Aldermen, the Board of Governors of New York, and from 
 Judge Edmonds, of the Supreme Court'of that State, with many other 
 testimonials from public bodies and distinguished individuals, and with 
 these preliminaries to proceed, with your permission, to submit a state- 
 ment upon the subject. 
 
 1. I have proposed from the beginning, (in December last,) to en- 
 large the Capitol by wings of ample dimensions to the north and south 
 of the present building, and separated on each side by an interval — 
 joining each wing to the centre building by a connecting lobby forming 
 an ample passage on each floor of the building, which is fully exempli- 
 fied in my plans. This feature was a distinguishing characteristic be- 
 tween my design and every other plan submitted under the advertise- 
 ment. It was my original conception, which no argument could 
 remove, and it has afforded much satisfaction that the President has so 
 far honored me as to adopt it. I would here beg leave to remark, that 
 there is no necessity for allowing the interval more than 20 feet, as 
 it would destroy the appearance by having a wider interval, and would 
 give the idea of separate buildings, which is to be avoided, the object, 
 as I understand it, being to establish one grand massive structure, tho 
 roughly classic in proportions, and architectural in appearance. 
 
 2. For the interior arrangement of the north wing, I propose on 
 the first floor to arrange the Supreme Court room, retiring room 
 for the Judges, hall for the Law Library, office of the Clerk, rooms 
 for the Attorney General, Marshal, &c, with the proper entrances, 
 
2 
 
 corridors, and conveniences. The story will be twenty feet high. 
 This floor is shewn by a plan presented. Second or principal floor , to 
 arrange the Senate Chamber, audience room, conference rooms, Vice 
 President's room, rooms for the Secretary's office, Senate Library 
 room, Senate Post office, water closets, private stairway from the ground 
 floor under the eastern portico for the members, two stairways from the 
 north front to the galleries and the Reporters' rooms, and a corridor out- 
 side the Senate Chamber, capable of being made private between the 
 Senate and the roomsTTrove mentioned. On this floor there will be 
 three fine porticos for the comfort and convenience of the members. It 
 is proposed to enclose the Senate Chamber by mahogany wainscot, 
 with metallic panels, reaching up to the gallery floor to prevent the 
 sound of the voice from being lost under it; and to shut out noise and 
 currents of air from the exterior, which would be fatal to the hearing 
 properties of the room. This wainscot will be made a sounding or 
 transmitting medium to the voice, and will be pierced by three door- 
 ways for entering and retiring from the Senate. Under the Senate 
 floor will be placed the apparatus for drawing from the Senate 
 Chamber the vitiated atmosphere, or carbonic acid gas. The gal- 
 lery floor next to the wainscot work will be fifteen feet from the 
 floor of the Senate, with a gradual rise from the front to the back 
 of the gallery, so that the audience sitting on the back seat may see the 
 speakers on the floor of the Senate. The thirty-four windows for 
 lighting the entire room, and for admitting air at pleasure, to accommo- 
 date old prejudices, if required, would be above the gallery. The 
 ceiling of the entire room would be appropriately and richly decorated 
 with patriotic emblems and ornamental painting. The President's 
 chair is placed in the centre of the longitudinal side of the room, in or- 
 der that each member may be in the nearest practicable line to the 
 chair. The arrangements for the reporters would be two small galle- 
 ries, connected with rooms, to each of which there will be a telegraphic 
 arrangement for the transmission and reception of information and des- 
 patches. There would be two separate stairways leading to the gallery 
 on the north side, and ©ne main entrance to the gallery on the south, 
 connected with two separate stairways in the old north wing of the 
 Capitol, affording free ingress and egress sufficient to clear the galleries 
 in a very short period of time. 
 
