THE SMEAD SYSTEM 
 
 OF 
 
 DRY CLOSETS 
 
 IN THE 
 
 Cleveland High School Building. 
 

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 THE LIBRARIES 
 
 COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY 
 
 Avery Library 
 
 
 
Office of ISAAC I). SMI- AO & CO. 
 
 To correct false impressions caused by the fierce, umcarranted and malicious attacks of the 
 Cleveland Leader which have been continued for nearly four years, upon our system of warming, 
 ventilation and closets, and which are exciting considerable comment and causing many inquiries 
 from our friends and customers throughout the country, is the especial object of the publication of 
 this his tory of the entire situation from commencement to date. The following is what the writer 
 would have said at a recent meeting of the Cleveland Board could he have had the opportunity 
 to do so. This opportunity was denied, as were also any remarks upon the subject by am/ of the 
 large number of prominent citizens of Cleveland who were present at the time and who desired to be 
 heard in defense of (he truth : 
 
 Mr. Chairman, Gkxti.emen of tiik Board and Citizens of Cleveland: For more than 
 twenty years 1 have been actively engaged in the business of inventing, manufacturing and selling 
 warming and ventilating apparatus and as a result am to-day the most extensive manufacturer in 
 this line in America. I mention this fact to call to your attention to the possibility that I may 
 know a little more about the subject than parties engaged in other lines, and possibly more than 
 those engaged in the publication of sensational articles in tJie Cleveland Leader or Penny Press. 
 
 I am not here this evening, however, to advertise my business or to attack the press of your 
 -city. It is useless to do the latter , for they have the larger audience. The business which should 
 engage our serious attention this evening is to devise some plan whereby the senseless panic created 
 by a lying press may be stopped and the dangers incident thereto be averted, for I wish to assure 
 you most positively that I am more anxious to quiet the groundless fears of the people who have 
 been frightened than I am to protect personal or commercial interests, and to this end I will as 
 briefly as is possible lay before you the exact situation. I have nothing to hope for from the press, 
 and aside from the harm it has done to others 1 am indifferent as to what it may say. 
 
 For many years thousands and thousands of dollars were squandered in attempts to warm 
 and ventilate your public school buildings. About two vcars ago, after experimenting a year with 
 my apparatus in an old building, your Board of Education contracted to introduce complete appa- 
 ratus in several new buildings. At once the Leade r, in an editorial, condemned your action and 
 made many statements concerning the heating apparatus that were untrue. We asked for a re- 
 porter to interview the teachers in the buildings, also teachers in the West Cleveland building and 
 two trustees of Hiram College, residents of vour city, Messrs. Teaehout and Bowler. The report 
 contradicted every statement made by the editor and he charged me 50 cent> a line to publish it. 
 Since then I have had but little confidence in that portion of the “great American press. 
 
6 
 
 ISAAC D. SMEAD & CO., TOLEDO, OHIO. 
 
 The successful operation of the heating and ventilating apparatus in the school buildings 
 erected two years ago could not be well denied, and because of the success of the system of closets 
 introduced in connection therewith and the horrible condition of the water closets in your high 
 school building and in the Rockwell building your board introduced the closet system ( only the 
 closets) in those two buildings. 
 
 Now, what is the Smead system of dry closets ? Simply the application of natural laws in 
 the construction of closets, whereby natural instead of artificial means are employed to destroy and 
 render harmless the offal of the human system. Five-sixths of all human deposit is water. The 
 Smead system takes away the water and leaves in the brick and iron vault the other one-sixth, dry 
 and hard, ready to burn . like shavings by application of a lighted match, as was demonstrated in the 
 presence of fifty of your citizens at the High School Saturday. “The closet apartments are more 
 free from odor than a well kept pantry or parlor.” One gentleman, after examination, said: “I con- 
 fess that these results create in my mind a deep and profound impression. Here is a system of 
 closets sufficient to accommodate hundreds of pupils, in constant use for eight months, at limited 
 cost, in perfect condition, with no noisome odors ; no unsightliness; no pipes ; no waterworks ; no 
 plumbers’ appliances ; no sewerage system ; no loathsome and disease creating cesspools ; no stifling 
 disinfectants ; nothing but a free and unobstructed circulation of God’s atmosphere.” 
 
 The remarkable success of the dry closet system since its first introduction has been exceeded 
 by but few inventions. The first set was erected in Toledo five years ago ; since that time they 
 have been introduced in over twenty public school buildings there — both outside and inside closets 
 have been abandoned and mine substituted. Last summer an elegant stone and brick building, four 
 stories high, costing over £3,000, was taken down and my system built into the basement. One 
 reason why this was done was because of a petition presented to Board of Education signed by every 
 property holder on that street. 
 
 As before stated, there are over twenty school buildings in Toledo containing the dry closet 
 system. Have you heard of any epidemic there ? No ; nor will you hear of any. Toledo papers 
 are not noted for efforts to create a sensation and to date seem to prefer the truth to error. 
 
 Three years ago the system was first introduced in one school building in Washington, D. C. 
 Two years ago in eleven more. Elaborate and expensive systems of water closets (the most expen- 
 sive I have ever seen) were removed from four buildings as large as yours, and mine substituted. 
 Their operation was so satisfactory that last year, 1888, they contracted with me for nine more 
 buildings, and inside of the next three months will introduce them in six more, making twenty- 
 seven school buildings with the closets and thirty-eight with heating and ventilating apparatus. 
 Have you heard of any officer-elect or any office seeker who has hesitated to go to Washington dur- 
 ing the last three years because of the use there of the Smead system of dry closets ? 
 
 There are no more beautiful homes in Cleveland than in Toledo and Washington, and people 
 there value their lives as much as they do in Cleveland. There is no city in America with a better 
 opportunity to dispose of sewage than the city of Detroit. People’s lives are of as much value 
 there as here. When the system had been introduced in five school buildings in that city, much 
 against the wishes of the steam heating apparatus manufacturers, a Detroit paper, aided by plumb- 
 ers and their allies, commenced a crusade against us, compared with which the efforts of the Cleve- 
 land Leader are as mild as a summer morning. I was caricatured, ridiculed and assailed with more 
 ability than to date the Leader has given evidence of. I was there, as here, called a bribe giver and 
 the board bribe takers. The board appointed a committee of several doctors. As soon as they made 
 their report contract was awarded me to furnish heating and ventilating apparatus for seven more 
 buildings, and after two years’ use the board are going to introduce it in five more buildings. 
 
 The ignorant (?) doctors who compose the faculty of the Detroit College of Medicine and 
 who are now erecting one of the finest college buildings in the United States are also introducing 
 the same system and apparatus that the Leader calls a “ death trap ” and all other hard names it 
 
ISAAC 1). SMEAD & CO., TOLEDO, OHIO. 
 
 . 
 
 can think of and because of lies published by the Leader the people, knowing little or nothing about 
 the true condition of affairs, have been blindly led into a condition of mind serious at the present 
 time and liable to be more so if something is not done to turn them in the right direction. 
 
 I will not take your time to call attention to the use of these closets in more than 100 cities 
 other than those named. In the manufacture of heating apparatus I am opposed, by other manu- 
 facturers, and especially by manufacturers of steam heating apparatus; in the introduction of the 
 closet system by the plumbers, and these combined make life somewhat of a burden to me. A re- 
 sult of their action, aided by the press and the natural inclination of the people to cry “ stop thief” 
 if the cry is once started, has caused the excitement here and great damage to my business. An 
 error was made when the closets were first erected. This error was corrected by me and at my ex- 
 pense, and from that day to this there has been no more perfect system of closets on earth than in 
 your High School building. No man , woman or child living in Cleveland or elseivhere has ever 
 smelled an odor from those closets or those two ventilating stacks. The building never had any 
 ventilation, and the architect who built it ten years ago holds a written document from the Board 
 releasing him from all responsibility for the system that was introduced. It never was ventilated 
 until I introduced the closets, and from that day to this those two ventilating flues have drawn 
 from the basement over 600,000 cubic feet per hour , and most of the time the air drawn from the 
 basement has come from the rooms above it. 
 
 When 1 first suggested the system of closet construction I was told it “ would not dry the 
 deposits.” It did do it. Myself and customers were then cautioned against “back drafts.” The 
 back drafts did not come. They then said we secured all our contracts by improper means. “ Boo- 
 dle,. boodle, dear boodle,” was their cry, until someone said the air of the neighborhood was being 
 poisoned and that people were dying like sheep in the desert, and a return to the water carriage 
 system would correct the trouble. In other words, if you will dump the filth into the water you 
 drink and breathe the gases that come to you through city sewers ventilated into your streets , you 
 will be more healthy, contented and happy than if only the gases from the closets are discharged a 
 hundred feet in the air and so disseminated that only one partin 1 0,000,000 parts can be discovered. 
 And when you consider the small space occupied by man as compared with all space you can mul- 
 tiply by 100,000,000 more. The figures I give you are correct. 
 