 The machinery for the introduction of pure, air from the exterior 
 will be simple, and be located in the lower parts of the building, where 
 it will be prepared to suit the season, and forced up by a sure mechani- 
 cal process through the ducts in the walls, having outlets over the cor- 
 nice of the walls, and flowing into the chamber in controllable and re- 
 gulated quantities, to suit the number of persons in the House and gal- 
 leries, heated by a process preserving the salubrious qualities in the 
 air, and to preserve a given temperature in the room in the winter, and 
 cooling down the external atmosphere in order to supply air of a given 
 temperature in the summer. So that at any season of the year, whether 
 but a few persons be in the room or it be crowded to excess, the tempera- 
 
ture may be preserved uniform at any required degree, and the hearing 
 maintained without interruption or diminution. An apparatus will be 
 placed under the floor of the Senate, which, by withdrawing the vitiated 
 atmosphere or carbonic acid gas, will keep the atmosphere of the room 
 always pure, whether few or many persons be congregated therein, 
 as its power may readily be exerted to correspond with the demand 
 for its use. These will not now depend upon chance, according 
 to the mistaken ideas of some persons, but will depend upon, and 
 be regulated by, certain fixed principles, sustained by strong and 
 unquestionable living authorities, some extracts from whose printed 
 works are submitted to the President with this communication, in ac- 
 cordance with his wishes. To attain this desirable end, however, the 
 entire building, its foundation, its walls, its size, its interior arrange- 
 ments, and every particular connected with it, must all be calculated 
 and constructed in direct reference to it: that is to say, to the light, 
 ventilation, hearing, and adaptation of the halls to the comfort and con- 
 venience of the two Houses of Congress, collectively and individually; 
 and if the converse of this view be adopted, and the Houses be con- 
 structed without this all important end in view from the beginning, it 
 will be too late, when they are completed, to provide these indispensa- 
 ble qualities in the building. 
 
 It must now be considered as an axiom in modern architecture, that 
 to obtain and preserve a pure, temperate, and regular atmosphere, and 
 to secure an easy exereise of the lungs, clear enunciation of the voice, 
 and a perfect hearing in large assembly rooms, there must be no sudden 
 nor cross currents of air, admitted by open windows or doors from the 
 exterior, nor even from an elevated position, for the reason that those 
 currents cannot be regulated or controlled as may be required, and 
 would not act nor enter with sufficient impetus into the room, without 
 the existence of a force of wind or a breeze without, and the establish- 
 ment of a strong current by openings on different sides of the room, 
 which would decoy the voice, render it difficult to speak, and interrupt 
 or destroy the hearing. This being avoided, and the other cause of 
 difficulty in speaking and of oppression of the lungs, to wit, the impure 
 atmosphere, or carbonic acid gas, being regularly withdrawn by the 
 unfailing apparatus under the floor, the desired objects must infallibly 
 be attained. To allow these principles to operate properly, the interior 
 structure and finish of the room, the materials to be used, and the mode 
 of finishing them, must all have a proper adaptation; at least, they 
 must not be directly at variance with those principles, or form obstruc- 
 tions to their easy operation. For instance, if there were pillars, or 
 columns supporting the galleries, or those galleries should pro- 
 trude from the enclosing wall into the Senate chamber, instead of 
 the close wainscot extending from the floor of the Senate to that of 
 the gallery which I have placed there, the consequence would be, 
 that the voice would be confused by the columns, and, penetrating 
 under the galleries, would there be lost. Pillars resting on the gal- 
 lery floors, and supporting the ceiling, would also have a confusing 
 
4 
 
 effect to the sound; and, generally speaking, all avoidable projec- 
 tions or recesses forming cavities, would have the same effect, and 
 must be scrupulously avoided. These facts, however, need not de- 
 prive the room of those reasonable and proper ornaments and embellish- 
 ments which a becoming regard to the dignity of the National Assemblies, 
 as well as to the national taste and judgment, requires. Meagre, in- 
 deed, would be the resources of architectural knowledge did they not 
 furnish abundant ideas'and means to give elegance and grace to such 
 rooms, as well as the most perfect adaptation of them to the uses and 
 purposes for which they were intended. Independently of the other 
 important uses of the mahogany wainscot, (which should be of hard 
 wood with metallic panels, all having a fine polish,) it can be made, by 
 the employment of a peculiar form of conductors of sound, to receive 
 the voice, and convey it through direct channels to every part of the 
 galleries, receiving and directing thereby, for a useful purpose, the re- 
 dundancy or excess of sound which might otherwise produce a confus- 
 ing echo, and interfere with the hearing. In reference to all these 
 matters, which are of such vital importance in the construction of such 
 rooms, I am compelled by candor to say, that there is existing at this 
 time a lamentable want of information, generally so much so as to 
 enable obatrusive ignorance to attempt to lead astray the best intentions, 
 directed by a well ordered judgment. 
 