 The first iron plow was invented in 1797, and it was rejected by the New Jersey farmers 
 because it poisoned the soil. The people of England said the use of the railroad train would ren- 
 der horses of no value and so shake the country that eggs would not hatch. Notwithstanding the 
 above statements a large number of plows are used, horses command a high price and spring chick- 
 ens are always on the market. 
 
 Now, if you wish to return to the water carriage system you can do so. It is only a ques- 
 tion of a short time when you will return to the dry closet. I have no fear of this. If you erect 
 closets in the yard the citizens will complain worse than they do now, and with a just reason for 
 complaint. 
 
 If, to meet the public demand, whether it be senseless or not, you wish to go back to the 
 water system, I would suggest that you avoid complaint from immediate neighbors and the large 
 expense incident to outside construction, by constructing in the vault you now have, long troughs 
 suspended directly under the seats. Fill these with water and as often as you may direct, the jani- 
 tor can pull a plug and discharge the contents of the water pan into the sewer. All odors arising 
 from the vaults will be taken off through the ventilating stacks. 
 
 Complaint is made that the school rooms are not ventilated. With them I have never had 
 anything to do. They can easily be ventilated by following the plan I suggested last fall. You 
 can connect your present vaults with the sewer and secure “ water carriage” and thorough ventila- 
 tion of closets for §200 to §250. For about an equal amount you can ventilate to the extent your 
 steam heating apparatus will admit, one-half the school rooms. If you will build the other two 
 
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 ISAAC D. SMEAD & CO., TOLEDO, OHIO. 
 
 stacks as high as the highest part of the roof, and properly connect them with the other rooms, you 
 can ventilate the other half of the building. The two stacks referred to are now twenty-one feet 
 below the highest point of the roof, and so were the other two until closets were introduced. 
 
 I will close by repeating what I have said once before, namely, no man, woman or child 
 ever smelled an odor that came from the top of the tivo stacks with which the closets are connected. 
 The germ theory scare will soon die and its originator should be buried alongside the originator 
 of the poisoning-of-the-earth-by-the-iron-plow theory. 
 
 I)R. HERRICK INDORSES THE SMEAD SYSTEM. 
 
 Dr. H. ,T. Herrick, Professor of Hygiene in the Cleveland Medical College, was one of the 
 number who would have spoken upon the subject, and learning that on Saturday he visited the 
 Central High School building and made an examination of the Sniead closet system in operation 
 there, a Plain Dealer representative interviewed him with respect to his views of that system, as 
 follows : 
 
 Reporter: “I wish, doctor, you would state somewhat in detail your opinion of the so- 
 called Smead system of dry-closets, as now in use in the Central High School building.” 
 
 Dr. Herrick : “I made an examination of the closets in the Central High School building 
 on yesterday. I had heard much of them before and had known of the theoretical principles 
 involved in the system, but never had personally examined it. I think that system is based on ap- 
 proved scientific principles, and the method of disposal of offal I regard as far superior to any 
 water-closet method of disposal that I have ever known, being less objectionable on account of 
 offensive odors, and more free from danger of disease. The dropping of excrement into an iso- 
 lated vault at interrupted intervals, immediately made dry by a current of warm air, absolutely 
 prevents any fermentative or putrefactive changes in the contents and obviates any theoretical 
 danger of poisonous emanations from the material. Noxious gases are supposed to be produced 
 by decomposition, and it is a theory, not universally accepted as true, that in that decomposition 
 germs are produced which are, in some indefinable way, the causes of disease. That, however, is a 
 theory and a theory only. But suppose that theory to be true, it involves for the development of 
 germs an element not present in the Smead system. For the purpose of decomposition there must 
 be organic matter, heat and continued moisture ; but in the Smead system there is an absence of 
 continued moisture and therefore a lack of one of the conditions necessary for the generation of 
 the so called germs of disease. But it is claimed that the gases are carried out through the high 
 stack or Hue and dissipated in the surrounding community. It is to be borne in mind, however, 
 that the effluvia from the excrement is gradual, from day to day, and insignificant as compared to 
 the noxious effluvia from a thousand sources of decomposition around our homes. 
 
 “The capacity of the atmosphere for the disposal of noxious gases is illimitable. The dispo- 
 sition of noxious gases is so rapid, and wisely so, that when any poisonous matter has been carried 
 into the air, especially at the height of the stacks of the High School building — even conceding 
 the emanations through those stacks to be of the most noxious kind — the disposition is so rapid 
 and extensive as to prevent the possibility of any infection from that source to the neighborhood 
 around. I have no doubt the pernicious effects upon the neighborhood of emanations from a ma- 
 nure pile, the offal of not more than two or three horses, would be many times greater. 
 
ISAAC I). SMEAD & CO., TOLEDO, OHIO. 
 
 !) 
 
 “ I would regard it as a calamity to have the Smead system removed and the old system of 
 water-closets entering the sewer substituted — a calamity to the health of the occupants of the 
 building and to the health of the people of the community around about. I would regard an ar- 
 rangement for the disposal of offal in an annex, connecting with the sewer, as involving much more 
 danger to the community from unwholesome odors and noxious gases than the present system. I 
 speak now only of the method for the disposal of excreta and not with reference to the ventil- 
 ating conditions of the building, which may be defective from lack of minor appliances. I have 
 no interest in the Smead system but have a very great interest in the school. 
 
 “ My son is in the High School in the second year of his course, lie was sick four or five 
 days during the present term with manifest derangement of the system, attributable in no sense to 
 any lack of ventilation or to bad air but from disturbances of the digestive organs. I have had 
 cases of sickness in the vicinity of the High School building during the past six months, but in no 
 case am I able to attribute the diseased conditions manifested to any noxious emanations from the 
 High School building. It is difficult, as all must know, to specifically fix upon any one factor 
 as the cause of disease, as, from experience, reading and theory we would not expect usually that 
 any one cause was to be regarded as the immediate factor in producing disease, but a combination 
 of causes usually prevails. We may say generally that any factor which impairs or tends to im- 
 pair the function of respiration would be a significant cause of disease. Respiration involves the 
 complex process of the elimination of effete material from the lungs and the skin at the same time 
 that the oxygen of the air is imparted to the blood. Now, if the noxious material exists, either in 
 the form of carbonic acid gas or ammonia or nitric acid in undue proportions, the noxious gases 
 mentioned would be liable to impair respiration to the degree of their unusual presence. It is to 
 be borne in mind that they are always present in a larger or smaller degree. 
 
 “ I was at the building yesterday during the process of burning out of the residue of fcecal 
 matter which had accumulated, as I learn, since last September. The draft was at the time unusu- 
 ally strong, caused by the burning. The dryness of the foecal accumulations, as I saw them, would 
 absolutely preclude any of the fermentative changes which I speak of as essential for the emana- 
 tion of noxious gases.” 
 
 Reporter: “It is said that that very fact demonstrates that the system is dangerous, 
 because there is so little left and it is so odorless, that all noxious vapors must have been thrown 
 off to the injuiy of the community.” 
 
 Dr. Herrick. “As I have already indicated, the drying out process has prevented the fer- 
 mentative or putrefactive changes which would induce the generation of noxious gases in the air.” 
 
 Reporter: “It is said again that it is vastly better to pass the excreta through sewers into 
 the lake because the water has such enormous power to absorb the mephitic gases and other nox- 
 ious vapors.” 
 
 Dr. Herrick : “The relative capacity of air and water for destroying noxious elements and 
 for purifying might be a matter of some question. The atmosphere has, to mv mind, a very much 
 greater capacity tor destroying and diffusing the noxious germs or noxious gases than the water. 
 According to authoritative statements sewer water has a capacitv for discharging an almost illimit- 
 able amount of noxious vapor wherever it is found. Dr. Letheby found that sewage water excluded 
 from air and containing 128 grains of organic matter per gallon yielded one and two-tenths cubic 
 inches ot gas per hour during a period of nine weeks. The peculiar fetid smell ol sewage gas isow 
 ing to the presence of organic matter whose exact chemical composition has not been determined. 
 It is believed by some to be carbo-ammoniacal. According to Dr. Cunningham it contains distinct 
 bacteria and other low forms of cell life. Now, water has a capacity, especially running water, for 
 purifying itself. It is claimed, as I remember it, that a distance in rivers of twenty miles is suf- 
 ficient to render running water comparatively pure from sewers entering the river above. I am not 
 certain as to the distance, but this is a fair estimate. The methods by which water is purified are 
 
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 ISAAC D. SMEAD & CO., TOLEDO, OHIO. 
 
 by animals or plants in the water, by the action of oxygen upon the organic matter, that is, aeria- 
 tion, by the diffusion of the noxious material and by sedimentation. The methods of purifying the 
 atmosphere from its noxious gases and elements are : By the rapid diffusion of the gases in the 
 atmosphere, by the action of oxygen which is always ready to consume — especially where there is 
 any amount of ozone it is active for the destruction of organic matter — and, coincident, is the 
 action of vegetable life, which rapidly consumes by an appropriation of carbonic acid gases and, it 
 is supposed, also of mephitic gases. These are the natural methods by which the atmosphere is 
 kept free from gases or conditions unfavorable to animal life.” 
 