 At the same time that my plan has reference principally to the ap- 
 plication of the above mentioned principles to the Houses of Congress , 
 I have furnished in my design a self acting arrangement for the venti- 
 lation of these Halls, when the mechanical plan is not in operation, by 
 means of four exhausting shafts in each wing, which will be found 
 sufficient at some seasons when the mechanical plan is not in opera- 
 tion, and neither of these plans would interfere with the natural venti- 
 lation by means of the windows and doors, which I persist in declaring 
 can never' be depended upon. 
 
 For the better understanding, by the President, of the principles of 
 ventilation and acoustics herein mentioned , I beg leave to submit here- 
 with, for his consideration, a number of extracts from several highly 
 respectable living authorities, which your Excellency has already 
 expressed a wish to see, and which will be found to support the plans 
 presented and the principles adduced in these remarks. 
 
 3. The preceding remarks, under the second head being explana- 
 tory of the new north wing and the apartments for the Senate, will 
 equally apply to the new South wing and the apartments for the House 
 of Representatives, with some slight modifications to suit the difference 
 in the size and circumstances of that House and its galleries, and every 
 advantage and convenience intended for one would be secured to the 
 other. This view of the House of Representatives is shown by a sepa- 
 rate plan now before the President. 
 
 The ground or first floor of the new south wing is also shown by 
 another plan in the possession of the President. From this design it 
 appears that the whole of this floor may be appropriated to one exten- 
 
sive Hall, which may be used on extraordinary occasions for the joint 
 meeting of the two Houses, for the inauguration of the President, or 
 other occasions requiring so large a room; or, should it be the pleasure 
 of the honorable House of Representatives, it may be divided into many 
 fine rooms for the committees of that House. In reference to the upper 
 works of the two new wings it is to be observed, that the ceiling would 
 be rendered as light as possible, to obviate the necessity for having any 
 pillars or columns to support it, and the vacuum between it and the 
 roof will prevent the sun from heating the ceiling, as the air, in this 
 vacuum, can be so cooled by the ducts from below as to render it a non 
 conductor of heat as well as of the sound from the roof. The cross 
 section, in the President's possession, which represents the interior of 
 the Halls of Congress, is tendered to explain the necessity of having the 
 attic or high parapet over the entablature to conceal the roof from 
 view, which in any plan would be necessary, but which, to some eyes, 
 has appeared unnecessary, it having been spoken of by persons igno- 
 rant upon the subject as an additional story to the building. 
 
 The views proposed by me in reference to these matters are exem- 
 plified in the floor plan and in the two sectional designs of the Senate 
 Chamber now in the possession of the President. 
 
 4. As regards the other plans submitted to the President for the en- 
 largement of the Congressional Library, for the improvement and fin- 
 ishing of the western front and elevation of the centre building, and 
 the finishing of the top of that building, including the ornament to the 
 great dome, the plans now before the President exhibit them finished 
 in accordance with the Roman style of architecture to which the build- 
 ing mainly belongs. But, I wish it to be expressly understood, that 
 in no case do 1 intend to disturb the present works of the dome, proposing 
 merely to ornament its exterior, which was left unfinished. These 
 plans being before your Excellency, render it unnecessary for me to 
 enlarge further on the subject, such improvements having nothing to 
 do with the erection of the wings. 
 
 5. As it may be expected that some remark be made in reference to the 
 mode of proceeding in the erection of the two wings, without interfering 
 with the business or convenience of Congress during the progress of the 
 work, I beg leave to say that, according to my judgment, the better 
 plan would be, to surround with a board fence the three interior sides 
 of the site of each wing, leaving the outside to be protected by the pre- 
 sent iron railing, and using one of the two iron gates on each side for the 
 use of the new buildings, and the other to remain a carriage-way for the 
 use of Congress. This course would secure the other parts of the 
 square and grounds from injury, and Congress from inconvenience; 
 and to protect Congress while in session from annoyance by the noise 
 of workshops in their immediate vicinity, those shops, particularly for 
 the heavy work, might be located on the public grounds, where the 
 rough material should be landed, and when prepared, be transported to 
 the building and put in its place. In this manner the wings might be 
 erected with little or no inconvenience to the business of Congress. 
 
Peeling the magnitude and importance of this great national work, 
 I trust that I may be pardoned for the boldness which the position 
 that I occupy would seem to attribute to me in thus entering the 
 lists as a competitor for the honor of being employed to construct this 
 national edifice ; but, when I reflect that the public invitation was 
 placed upon a purely scientific and professional basis, and that all, in 
 this happv country, who might justly aspire to the title of architects, 
 were equally invited; and when they had complied with the terms, by 
 presenting, in good faith, the plans sought for, that then all stood upon 
 an equal footing as to their rights as men in the honorable practice of 
 their profession. Standing upon this ground, and sustained by the 
 aspirations of professional ambition , I am yet always prepared to bow 
 with due deference to professional superiority wheresoever 01 whenso- 
 ever I may meet with it; but as a man, having taken an oath of sup 
 port to the Constitution of my adopted country and of fidelity to its 
 Government, I shall only feel disposed to yield the palm of superior 
 devotion to its honor and its interests to that individual who shall be 
 found ready to make greater sacrifices, or more ready to peril his life 
 in support of this glorious Union and in defence of its sacred liberties. 
 
 All of which is most respectfully and sincerely submitted by your 
 Excellency's obedient servant, 
 
 CHARLES FRED'K ANDERSON, 
 
 No. 44, Wall street, Neio York. 
 
EXTRACTS. 
 
 Extracts from " Illustrations of the theory and practice of ventilation , 
 with remarks on warming, exclusive lighting, and the communi- 
 cation of sound,'' , by David Boswell Reid, M. D., F. R. S. E .: 
 published in London, 1844; pages 72 fy 73. 
 
 121. I. Were ventilation made a primary consideration in con- 
 struction, and designs formed in unison with those laws that admit of 
 its most economical application , it would be much less expensive than 
 when appended to buildings previously designed or already built; and 
 advantage might be taken of many alterations which would necessarily 
 diminish the expense incurred specially for it. For instance, numerous 
 apartments are daily constructed of a much greater altitude than is re- 
 quired where systematic ventilation is introduced, for the purpose of 
 giving an ample supply of air; in such apartments, though air is longer 
 in being vitiated, it is also longer before it is purified, when once vitia- 
 tion has taken place. But, with systematic ventilation, a pure 
 atmosphere can always be sustained within the zone of respiration, 
 though the walls of the apartment be not elevated higher than the 
 heads of those who may occupy them. The economy effected by re- 
 ductions of altitude in individual apartments, though only amounting 
 to one or two feet on each floor, would, in most instances, amply repay 
 any expense incurred in improving the ventilation. 
 
 122. II. Were central shafts preferred for ordinary purposes, 
 whether for individual houses, public buildings, or for commanding 
 streets, squares, or districts, the permanent economy and improved 
 health which would necessarily attend their introduction, ought not to 
 be forgotten in estimating their actual cost. 
 
 123. III. In individual apartments, an ingress and an egress for 
 air, controlling valves, and such diffusion as the numbers likely to oc- 
 cupy each apartment might render necessary, forming the great essen- 
 tials of ventilation, a great expense would not be necessary if the requi- 
 site means were introduced in the original structure. 
 
 Chapter IV, page 31 U. 
 
 691. There are perhaps, few, except public speakers and singers, 
 who are led to consider the extent to which the respiration of those that 
 speak or sing is affected by the facility with which sound may be com- 
 municated in different buildings. All those whose engagements lead 
 them to exercise their voice much in public, are, in general, well 
 aware, that in some rooms there is comparatively little effort requied to 
 render it distinctly audible; while in others, the system is soon as much 
 exhausted by the laborious efforts that are necessary for this purpose, as 
 the attention is distracted by the forced exertion and peculiar emphasis 
 or cadences with which it may be requisite to speak, in order that they 
 mav be understood. 
 
8 
 
 692. The difficult communication of sound in any building is a 
 grievous tax upon the strength, the time, and the attention of any public 
 speaker, and if not the actual cause of death in some cases, where a great 
 exertion had to be often made beyond the powers of the constitu- 
 tion, has at least too often assisted its premature arrival, by the extent 
 to which it undermined the constitution. 
 