 Reporter : “It is charged that in obedience to some law the gases and the vapors escaping 
 from the ventilating stack fall to the ground and permeate the dwellings in the neighborhood.” 
 
 Dr. Herrick : “According to a well known law the diffusion of gases is in a still atmos- 
 phere proportioned to the square of the distance. Currents of air, vdiids, vastly increase the rapidity 
 of the diffusion. Gases discharged into the atmosphere the height of the High School stacks are 
 very rapidly diffused. Bear in mind that the contents of those closet vaults are comparatively small. 
 There are perhaps 500 evacuations in each twenty-four hours. It must be seen that the vapors 
 from these contents are very rapidly diffused and that they are not a perceptible factor for render- 
 ing the atmosphere impure. They are not to be mentioned in comparison with all the accompani- 
 ments of the ordinary household and stable. I say this with all deliberation that the placing of an 
 annex in the High School grounds with vaults connected with a sewer would be more pernicious in 
 its effect upon the neighborhood around than the present system.” 
 
 Reporter : “How would it do to place water closets in the building ?” 
 
 Dr. Herrick : “Placing water closets in the building would be even more objectionable, as 
 proven by the experience already had.” 
 
 Reporter : “Does the diffusion of gases and noxious vapors render them harmless ?” 
 
 Dr. Herrick : “Most certainly. The intensified impurity existing at the point of emanation 
 from the stack, as it passes into the air, is rapidly diffused. The proportion of carbonic acid gas, 
 doubtless excessive in the stack, is quickly reduced on emanation from the stack and diffusion 
 through the atmosphere to the amount ordinarily found. The proportion of this gas is taken as an 
 approximate measure of all impurities in the air. The estimates of the relative amount of this gas 
 in air deemed pure for respiration varies from three-tenths to five-tenths per 1,000, or 3-100 to 5-100 
 per cent. About an ordinary dung pile the amount would be very largely increased, and about a 
 closet where this gas is discharged.” 
 
 Reporter : “What is your idea as to an unusual prevalence of disease in that locality during 
 the past few months ?” 
 
 Dr. Herrick : “I have not discovered any unusual prevalence of disease in that vicinity.” 
 
 Reporter : “Why would you consider a water closet in an annex or detached building more 
 harmful than the present system ?” 
 
 Dr. Herrick : “From the fact that there is always with a water closet more or less scatter- 
 ing or spreading of urine and fcecal matter which are constantly discharging gases. In urinals you 
 are almost sure to have an offensive odor derivable from them and quite as offensive and unwhole- 
 some as the gases from decomposing fcecal matter. The imperfection also of traps, which all rec- 
 ognize, in sewer connections render the dangers from that source quite as appreciable as from any 
 other source. I mean to say that the defects from traps render the liability to danger quite as great 
 as from anything that can be detected in the present system. 
 
 Reporter : “Is not the fundamental difference between the water closet and Smead systems 
 that the former seeks to confine all gases and to send everything through sewers to the lake to be 
 there purified, while by the latter the immediate diffusion of the gases into the upper air is sought? 
 If so, which do you deem the better system ?” 
 
ISAAC I). SMEAD & CO., TOLEDO, OHIO. 
 
 1 1 
 
 Dr. Herrick : “The Sinead system 1 should say is designed to prevent putrefactive changes 
 in the matter and to dispel the gases that arise, into the air, in the natural way. Conceive of the 
 emanations of this city of 250,000 people passing into the air and with them the emanations from 
 the vast number of animals of all kinds here and from their excreta ! How inappreciable in com- 
 parison are the emanations from the 1,000 pupils of the High School, which through a beneficent 
 plan of the diffusion of gases by and through the atmosphere are rendered harmless. Contrast then 
 the accumulations of organic matter in water, whether standing or running, which are much more 
 liable to discharge noxious gas into the air in pent up places, while they should be afforded the most 
 free diffusion. I have no doubt that the dangers are very much greater with a system of confining 
 in sewers than with this method. I am so impressed with it that I should much prefer to have a 
 system of that kind in my house than any system of water closets I now have and I have the best 
 that could be obtained at the time. I give this as my free will opinion in the interests of the 
 public health and of sanitary science.” 
 
 A COMPLETE STATEMENT OF THE SITUATION. 
 
 With the preceding as a preface, I will now, and as briefly as possible, make a complete 
 and full statement of the entire situation, paying as little attention as possible to the Cleveland 
 Leader : 
 
 Three years ago three gentlemen came into my office in Toledo, about 11 o’clock a. m., in- 
 troducing themselves as a committee appointed by the Cleveland Board ’of Education and author- 
 ized to purchase heating and ventilating apparatus for the school building known as the Eagle Street 
 School. Concerning their visit here the Leader , in an editorial yesterday, says as follows: 
 
 “There is a moral to the tale that practically closed in the'Board on Monday, and it should 
 not be lost sight of. The introduction of the Smead system into the schools of this city was con- 
 ceived in iniquity and born in sin. The first contract, for the heating and ventilating apparatus, 
 without the closets, in the Eagle street building, was the result of jobbery and corruption. Mem- 
 bers and officers of the Board were taken to Toledo to investigate the system. ,j They were wined 
 and dined, taken to disreputable places, and most hospitably treated afterothe fashion prevailing 
 among lobbyists and corruptionists, and it did not cost them a cent. The performance was the 
 most disgraceful ever recorded of the most disgraceful Board of Education the city ever had. It is 
 well that a system thus introduced in the schools should be ignominiously expelled.” 
 
 In view of the fact that every statement made in the above quotation from the Leader is a 
 lie, pure and simple, it is well that they talk about “morals.” The lying writer had better talk 
 about his own morals and to his priest rather than about general morals to the public. The actual 
 facts are that before noon these gentlemen were taken to a school building, which they carefully 
 examined. After dinner, at the Boody House, they examined two or three more buildings, “ beat 
 us down” a little on our price and returned to Cleveland on a 5 p. m. train. 1 cannot now, with- 
 out examination of papers in the vault, recall their names, as I have not seen one of them from 
 the hour they entered a carriage at my office door some three years ago. Nineteen out of every 
 twenty statements that have been printed in the paper referred to during the past three years are as false 
 as the one quoted above. 
 
12 
 
 ISAAC D. SMEAD & CO., TOLEDO, OHIO. 
 
 I was interviewed upon the subject by the Toledo Blade and the following was true then 
 and is true now : 
 
 “What is the matter with the Smead system in the Cleveland school building ?” asked a 
 Blade reporter of Hon. Isaac D. Smead, whom he found in his new office building on Huron street- 
 
 “ Nothing noio.” 
 
 “ What has beeu the trouble there ? ” 
 
 “There lias been no trouble with the Smead system of heating, but in one building there 
 was a serious defect in the application of my system of dry closets. I suppose you have been read- 
 ing the Cleveland Leader ,” replied Mr. Smead. with a smile. 
 
 Yes, and the Blade would like to know the facts in the matter.” 
 
 “Then 1 will have to tell them, for you cannot get them from the Leader , if I can judge by 
 what they have printed.” 
 
 “ Have you done much work in Cleveland ? ” 
 
 “Yes, both for the Board of Education and in other public buildings. Briefly, the facts are 
 these : Several years ago the Cleveland Board of Education wasted a very large sum of money in 
 heating apparatus, having a large number of fine buildings. One morning, two years ago last sum- 
 mer, three gentlemen came into my office and were introduced as a committee from the Cleveland 
 board to investigate my apparatus for school buildings. After examining into the matter with 
 what seemed to be more than ordinary care, they contracted with me to furnish apparatus for the 
 Eagle Street School building, and returned home on the afternoon train. The apparatus was used 
 during the winter of ’BO-’H 7 . During the spring of 1887, while in Washington city, my attention 
 was called to an attack upon me and my apparatus, published in the Cleveland Leader. I went 
 down to the newspaper offices, and by examination of the Cleveland papers learned for the first 
 time that at a meeting of the Cleveland Board of Education the Building Committee had been in- 
 structed to introduce the Smead system into all of the new buildings, some five or six in number. 
 Our contract amounted to some §25,000. I was fairly entitled to the contract, because of the suc- 
 cessful and satisfactory operation of my apparatus in the Eagle street building, and also in the 
 West Cleveland School building. Of course 1 was pleased at the action of the board, but I was 
 also being injured by the Leader articles.” 
 
 “What did you do V” 
 
 “I finished by business in Washington, came home and asked the Leader to send a reporter 
 to interview all the teachers in the Eagle Street building (nine in number). This it did, and also in- 
 terviewed the members of the West Cleveland Board, and Mr. Teachout, chairman of the building 
 committee of Hiram College, who resides in Cleveland. I have since published the interviews 
 among my testimonials. Every statement made was contrary to those which the Leader has been 
 publishing. They printed the interviews and charged me 50 cents for every line printed.” 
 
 “ Did you pay the bill ? ” 
 
 “ Of course I did. A man is very foolish to quarrel with an editor if it can be prevented. 
 The advantage is all on his side ; and the poor contractor is the ligitimate prey of the newspaper 
 man.” 
 
 “ How do you know ? ” 
 
 “ Twenty years of experience teaches a fellow some things he don’t soon forget.” 
 
 “As a newspaper man I cannot agree with you; but what about the recent trouble ? ” 
 
 “Just this : The work done in 1887 was entirely satisfactory to every one except disap- 
 pointed competitors and their friends ; and the board again contracted with me to furnish appa- 
 ratus for two more buildings. One of these — the High School building — was erected a good many 
 years ago. It contained a steam heating apparatus and four large ventilating stacks. In these 
 stacks there were steam coils and pipes designed to keej) the stacks hot and make them ‘draw,’ not- 
 withstanding the fact that the stacks were twenty one feet lower than the highest portion of the 
 
ISAAC D. SMKAI) & CO., TOLEDO, OHIO. 
 
 13 
 
 roof. Although we were assured that ‘ there had never been any down draughts,’ we hesitated 
 about connecting the closets with them : hut my superintendent finally did so, although against the 
 protest of my engineer. The system operated successfully until some three weeks ago, at which 
 time there was a severe wind storm in Cleveland, and the wind struck the roof in such a manner as 
 to glance off and go down the ventilating fine. The result was just what my engineer had antici- 
 pated. The superintendent of buildings wrote me ; I went over and saw the building for the first 
 time. It was plain to me that the error was ours, and could be corrected by an extension of the 
 Hues to the proper height. This I did by an addition of 23 feet to each chimney, and now the 
 harder the wind blows the better the draught, and the meter records an exhaust of 723,000 cubic- 
 feet per hour, from the building. The members of the committee are so well satisfied that they at 
 once recommended that the other two stacks (with which we had nothing to do) be extended to the 
 same point at which I stopped mine. It has also developed that the position taken by Prof. Camp- 
 bell, principal of the school, is correct, viz. : that until now the building has never been ventilated 
 at all ; and he strongly urged the extension of the other two fines. With water closets the poison- 
 ous sewer gas escapes constantly to a greater or less degree, and although very poisonous, has but 
 little odor; while with my system there can be no sewer gas, and if anything is wrong the odor 
 gives the signal at once.” 
 
 “What are you going to do about the articles in the Cleveland Leader / ” 
 
 “ Nothing. I do not have to pay 50 cents per line now, and I hope the articles will do me 
 as much good as did those of the Detroit News last winter. Since the attack of the News com- 
 menced I have had all the contracts awarded there— eleven large buildings.” 
 
 “ Do you often have trouble with your work ?” 
 
 “ 1 do the most work in my line of any man in America. I never have trouble with either 
 my customers or my apparatus, except occasionally because of mechanical errors , as my workmen 
 are not all perfect. Hut I always have trouble with my competitors, and in la>ge cities it is worse 
 than anywhere else. The worst fight I ever had was the one at Columbus. Then the Pittsburg, 
 Cleveland and Columbus steam heating men combined against me and vve got into the courts. The 
 other side had the costs to pay , and the Columbus board has introduced my apparatus into ten 
 buildings in addition to the four I had when the fight commenced. There are two buildings in 
 Columbus, duplicates of each other. The steam heating apparatus in the one cost over $7,000 ; my 
 apparatus in the other cost about $3,500. The former is cared for by an engineer and an assistant, 
 the latter by a janitor. In the steam-heated building, during the winters of '87 and '88, 107 tons 
 of coal were used; in the other building, (using my apparatus,) 83 tons were used. The high 
 school building in Cleveland contains 22 ordinary -sized school-rooms. The cost of heating was 
 $1,482.16. The Eagle street building, with my apparatus, contains nine rooms. To heat that 
 building it cost $139.30. A janitor takes care of the apparatus in the Eagle street building, and an 
 engineer takes care of the high school apparatus. The original cost of this steam heating apparatus 
 was five times as much as the apparatus in the Eagle street building. Scarcely a month passes 
 that there has not been some expense for repairs on the former; while the Cleveland Board holds 
 my guarantee for ten years without repairs on the latter. The Leader don't say anything about 
 these differences, but prints column after column advertising an error made by one of our 
 workmen." 
 
 I 11 the above interview I refer to an error. There was an error, and a serious one. I here- 
 with present a view of a portion of the roof of the now celebrated Cleveland High School building. 
 The view I present shows two of the four so-called ventilating stacks. Onfe of the two chimneys 
 represented (see cut “A," figure 1,) is one of the two used for one of the closets. I hope the reader 
 will carefully examine the top of the chimney and see if a poorer arrangement could be designed 
 through which an upward moving current of air could pass. Also bear in mind that these stacks 
 terminated 21 feet below the highest portion of the roof, (that portion covering the very large comb 
 
14 
 
 ISAAC D. SMEAD & CO., TOLEDO, OHIO 
 
 Cut “A,” Fig, I. 
 
 The above cut represents a view of one side and portion of the roof of the Cleveland High 
 School building, and is shown here to represent two of the four so-called “ventilating stacks.” Could 
 worse construction be designed ? 
 
 
ISAAC 1). SMEAD & CO., TOLEDO, OHIO. 
 
 15 
 
 Kigure 2 . 
 
 Sectional view of Figure 1, ventilating (?) Hue, in the Cleveland High School building. Un 
 fortunately we permitted closets to he attached to dues of which the above is an exact repre- 
 sentation. With the wind coming against the roof from the direction indicated by arrow (at right 
 of upper portion of the cut) the result was as indicated by smaller arrows. Steam fitters and 
 plumbers had assured the Board that the hot smoke pipe would “create a draft.” 
 
Figure 3. 
 
 Enlarged view of Figure 2, showing top of “ventilating stack” of the Cleveland High School 
 building. Could a plan he devised that would more effectually prevent successful operation of a 
 ventilating flue ? 
 
ISAAC I). SMEAD & CO., TOLEDO, OHIO. 
 
 Perspective view 
 tion by Isaac I). Smead. 
 add 2-'t feet to each Hue. 
 
 Figure 4. 
 
 of ventilating Hues of the Cleveland High School building after re-construc- 
 To get these Hues as high as other portions of the roof it was necessary to 
 See page 10.. 
 
 \ 
 
 \ 
 
Figure 5. 
 
 Sectional view of Figure 4, showing ventilating Hue, system of closets and a portion of the 
 Cleveland High School building after re-construction by Isaac D. Smead. From the hour this work 
 was completed there has never been a down draft and there never will be. 16,800,000 cubic feet of 
 air passes through each flue per day. 
 
ISAAC 1 ). SMEAD & CO., TOLEDO, OHIO. 
 
 lit 
 
 in the center of the building,) and were also several feet below the main portion of the roof. 
 
 There never was a day from the completion of the building to this time, that, with the wind 
 in certain directions, it did not blow down some one of the four stacks. The closets worked all 
 right until that time came; then there was trouble. 
 
 These flues were connected with the school rooms for the purpose of drawing air from them, 
 (which they never did, as the rooms had little or no air for supply,) and of course there was trouble. 
 As soon as I saw the stacks, I knew the cause and at once employed the necessary labor with 
 which (at a cost of several hundred dollars) I raisied the two chimneys connected with the closets 
 23 ft., and, from that day to this, there has never been a down draft. 
 
 1 represent the extension in Fig. 5 . On the inside of this stack is a large iron smoke pipe, 
 carrying smoke from steam boilers. This pipe appears at the top of the stack, (see Fig, 1,) and 
 also near the top of the stack in Fig. 5 . As evidence that it was not the intention of the architect 
 to stoj> the stacks where they were stopped, I would mention that in the attic of the building I 
 found the iron pipe in sufficient quantity to carry the smoke due to the height it was originally in- 
 tended. It would therefore seem that some one decided that the ventilating stacks were “high 
 enough ” long before they were originally completed. 
 
 As the Hues as arranged never did draw any air from the school rooms I disconnected them 
 from the rooms and the air passed through the closets from basement of building. Over 700,000 
 cubic feet per hour was drawn from the basement through the closet vaults : and the air to basement was 
 drawn from rooms above and with such force that there has always been a very strong current of air 
 noticable doivn the stairs leading from corridors to basement ; and as Supt. Campbell said to me. 
 “We now have the best system of ventilation that we have ever had.” 
 
 The result was so positive that school was resumed at once (it was dismissed only four days) 
 and from that time to this over th if ty three million , six hundred thousand cubic feet of air (as demon- 
 strated by air meter) have daily passed through the closet vaults and out at the top of those ventilating stacks, 
 the tops of which are 07>er 100 feet above the ground. The following from the Cleveland Plain Dealer 
 gives the opinion of Health Officer Ashman upon the subject. 
 