 Page 317. 
 
 The comparative unity of temperature and movement of air through 
 the house, also facilitates unity and distinctness of intonation. 
 
 The soft, thick, porous, and elastic hair cloth carpet allows all com- 
 munication from place to place to proceed without producing any noise, 
 while it is perfectly pervious to the excess of sound which escapes 
 through it to the air chambers below. 
 
 The double windows, which have not been open once during the 
 last seven years, and the mode by which the air enters and escapes 
 from the house, have effectually excluded the great interruption for- 
 merly caused by noise from without. 
 
 In rooms lined with sonorous metals, the slightest effort of the voice 
 is heard with extreme distinctness, and to many with a keenness and 
 intensity which is painful, unless the sound be very subdued. The 
 effort is proportional to the sonorous nature of the metal employed. In 
 metallic tubes of considerable size, the sound may be conveyed for 
 miles. 
 
 704. If secondary reverberations be considerable in any apartment, 
 while a primary tone is still sustained by any one continuing to speak, 
 and if a door be opened through which the sound can escape freely, it 
 sometimes is observed that the voice may be more distinctly followed 
 without than within; the primary sound alone extending to any dis- 
 tance beyond the walls, while the minor sounds are lost before they 
 can proceed so far. 
 
 705. Proximity to a reflecting surface is always favorable both to the 
 speaker and hearer, unless the discharge or excess of sound be insuffi- 
 cient. 
 
 710. In many halls and galleries, with arched roofs or domed ceil- 
 ings, the amount of interruption caused by the curved surface is al- 
 ways contingent upon the form of the curve, upon the nature of the 
 material of which the reflecting surface is composed, and the distance 
 of the hearer from the curve. If he be in the focus, the resonance will 
 prove offensive in general; but if the floor on which he stands, or his 
 ear, be at a distance from it, whether above or below the focus, the 
 sound will be more or less equal or pleasing, according as its intensity 
 is more or less uniform throughout the whole apartment. 
 
 There are many public buildings in which the communication of 
 sound is so imperfect that it is no exaggeration to state, that the efforts 
 of the speaker to be heard, and of those that listen to hear, detract very 
 largely from the effective value of the discourse. 
 
 715. The stillness of an audience, and the exclusion of external 
 
9 
 
 noise, form very important elements in considering the communication 
 of sound in public buildings. 
 
 717. Those who are interested in this subject will find, in general, 
 that where the communication of sound is imperfect in the construction 
 of public buildings, it may be remedied according to the acknowledged 
 principles of acoustics, and particularly by providing an escape for ex- 
 cess of sound. 
 
 720. But there are few localities where numerous facts might not be 
 accumulated, such as have been adverted to in regard to the communi- 
 cation of sound, illustrative equally of the power of the voice and of the 
 air in a still atmosphere; aud the general conclusion appears to be, that 
 few buildings have yet been constructed too large for the human voice 
 to fill, where excessive reverberation can be subdued, and where the 
 unity of the atmosphere is preserved. 
 
 726. The highest supply is required in autumn, when the air is warm 
 and moist, the wind imperceptible but inclining from the east, the 
 barometer low, the ground moist, and the tide full. Fifty thousand 
 cubic feet per minute are scarcely sufficient then to sustain comfort in a 
 crowded house; extra power is given, and the other appliances resorted 
 to which have been stated . 
 
 Extract from u a practical treatise on warming- and ventilating build- 
 ircg\s," by Charles Hood, F.R. S., F. R. A. S., etc., London, 
 1844, 2d edition; chap. 3, page 232. 
 
 269. Probably no subject connected with the health and vigor of 
 the mind and body deserves more and receives less attention, than the 
 condition of the internal atmosphere of our houses and apartments. 
 Attempts are indeed occasionally made to introduce some system of 
 ventilation in public buildings, but they are far more frequently unsuc- 
 cessful than otherwise, in consequence of the arrangements not having 
 formed part of the original plan. 
 
 Chapter IV, page 268. 
 307. The different modes of producing ventilation may all be 
 classed under two general heads — the natural and the mechanical. All 
 the methods of spontaneous effusion, produced by (he unequal density 
 of two columns of air, whether caused by chimney draughts or other- 
 wise, belong to the former class; while the various other methods of 
 ventilating by fans, pumps, and other similar contrivances, belong to 
 the latter class. Of these different modes, the mechanical is the most 
 effective; the natural generally, but not always, the most economical. 
 
 Page 276. 
 The method of spontaneous ventilation which has been described 
 requires, in every case, that the air of the room to be ventilated shall 
 be of a higher temperature than the external air. In very hot weather, 
 
10 
 
 and with crowded assemblies, this method is generally insufficient to 
 secure a wholesome and comfortable state of the atmosphere. But 
 artificial means have long been in use for increasing this effect. This 
 is accomplished in two ways — either by heating the air in the upper part 
 of the ventilating tube, which causes it to ascend with greater rapidity, 
 and thereby to draw it out of the room or building; or by causing the 
 air of the building to pass through a furnace , from which all other sup- 
 ply of air is excluded. Both these plans have been extensively used, 
 and both answer the intended purpose. The principal theatres of 
 London are ventilated by the former method, advantage being taken 
 of the heat of a large chandelier placed near the ceiling in the centre of 
 the house. The heat of this chandelier causes a great rarefaction of 
 the air and increases the draught; and it thence passes out through 
 tubes into the open atmosphere, the building being supplied with fresh 
 air from below. The method of ventilating, by causing the vitiated 
 air to pass through a furnace, has also been long and extensively em- 
 ployed. Thorough ventilation can only be procured by two methods — 
 draught by heat, or mechanical ventilation by a fan; but the latter of 
 these methods possesses so many advantages over the former, that it ap- 
 pears surprising it should, for so many years, have been neglected; and 
 that, of all the numerous plans which have been tried for ventilating 
 the late House of Commons, the draught by heat, though applied in 
 various ways, has been the principle of them all. Dr. Ure has writ- 
 ten a useful memoir on the subject of ventilation, in which he com- 
 pares the advantages of these two methods; and he estimates the rela- 
 tive cost of ventilating by a fan, compared with that by chimney 
 draught, as about 1 to 38. 
 
 318. The efficiency of the mechanical method of ventilation by a 
 fan, turned by machinery, has been proved so extensively in some of 
 the largest manufactories, that it appears singular that Dr. Reid should 
 have adopted so cumbrous and expensive a contrivance as that which 
 he has erected at the present House of Commons. Whether or not 
 this method of ventilation be adopted in the new Houses of Parliament, 
 there can be but little doubt that ultimately the more simple, efficient, 
 and economical plan of ventilating by a fan will be resorted to. 
 
 320. The mechanical method of ventilation appears to possess 
 many advantages. It is of course only suitable for extensive build- 
 ings, on account of the coat of erection and maintenance of the appa- 
 ratus being too great in any case, except where a large quantity of air 
 is required to be withdrawn. The usual plan is either to emply a rota- 
 ry fan to draw out and discharge the air, or a pump, which answers 
 the same purpose. 
 
 Extracts from "Improvement of school- houses in the United States, ," 
 by Henry Barnard: New York, 1849. Page 49. 
 The ventilation of factories, mines, reading-rooms, and halls intend- 
 ed for large assemblies of people, has received of late much attention 
 
11 
 
 from men of science and large practical views in England. In facto- 
 ries, the large apartments are heated by steam or hot-water pipes, and 
 the air, which has been vitiated by breathing and perspiration, is drawn 
 out by a fan ventilation. This contrivance resembles somewhat our 
 common fanning mill, or machine for winnowing grain. The impure 
 air of the room is drawn into the fan to supply that which is condensed 
 by the revolving wings, and forced out through a pipe leading to the 
 open air. 
 