 “The Leader in its issue of Suturday printed under the headline “ Death in the Air” an ab- 
 surd article aimed directly against the Sinead system with the intent to create a sensation, and 
 indirectly against the Board of Education. Without the slightest ground it declared that there are many 
 cases of typhoid and malarial fever near the Central High School, that the students are prostrated 
 and that the people in the neighborhood look in vain for relief. These are lies pure and simple. 
 
 “Since January 1 not one case of typhoid fever has been reported within the district bounded 
 on the east by Giddings avenue, west by Sterling, north by Euclid and west by Scovill. This is lee 
 way sufficient. 
 
 “ ‘I teel it my duty to contradict that article,’ said Heath Officer Ashnnm yesterday. ‘ Peo- 
 ple out of town reading it would gain an impression that there is a regular epidemic in that locality, 
 that children are dying by scores and that the air is laden by pestilential vapors while in fact 
 that district is the healthiest m the city I have yet to hear the first word of complaint from scholar or teacher or 
 resident in that locality. The system is working nicely, everything is sweet and clean any one the hast ac- 
 quainted with the chemical changes which take place would knerw that no germs of disease are given off. Not a 
 case of typhoid fever has been reported from that district. If a man is in the wrong he should be 
 punished but it is dangerous business to throw abroad the assertion that the health of the city is en- 
 dangered and it should not be tolerated. Slrrnge what little things influence a paper sometimes.’ 
 
 “With shocking audacity the Leader says; ‘Never perhaps in that part of the city has there 
 been so much sickness as at the present, and often the visits of the doctors are ended bv sad emblems 
 of crape on the door. A number of people living near the High School building are at present suf- 
 fering with malarial and typhoid fever.’ And all because the pap bag is not as open as it should be 
 and the chances for its opening are sealv.” 
 
20 
 
 ISAAC I). SMEAD & CO., TOLEDO, OHIO. 
 
 After some two months trial that board paid us the amount due and the superintendent of 
 buildings recommended that the other two stacks (with which we never had anything to do) be ex- 
 tended, as I had demonstrated the a* utter uselessness as originally erected. This was never done. 
 
 The Leader had quieted down and all seemed tranquil on the shore of Lake Erie until some 
 six weeks ago, (about election time ! ! !) when the board voted to erect another building, duplicating 
 one erected two years ago, and containing our complete system. Contract to furnish apparatus was 
 awarded us, and then the Leader again commenced to hcnv . They could not say there were “down 
 drafts” as before, (a condition we never denied) and so it began to lie about other matters, making 
 claims as referred to in the quotation from Plain Dealer , and many, very many more, similar false 
 charges. 
 
 Naturally the people living in that ward became uneasy and frightened. It is never difficult 
 to create a panic, but hard to stop one. We have been severely blamed by our friends and cus- 
 tomers because we did not sue the Leader for its many libelous articles ; but until it had almost 
 caused a senseless panic we did not fully realize the damage it had done, and it was then too late to 
 satisfy those who, not knowing the actual facts in the case, would onlv be satisfied by the removal 
 of the closets : and as that, and that only has been the object of the attacks (made by those whose 
 only interest is to continue the old system of sewer pipes, filled with poisonous gases, and of catch 
 basins discharging these gasses into the street and a hundred other dangers that cannot attach to the 
 dry closet system) it must, for the time, hear the burden of the result ; but if I can judge its future 
 bv the scores ami scores of communications I am receiving from all over the country (of which the 
 following is a specimen) I am not very much alarmed because I have incurred tin* displeasure of a 
 few newspaper writers, who for cash would write on the other side ; and while I have no desire to en- 
 ter into personal controversy, 1 should not hesitate to do so with one who has been quite prominent 
 in the attacks upon me and mv work. I don’t know that I have ever courted a fight of any kind 
 nor do I remember of having tun when engaged in one. 
 
 I would much rather be an inventor and manufacturer who has made some mechanical er- 
 rors, and who cannot always secure absolutely perfect workmen, than to be looked upon by my neighbors 
 a nd fellow citizens as one who possesses no qualiffcations which entitle him to come within a circle that gentlemen 
 are permitted to enter ; one whose personal habits and daily life are such as to subject him to the con- 
 tempt of all honest and fair minded men. 
 
 ISAAC I). SMEAD. 
 
 THE DISPOSAL OF SEWAGE. 
 
 The Annai.s ok IIygiknk.tiik Official Oroax of the State; Board of Health of Pennsylvania. 
 Joseph F. Edwards, M. D., 224 South Sixteenth St., Philadelphia, Pa. 
 
 The publication, in our last issue, wherein we described a new method for the disposal of 
 sewage, based upon the ptinctples of nature , has called forth considerable comment. Among other 
 eommunicatisns, we have rebeived one from a physician in Canton, Ohio, who, it seems, was already 
 familiar with the method described, and who writes because of a new spaper, publication condemning 
 the system, which he desires to have verified or disproven. The newspaper publication referred to 
 claims that the gases of decomposition that are given off from the vent stack descend into and poi- 
 son the surrounding atmosphere, and that, as a consequence, the prevalence of typhoid and typhus 
 
ISAAC D. SMEAD & CO., TOLEDO, OHIO. 
 
 2 1 
 
 fevers and malarial diseases, has greatly increased in localities where this system has been intro- 
 duced. Our correspondent asks : — 
 
 “May dangers be apprehended from atmospheric influences ?” * * * 
 
 “ This system has many good features — if it has a lame place this is the spot.” 
 
 Before deciding to describe this system in our pages, we made a most critical examination of 
 its working qualities, and then set to work to try to And fault therewith. This question of the con- 
 tamination of the atmosphere suggested itself to us and received due consideration. We felt that 
 the amount of foul gas discharged is so infinitesimally small when compared with the great bulk of 
 the atmosphere into which it is discharged, that it would be absolutely inert, to say nothing of the 
 purification that would at once take place. We felt that the idea that any ill results could possibly 
 accrue from these gases so thoroughly diluted, would be akin to claiming that a teaspoonful of water 
 taken from a hogshead of water , into which one drop of alcohol had been placed , would produce profound intoxi- 
 cation. 
 
 This was our own view ; but feeling that we might be in error, we wrote to several physi- 
 cians in different localities, where we knew this system to be in use, to ask whether an increase in 
 prevalence of the diseases already named had followed its introduction. In no instance does the 
 experience of scientific men give a shadow of support to this unfounded newspaper representation. 
 One prominent physician writes so strongly that we give some extracts from his letter. He says : — 
 
 “ Your letter of inquiry at hand. It is with some degree of pleasure I write you hastily 
 about my experience with this system, because I have noticed some villainous attacks on the system. 
 I was health officer of this city at the time these closets were introduced and in five years I did not 
 hear a single complaint from people who lived in the neighborhood of the school buildings, either on 
 account of odor or sickness. During this period the closets were introduced into all of our school 
 buildings. Now we have over twenty buildings supplied with these closets. As a matter of record 
 our city is exceptionally free from Typhoid, Typhus and Malarial Fevers, and I do not now recall 
 any cases occurring in proximity to one of our school buildings. These closets have replaced all 
 others in our school buildings, and I have examined them repeatedly and never found one that al- 
 lowed the faintest odor to get out into the building. And right here, let me say that this is the 
 only sytem I know of where inside closets have this record. 
 
 To consider the matter scientifically, if there are Typhoid, or other disease germs in the ex- 
 crement, would you not prefer to deliver them well dried, high up in the air , heated by hot air and 
 smoke, rather than deposit them in any moist sewer which is connected with our school buildings. 
 
 That diseases are scattered by this system is abundantly disproved by acquaintance with the places where 
 they were extensively introduced, as per example: Toledo ; whose mortuary statistics are correct, and which shows 
 that ours is one of the very healthiest cities in the country. 
 
 That this theory is mere moonshine , I know from personal observation. I have no interest in this 
 matter outside of the interest in humanity, and I write you thus strongly because I have seen base 
 attacks in papers which have no foundation in truth. 
 
 As I have no definite knowledge on this subject from my own investigations, I cheerfully, for 
 the good of the cause, write you.” 
 
 We, ourselves, can say, with the author of this letter, that 11 we have no interest in this matter 
 outside of the interest in humanity',' and we have carefully refrained from mentioning the proprietors of 
 this system. Onr attention was called to it ; when the theory was explained to us we felt that 
 it was a correct one, and when we looked into the matter, we found that the merits of the theory 
 were sustained by the practical working of the system. This is all ; it is, we believe , a great step in 
 sanitary progress and we are anxious to give it all possible publicity. 
 
22 
 
 ISAAC D. SMEAD & CO., TOLEDO, OHIO. 
 
 THE DRY CLOSET AND CREMATION SYSTEM. 
 
 From Toledo Medical and Surgical Reporter For June, by Thomas Hubbard, M. D. , 
 Read before the Toledo Medical Association, May 10, 1889. 
 
 The reader of the sanitary journals of the day cannot but be impressed with the fact that the 
 problem of the disposal of sewage matter is yet far from a satisfactory solution. Comparatively 
 speaking, the sewer has been a great boon to the inhabitants of large cities because it has 
 taken the place of the old and dangerous methods of disposal of city excrement ; but to-day we stand 
 annoyed and afflicted by this institution of the age of city building, the intake in our homes aiding 
 directly and indirectly in the destruction caused by zymotic diseases through the specific or general 
 effect of its omnipresent gases ; and the outlet endangering our water supply, the fearful epidemics 
 traceable to this source having become a matter of history. 
 
 But there comes to us a ray of light in this time of perplexity. Let us look closer. Does it 
 come from the laboratory of the sanitary scientist, or from the work-shop? Shall science add to her 
 long list of accomplishments in behalf of the welfare of mankind one more triumph, or shall the 
 credit be given to that less pretentious class who have solved many a great problem by indomitable 
 physical energy fired by a conviction that the accomplishment is within the bounds of possibility ; 
 each experiment, crude at first, and often a disastrous failure, only serving to stimulate to another 
 effort until we can trace the rough and broken path of progress, now turning back on itself, now 
 upward, until it reaches the lofty goal where it shines forth, enlightens the world and benefits 
 mankind. 
 
 A mere spark of a suggestion, dim and unattractive, given to the world by a Canadian gen- 
 tlemen of great acumen and intelligence, was fanned into a blaze in the workshop of a mechanical 
 engineer. “A new sun has risen in the sanitary heavens! ” 
 
 As citizens of Toledo we should take a special pride in the fact that the dry closet system was 
 first successfully introduced into our own school buildings, and in claiming its inventor as a fellow 
 citizen. As a profession we should congratulate ourselves in that we have been among the first to 
 appreciate the merits of the system and encourage its introduction. The inventor himself says in 
 his book that he regards the medical profession as the most unselfish of men, laboring unceasingly 
 to lessen sickness and disease directly against their own business interests. 
 
 But what are the essential principles of the dry closet and cremation system as invented and 
 introduced by Mr. Isaac D. Sinead? Briefly stated they are as follows. By a system of ventilation 
 based entirely on natural forces there is supplied to each occupant, of a school room for example, 
 between 1,500 and 2,000 cubic feet of warmed fresh air per hour. Each cubic foot of this air is 
 capable of evaporating about one grain of moisture., assuming that it leaves the room at a tempera- 
 ture of about 65 degrees and 81 per cent. rel. humid, (which is a fair average of many experiments). 
 This volume of air per capita is then capable of evaporating many times the amount of total watery 
 excreta of each individual. 
 
 But the question arises in the minds of all — how obtain a perfect exposure of the excreta to 
 the out-going current of air? This is accomplished in the so-called “ dry-closet.” Let us begin 
 with the ventilation system, omitting unnecessary details. A very large volume of air is warmed 
 
ISAAC D. SMEAD & CO., TOLEDO, OHIO. 
 
 ‘23 
 
 about t lie great furnace placed in the basement and surrounded by a non-conducting brick wall. 
 Fresh outside air has free access to these furnaces. This is conveyed by ample air conduits to the 
 rooms above that are to be warmed. The outlets to these rooms arc placed in the base-board and 
 the air leaving the room circulates freely under the floor, thus producing an equable temperature at 
 floor and ceiling, and thence downward into the basement to the so-called “foul air gathering 
 room.” This opens into the closet vault. 
 
 Now a word as to the construction of the closet vault. It is merely a long iron and brick 
 air-conduit, the faecal deposits being received on a raised brick platform. The average section area 
 of these vaults is 3 feet by 3£ feet, and they are from twenty to fifty feet long, depending upon the 
 number of seats necessary to be accommodated. This long vault is in free communication at the end 
 opposite the “foul airgathering room” with a great ventilating stack that extends from basement to 
 a point above the highest peak of the roof, and is built solid, having no inlet except the one from 
 the closet vault. 
 
 Let us now follow the course of the air from intake to outlet. The fire in the furnace is 
 started and the air circulating freely about its extensive superficial area is warmed by direct radia- 
 ation. It is rarefied and its specific gravity raised until it is displaced upward by the cooler and 
 heavier air entering freely at the large intake windows. This process continues uninterruptedly, the 
 cold heavy air exerting a constant upward displacement on the column of warmed air which is thus 
 forced up the ample air conduits into the rooms above. Here this warmed air circulates freely, dis- 
 sipating a certain amount of its heat until it is finally forced ont at the outlets in the base-board and 
 finds its way under the floor of the room to the “ foul air gathering room,” and thence to the stack 
 in a continuous current. 
 
 The force for upward displacement continues as long as the air about the furnaces is warmed, 
 and its effect is a force for onward and upward movement to the air in the school room, in the foul 
 air gathering room, in the vault, and in the great ventilating shaft, alike, indirect though it maybe. 
 Thus is an immense volume of air, flowing at the rate of four to six miles an hour through the closet 
 vaults, brought in contact with the deposits of fsecal matter. 
 
 The rapid drying prevents putrefaction, and the mass is not even disintegrated, retaining the 
 original form. The contents of such a vault are aptly compared to the “buffalo chips ” of the plains. 
 As I have said before, the vaults are constructed fire-proof, and, since the deposits are mixed •with 
 paper, what more simple than to set fire to the contents of the vault nearest the “foul air gathering 
 chamber,” and soon the whole mass is reduced to ashes. This has become a practice in all buildings 
 containing the system. 
 
 Let me call attention to the important results. Natural forces only are involved and hence 
 cheapness of operation is secured. The two most essential features of a wholesome school house 
 are secured, namely, pure air and an odorless closet. The ultimate disposal of the faecal matter is 
 all that can be desired by the most skeptical sanitarian, the most visionary bacteriologist, or the 
 most economical member of the Board of Education. 
 
 A review of a few of the more important objections that have been raised against the dry 
 closet and cremation system may serve to bring up points for discussion. It is asserted that there is a 
 liability of back drafts forcing the air from the closet vaults back into the rooms. To insure an 
 upward current in the ventilating shaft under all circumstances a small furnace is placed in the base 
 of the main shaft and a constant lire is kept up when the large furnaces are not heating. The force 
 for displacing upward, i. e. , the column of heavier air, is now transferred from that pressing in at 
 the intake of cold air to the column represented by the air in the “foul air gathering room” and 
 the rooms above it, since this column is made relatively heavier by the heating and rarefaction of 
 the air in the main air shaft, and a constant current upward is maintained and a proportionate 
 inflow at fresh air intake is insured. 
 
 But let us consider in detail the accusation that the foul air passing out at the mouth of the 
 
24 
 
 ISAAC D. SMEAD & CO., TOLEDO, OHIO. 
 
 main air shaft is capable of spreading the germs of disease. In the first place, consider that there 
 is no putrefaction in the closet vaults. The deposits are dried out very rapidly, hence the gases 
 given off are not to be compared with those escaping from a sewer in any sense. Such decomposition 
 as does take place is a purely natural one, merely a continuation of the process begun in the intestines 
 and while there is considerable odor at the outlet of the shaft, yet when we consider the great ex- 
 posure to diluting volumes of air, the disseminating power of the winds, the purification of the air 
 by oxygen and sunlight, it does seem indeed a visionary evil. The dilution of the gases is under 
 the most simple calculation in direct proportion to the square of the distance from the month of the 
 stack. Under this law 10 parts of carbonic acid to 1,000 parts, for example, at a distance of 100 
 feet from the shaft outlet would become diluted to 10 parts to 40,000,000 of air. 
 
 But certain alarmists assert that typhoid fever is disseminated over the district. The drying 
 process most certainly destroys the bacillus typhosus although the spores may survive. The faecal 
 matter as it escapes from the bowel is mixed with mucus and albumenoid matter in such quantity 
 that a thin pellicle forms around the mass during the drying, and it seems impossible that any germs 
 can escape. Again, does it occur to you how rarely a child sick from typhoid fever would be pres- 
 ent at school? 
 
 As regards ordinary zymotic diseases, surely the perfect ventilation secured will lessen the 
 danger of spreading among the children of the school, both by the direct dilution of all emanations 
 and indirectly by sustaining the natural vitality and resisting power of the child. 
 
 We can bring to bear some testimony from the extensive experience of many of the great 
 irrigation and more particularly the intermittent filtration farms of England. Prof. E. Frankland 
 read, before the International Congress of Hygiene at Vienna in 1887, a report on the “Purification 
 of Sewage and the Utilization of Human Excrement with Special Reference to the Prevention of 
 River Polution.” In both surface irrigation and intermittent filtration the deposit from the sewage 
 matter becomes ultimately a part of the surface soil and is consequently often blown about as dust 
 and the farm hands are constantly working in it. Accurate statistics from the nine prize sewage 
 farms, including the one that receives the sewage from the city of Birmingham, show that there has 
 never been a case of typhoid fever or zymotic disease traceable to this source. This is evidence as 
 conclusive as may be that disease germs cannot resist the purifying power of desiccation in the 
 presence of oxygen and the sun’s rays. 
 