 In the House of Commons, the rapid change of air is effected by 
 means of an artificial draught in a chimney erected on the outside of the 
 building, and in which a large fire is kept burning for this purpose 
 solely. The fresh air from without is first introduced through a perfo- 
 rated wall into a chamber below , connected by doors with an apart- 
 ment containing the hot-water apparatus for warming the house. The 
 pure air can then be warmed or not, according to the season of the year, 
 before it passes into the apartments above. This is done, not by rising 
 in a large volume through one or two openings, but imperceptibly 
 through a large number of very small holes in the floor. The air thus 
 admitted, after becoming vitiated by respiration and combustion, escapes 
 through apertures concealed in the ornaments of the ceiling into a com- 
 mon flue or receptacle above, which is connected by a descending pipe 
 with the chimney noticed before. In warm weather, the air, before 
 passing into the house, is cooled and freshened by jets of water playing 
 through it, and by the melting of bags of ice suspended in the cham- 
 ber below. 
 
 The rooms of the Wellington Club, Liverpool, are warmed and 
 ventilated in nearly the same way. The air from without is Srst 
 cleansed from all particles of coal dust, and other impurities, by being 
 passed through water, and then brought to the right temperature by 
 steam pipes in the air chamber below. It is then forced into the room 
 by a revolving fan, through a band of minutely perforated zinc, which 
 skirts the large apartments. Concealed in the ornamental work of the 
 ceiling are openings, communicating with an air chamber above, in 
 which is a chimney shaft and in the draught produced by a fire in this 
 the vitiated air is carried off so rapidly that the odor of a small quantity 
 of rose water poured into the air chamber below is, in a few seconds, 
 perceptible in every part of the room. 
 
 Extracts from il Ure' 's Dictionary of recent improvements. ." Neiu 
 York, 1845. Page 270. 
 
 1 take the liberty to observe, that the system of heating and ventilat- 
 ing the Reform Club House offers some striking and peculiar advan- 
 tages, introducing, during the sultriest dog days, refreshing currents of 
 air, at a temperature of 10, 20, 30, or even 40 degrees under that of 
 the atmosphere. Of such cool air a very gentle stream would suffice 
 
12 
 
 to make the most crowded apartments comfortable, without endanger- 
 ing the health of their inmates with gusts of wind through the doors, 
 windows, and floors. 
 
 It is lamentable to reflect how little has been done for the well being 
 of the sentient and breathing functions of man in public buildings, not- 
 withstanding our boasted march of intellect, and diffusion of useful 
 knowledge. 
 
 On the 6th of June, 1836, 1 took occasion, in a paper read before the 
 Royal Society upon the subject of the malaria which then prevailed in 
 the custom-house, to investigate the principles of ventilation by the 
 fan, and to demonstrate, by a numerous train of experiments, the great 
 preference due to it, as to effect, economy, and comfort, over chimney 
 draught ventilation. Yet, at this very time, the latter most objection- 
 able plan was in progress of construction, upon a colossal scale, for the 
 House of Commons. About the same period, however, the late in- 
 genious Mr. Oldham, engineer of the Bank of England, mounted a 
 mechanical ventilator and steam-chest heater for supplying a copious 
 current of warm air to the rooms of the Engraving and Printing depart- 
 ments of that establishment. Instead of a fan, Mr. Oldham employed 
 a large pump to force the air through the alternate cells of his steam- 
 chest. He had introduced a similar system into the Bank of Ireland 
 about ten years before, which is now in full operation. 
 
 About two years ago, Messrs. Easton and Amos were employed to 
 ventilate the Letter Carrier's and Inland Office department of the Gene- 
 ral Post Office, of which the atmosphere was rendered not only un- 
 comfortable, but insalubrious, by the numerous gas lights required there- 
 in the evenings. This task has been executed to the entire satisfaction 
 of their employers, by means of fans driven by steam power. The 
 said engineers made, about the same time, a set of machinery similar 
 to that erected at the Bank of England, for warming and ventilating 
 the Bank of Vienna. 
 
 Thecheeringand bracing action of condensed air upon human beings 
 formed the subject of several fine physiological experiments made a few 
 years ago by Mr. James. "When a person is placed" says he, "in 
 condensed air, he breathes with a new facility; he feels as if the capa- 
 city of his lungs was enlarged; his respirations become deeper and less 
 frequent; he experiences, in the course of a short time, an agreeable 
 ^low in his chest, as if the pulmonary cells were becoming dilated 
 with an elastic spirit, while the whole frame receives, at each inspira- 
 tion, fresh vital impulsion. The functions of the brain get excited ? 
 the imagination becomes vivid, and the ideas flow with delightful fa- 
 cility; digestion is rendered more active, as after gentle exercise in the 
 air, because the secretory organs participate immediately in the increased 
 energy of the arterial system; and there is therefore no thirst. 
 