 How visionary then is the charge that typhoid fever can be disseminated by the gases from 
 the mouth of the foul air shaft, when the diluting, dissipating and purifying influences of the sun 
 and a limitless supply of oxygen are brought into play. 
 
 iso unprejudiced person, professional or layman, can inspect the dry closet system as in 
 operation in our school houses here, and not be impressed that it is one of the most influential of 
 the sanitary improvements of the age. Its range of usefulness is almost limitless ; the comfort it 
 insures from being located in the warm basement of school houses ; the constant renewal of the air 
 in the basement ; the simplicity of construction, and lastly the ultimate cremation of the vault con- 
 tents recommend it to every person “ interested in the welfare of humanity.” 
 
ISAAC I). SMEAD & CO., TOLEDO, OHIO. 
 
 o 
 
 5 
 
 DISCUSSION ON ESSAY. 
 
 The Dry Closet and Cremation System. ” Read by Dr. Tiios. Hubbard, before tiie To- 
 ledo Medical Society, May IOtii, 1889. 
 
 Dr. Chas. J. VaiiPelt opened the discussion on the paper. The first introduction of the sys- 
 tem into the city schools was during his service as health officer, and he was called on to make re- 
 peated inspections of the Dry Closets. He approved of the principle from the beginning and was 
 pleased to note the many improvements that have been added. He has watched the growth and per- 
 fection of the details. The introduction of the stack heater insures safety and freedom from back 
 draughts. The idea of cremating the vault contents came about as the result of the use of the stack 
 heater and the perfect desiccation by the continuous currents thus established. lie has frequently 
 seen the contents of a vault reduced to ashes in a very short space of time. He further said that it 
 is the only system of inside closets that gives out no odors. Gases will rise in spite of the most 
 perfect water appliances and plumbing, lie has examined closets having an expensive mechanical 
 exhaust system and found considerable odor. No practical medical man would entertain the vision- 
 ary objections urged against the system by the disease germ theorists. If there be any truth in the 
 theory at all, sewers are certainly much more to be feared than the dry closet and cremation system. 
 The gas from a sewer escapes at the ground level and we must constantly inhale it, while the gases from 
 the foul air shaft are delivered high up in the air and reach the lower levels only in a state of great 
 dilution, and are perfectly harmless. 
 
 Dr. Wm. C. Chapman said: “After having made a thorough inspection I can say that I 
 consider the dry closet perfect in principle and in its practical operation. Do not think that back 
 draughts are possible with a fire burning in stack heater. Comparing it with the sewer, consider that 
 the germs are not destroyed in the sewer at all, but simply increase and ultimately find their way 
 into the drinking water, while in this system they are rendered inert and destroyed by dilution in 
 pure air and the purifying effect of the sun’s rays. Toledo has a great many buildings containing 
 the system and we have a minimum amount of typhoid fever — less than in any other large city — 
 which is the kind of evidence that counts in a discussion of this nature.” 
 
 Dr. Joseph T. Woods said : “The explanation of the mechanical features of the system were 
 very interesting to him and are based on sound principles. lie regards the warming of the floors by 
 the outgoing current as a most important feature. The old methods of heating warm the head first 
 and the evils following the state expressed as ‘ hot head and cold feet’ result. From personal in- 
 spection ‘I can assert that I consider the dry closet as near perfect as we can conceive.’” 
 
 Dr. S. S. Thorn: “We are all agreed that the heating and ventilating as introduced into our 
 schools is the best. I have no fault to find with it. Now I am a believer in the germ theory of 
 disease to a certain degree, but fail to appreciate the arguments of many who are opposing this dry 
 closet system from this standpoint. Jfoisture is most favorable to growth of sag typhoid germs, 
 and I believe that dryness is fatal. I think that persistent desiccation is a most potent germ- de- 
 stroyer. Practically I am convinced, from a great many years of observation, that typhoid fever is 
 not propagated in this city, although, as has been said, we have a great many dry closets in use here. 
 
26 
 
 ISAAC D. SMEAD & CO., TOLEDO, OHIO. 
 
 I repeat that I consider it as infinitely more potent as a germ destroyer and think that the objections 
 raised against it are not well founded.” 
 
 Dr. James F. Aris said : “That as far as typhoid fever is concerned the statistics show that 
 Toledo has been free from the disease for many years, and hence this part of the evidence becomes 
 negative in character. Absence of the disease goes to prove that it does not propagate the disease, 
 but does not prove that it is a disease germ destroyer.” 
 
 Dr. Geo. A. Collamore (Health Officer) said : 4> I have had occasion to examine the High 
 
 School, and old building into which the Srnead system has been adopted. I am impressed with the 
 fact that the details are of great importance and in all cases careful and watchful attention must be 
 given — avoiding errors in construction and careless operation. I am convinced that where the con- 
 struction is perfect in its details the system works perfectly. I see only one possible danger, and 
 that is from back draughts. I say possible, but I know of no instance where this has been charged 
 against it in this city. Compare the ultimate process, cremation, with the ultimate disposal of sewer 
 contents ; in the one harmless gases, in the other our streams are polluted and often our water supply 
 is infected. 1 examined the closets as adapted to an old large school building, and appreciated that 
 it was a difficult undertaking on the part of the engineer. I could detect no odors at all, and made 
 close inquiry of the school girls who were eating their lunches in the basement room adjoining. If 
 there be any time that one would be apt to detect an odor it would be under such circumstances, and 
 the simple fact that they did go to that room to eat is evidence conclusive that the closets were odor- 
 less. The superintendent told me that he had heard no complaints and that school attendance was 
 quite up to the average. That disease can be disseminated from the mouth of the foul air shaft I 
 regard as too absurd for discussion. Typhoid fever germs must reach the victim by the stomach and 
 intestines. Nurses in fever hospitals breathe the same air as the patient with perfect impunity and 
 rarely contract the disease. Diphtheria is a disease that seems to demand a moist medium of con" 
 tagion — moisture is essential to its propagation. The ultimate cremation meets the demands of the 
 most skeptical bacteriologist and the most extreme sanitarians.” 
 
 Dr. John North asked if the faecal matter was allowed to remain in the vaults during the 
 summer. He referred to the drying and escape of germs from the shaft outlet as a possible source 
 of danger, but does not consider it an objection of practical value. He would expect that a certain 
 amount of moisture would be deposited under the floor by the outgoing current. 
 
 The discussion was closed by the essayist *> ..swering Dr. North’s question about the condition 
 of the vaults in summer. The cremation is done at the close of the school year. During the warm 
 school months the stack heater is constantly in use. The humidity is rarely greater than 81 per cent 
 rel. humid, and hence the cooling under the floor does not precipitate any moisture. 
 
 EXHAUSTIVE TREATMENT BY JOSIAH HARTZELL 
 
 Ox the Smead System. He Holds the Canton High School Safe and Ridicules the 
 
 Scare at Cleveland. 
 
 Editor Repository : The adoption of what is known as the Smead plan of heating, ventila- 
 tion and waste disposal in schools and public buildings has been the theme of much discussion. Al- 
 though this has often been pushed to the verge of acrimony, it has had a most wholesome result, en- 
 listing public attention to the study of topics of vital import, in spreading knowledge and, some- 
 times, revealing a woeful lack of knowledge. 
 
ISAAC I). SMEAD & CO., TOLEDO, OHIO. 
 
 The heating and ventilating feature of the plan seems almost to leave nothing better to be 
 desired. It has the capital merit of great simplicity, only one apparatus being required for both 
 heating and ventilation, instead of double devices. External air, as much as may be desired, is 
 warmed, and is admitted into and drawn out of the rooms in such a manner that: first, the fresh air 
 and heat are most equably diffused through every part of the room; and second, so that the extracted 
 air is always that which is most heavily charged with the products of respiration. 
 
 All the air used in the building is drawn into a ventilating shaft, or foul air Hue, of proper 
 dimensions, and passes out at the top of the building. After leaving the rooms the still warm air 
 is made to pass under the floors, an arrangement which must figure not inconsiderably in economy of 
 fuel consumption. 
 
 The merit of this plan is not so much in the novelty of the principles involved as in the gen- 
 erous and ingenious application of these principles. The mechanism of the plan is on an adequate 
 scale. It is simple and admirable. The average results in a sanitary sense, are such as might rea- 
 sonably be expected from a system of the very best order. Such is ray opinion. Others claim to 
 entertain contrary views, but more particularly in regard to the wisdom of employing the Sinead 
 plan for disposal of the waste matters emanating from such a building. 
 