13 
 
 Extracts from "■ Elements of Physics or Natural Philosophy ," by 
 Professor Arnott, M. D. of the Royal College of Physicians. {Phil- 
 adelphia, 1831.) 
 
 Respiration and voice, from page 490 to 519, taken from Acoustics, or 
 Phenomena of Sound and Hearing, from page 388 to page 119, to 
 which reference is made. 
 
 Extracts from the u report on the ventilation of Pentonville prison,^ 
 by the British Jail Commissioners and Major Jebb, who designed 
 the prison known as the Model prison: London, 1844, page 18. 
 
 It will be observed that an apparatus for warming the air, when re- 
 quired, is placed in the centre of the basement story of each wing. 
 This apparatus consists of a case or boiler, to which a proportion of 
 pipes, adapted for the circulation of hot water, are attached. In con- 
 nexion with it there is a large flue, open to the external atmosphere. 
 
 The fresh air introduced through this opening, after passing over the 
 surface of the boiler, turns right and left along a main flue, which runs 
 horizontally under the floor of the corridor, and from thence passes 
 upwards through small flues preserved in the corridor wall, which ter- 
 minate, respectively, in a grating placed close under the arched ceiling 
 of each cell on the three stories. A current of air may thus be intro- 
 duced from the exterior into each cell; and it is obvious that it may be 
 warmed, or left at its natural temperature, as circumstances may re- 
 quire. 
 
 The channel for the introduction of fresh air would, however, be of 
 little avail in furnishing the supply required, unless corresponding 
 arrangements were made for extracting the foul air from the cells, 
 which under ordinary circumstances is the first movement that will 
 take place. 
 
 A grating is placed close to the floor of each cell, on the side next 
 the outer wall, and diagonally opposite to the point where the fresh air 
 is introduced. This grating covers a flue in the outer wall, opening at 
 its upper extremity into a horizontal foul-air flue in the roof, which 
 communicates with a vertical shaft raised 20 or 25 feet above the ridge. 
 
 It will thus be seen that a communication is established, first, from 
 the outer air through ihe warming apparatus to the top of each cell, 
 and thence from the floor of each cell, upwards, through the extracting 
 flues and ventilating shaft, into the outer air again. 
 
 To Charles Frederick Anderson, esq., 
 
 Architect, 44 Wall street, New York. 
 
 Dear sir: After a careful inspection of your plans and sections for 
 
 the additions to the Capitol, and reflection upon your explanations for 
 
 ventilating, acoustics, &c, I have no hesitation in saying, that, mv 
 
 knowledge of the authors you name confirms your judgment, and that, 
 
14 
 
 practically, you will arrive at perfection in these important requisites; 
 and I may further add, that there can be nothing to prevent the due 
 execution of your plans. To secure perfect ventilation, a proper tem- 
 perature at all seasons of the year, and first acoustic qualities, the^ 
 examination of your plans and sections, and the explanation of them, 
 has afforded me much pleasure; and, on due reflection, I cannot con 
 ceive any other method so well adapted to secure the ends in view. 
 
 Allow me, therefore, to trust that, your patient perseverance, skill, 
 and judgment, will be rewarded by the national adoption of your plans. 
 I am, dear sir, yours, very truly, 
 
 JOHN JOHNSON. 
 
 New York, May 31 , 1851 . 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 A 1 
 
 iP^. : 
 
 A 
 
 V o°^°^ *C?^ .A> - 1 "' 
 
 V- . 
 
 .0*- *c .'♦!??* A V # ^.?. 4 .0* ^> *.T7T»* A 
 
 ^o ^ :]iS^^** '^ o^ • «^IB • " ^o \? 
 
 ^ ^, 
 

 ■ ' 
 
 * 'K 
 
 **d* 
 
 
 <J 
 
 A 
 
 
 
 
 ^0« 
 
 
 
 
 HECKMAN 
 
 BINDERY INC. 
 
 AUG 89 
 
 N. MANCHESTER, 
 5 ^S g ' INDIANA 46962