 When it was proposed to introduce this system into the Canton High School building the 
 novel part of the plan did not commend itself to me. The impression of the writer, at that time, is 
 best expressed by a quotation from himself, as printed on page 204 in the Annual report of the Ohio 
 State Hoard of Health for 188ft, as follows : 
 
 “ What may be regarded as a curiosity in this field is a recent practice adopted in certain 
 school houses. The privy seats, for each sex, respectively, are all in a row in the basement of the 
 building. Under each of these rows of seats all is open from end to end. The building is heated 
 with hot air and has a high ventilating shaft. Warm air, having served its purpose in the school 
 room, is drawn into the ventilating shaft, passing, on its way, through the space under the two rows 
 of seats. The excreta, yielding up all moisture to this current of warm air, are reduced to a dry, 
 insignificant bulk, which is shoveled iuto the furnace and burned. This method has been introduced 
 into the costly new High School building recently erected in Canton, but not yet tested. Its merits 
 cannot, therefore, be properly characterized ; though much is claimed for it in the way of testi- 
 monials, a kind of evidence which is very apt to be devoid of scientific authority.” 
 
 If, in trying to solve this problem, only newspaper contentions had been relied on for testi- 
 mony, this state of mental indecision might have continued on till now. But every man has two 
 eyes, two ears, and one nose for his own use. As the result of personal inspection, and of all the 
 direct testimony available, it now seems to me that for a large school building, this plan of waste- 
 disposal has advantages over all the others which I have any knowledge of. 
 
 As to gases getting into the house, the testimony of the inmates is decidedly in the negative. 
 That is my experience. .Vs a matter of fact wet excreta must remain in a wet state more that a day, 
 before they can yield up any gases deleterious to health. And dry excreta are as harmless as the 
 dust in the road. 
 
 Look at the matter a little. The formula for air pollution by gases (not suspended matters), 
 as near as one can be made, requires the concomitance of moisture, heat and ammonia, these being 
 important iu the order in which they are named. Ammonia, composed of nitrogen and hydrogen, 
 may be present everywhere. So of heat. But the Smead plan robs the fceces of the most important 
 element in fermentation, the water. 
 
 This question of the comparative merits of the different systems employed for the disposal of 
 human waste matters is not only of the utmost importance, but it is one of the most complex that 
 engineers are confronted with. It is rare that it can be answered the same wav for anv two towns 
 or cities. Water-carriage and Smeadism are incompatible. The latter is not, in its present state of 
 development, adapted to private houses- — its mechanism seems necessarily to be too large and costly. 
 
28 
 
 ISAAC D. SMEAD & CO., TOLEDO, OHIO. 
 
 But when large numbers are gathered under the same roof — in one plant, so to speak — the compara- 
 tive cost is less than water-carriage, while the service rendered is equal, if not superior, both in safety 
 and convenience, as well as cleanliness. 
 
 The name under which these methods of heating, ventilation and disposal are grouped place 
 the endorsers of them under some disadvantage. It is impossible to defend them without blowing 
 the horn of Mr. Smead. This feature has been made very prominent in the recent controversy in 
 Cleveland , in addition to which a great abundance of reckless balderdash has been printed in the 
 effort to induce jieople to believe that the air current from the ventilating shaft of a certain school 
 house was spreading disease and death. Germs, it is said, are spouted into the sky, and then pro- 
 ceed to settle down on the contiguous population in the shape of a typhoid mildew. These things 
 are ridiculous, but not so ridiculous or surprising as the ignorance, prejudice, or partisanism of a 
 school board in the city of Cleveland which is swayed by such Munchausenisms. 
 
 The least that these functionaries should have done, and the proper thing to have done, under 
 the circumstances, would have beeu to insist upon a judicial investigation. That is the way a con- 
 troversy of this kind recently terminated in Columbus. The law court precipitated the togs raised 
 up by the newspaper court, speedily and effectively. There may be mechanical defects in buildings, 
 introduction, dimension or adaptation, as in the construction of anything else ; but as to the cor- 
 rectness of the hygienic features involved, there can be but one opinion on the part of all who can 
 rightfully be regarded as sanitary experts. In a case of this importance both sides should crave 
 the backing of a decision from a disinterested court, and there let the side which cannot sustain 
 itself go down. 
 
 In these Cleveland press reports frequent mention is made of the name of Dr. G. P. Ashman, 
 the Health Officer of Cleveland. The head-lines array him against the Smead plan, but the perusal 
 of Dr. Ashman’s reports fail to justify the impression sought to be thus made. 
 
 To be sure Dr. A. does not argue his case with the same virulent positiveness which charac- 
 terizes the sage atmospheric philosophers on the other side. But it is also well for candid inquirers 
 to remember that “fools rush in,” and sometimes, unadvisedly ; that a little learning is dangerous. 
 Dr. Ashman is a man of large acquirements, and a scientist of established character. 
 
 Should he express the opinion that air loaded with moisture from fresh excreta, and disposed 
 of as indicated, would increase disease, the statement would far outweigh all the partisan diatribes 
 of the press. It would awaken a wide interest. Such is the power of a well-earned reputation, a 
 thing of slow but solid growth, an eminence which cannot be reached by threats, or bribes, or 
 shallow puffs. It is most improbable that he will express such an opinion, because it would not be 
 justified by the record of scientific knowledge and experiment up to the present time. And yet he 
 does not rush at the microbe-haunted philosophers with uplifted hammer and sledge of big ad- 
 jectives. 
 
 His position says: Your claims are not justified by sanitary experiment; but prove that 
 there is more zymotic disease, and that this disease was caused by the addition of air from the ven- 
 tilating shaft. From all that has appeared with his sanction no such proof has been forthcoming, 
 and for the best of reasons. 
 
 The person who undertook to make this proof would be confronted with the fact that one- 
 fifth in bulk of the air is free oxygen. Oxygen , king of the elements , like the king of beasts , has a 
 most greedy appetite , and its affinities are boundless. It assails, and splits, and changes, converting things 
 noxious into substances inert, or wholesome. It is nature’s grand purifier. A proper inves- 
 tigation of this subject would involve a long stop with oxygen, but this is the realm of chemistry 
 proper, and would suggest a charge of pedantry. The upshot of it all would be, however, that if 
 we will only keep our interiors supplied with air equal in purity to that which nature always supplies 
 in bountiful stock outside our houses, then we shall have nothing to fear from our air supply. 
 
 But the air from the Smead flues is “charged with the moisture from fresh excreta.” So it 
 
ISAAC I). SMEAD & CO., TOLEDO, OHIO. 
 
 2 !) 
 
 is. And so the city of Manchester, England, and many other cities, including most of Edinburgh, 
 Scotland, dispose of all, or nearly all of their wastes by the tub and pail system. The wastes are 
 kept in the houses and they smell to heaven. But the disease and death rate is low. Why? Be- 
 cause the municipal functionaries always remove the vessels before fermentation has had 1 ime to com- 
 mence, and replace them with clean ones. Part of the gases arising from putrefaction arc most 
 deleterious, but are odorless ; the bad-smelling gases, as also the odors from fresh excreta, are not 
 liable to do much harm. In fact, when these very same odoriferous gases come up out of the earth 
 in some Saratoga, or other fancy spring waters, they are held to be ever so wholesome, and to cure 
 no end of maladies. 
 
 In the middle of Paris there is an immense fertilizer factory. Into one side, every night, 
 are driven hundreds of wagons corresponding to our “excavators.” Out of the other side, every 
 day, are shipped barrels of dry and powdered fertilizer. 'The moisture has all passed up skyward, 
 a la Sinead. Nor is this moisture lifted from fresh wastes, but from the most rotten, pestiferous 
 stuff that can be imagined. 
 
 Sanitary literature abounds in praises of garbage crematories, such as are in operation in 
 Minneapolis, Milwaukee, Chicago, Buffalo, etc. They receive fish, flesh, fowl and filth in all states, 
 and deliver the ashes. To be sure, all is burned, but not until the moisture has been expelled — 
 that goes into the air 
 
 If hurtful bacterial defilement of the atmosphere were possible by any such means it would 
 be by such institutions as these. The evils which are said to ascend into the cerulean ether from 
 the Sinead fines, and to descend upon contiguous humanity in the shape of envenomed micro-organisms 
 reside in warped imaginations, and nowhere else. Take the cesspools of a city. They cover acres 
 of surface. Their foul contents are left to ferment and putrify year after year. Clean air gets in, 
 loads itself with all that is most vile and poisonous, and issues forth to mix with the outer air. 
 And yet aerial dangers from cesspools have never been much dwelt upon. If these cesspools were 
 absolutely dry every morning, and if they never contained wet foeces over twenty-four hours old, 
 they would approach the Smead plan in harmlessness. As it is, these receptacles of putrefaction 
 deserve nothing but condemnation ; but most of their agents for harm go down and not up ; and 
 those that do ascend fly into an embrace which quickly extracts their sting and hands them over to 
 plant-life to assume new forms that do not curse, but bless. If our sky-germ vaticinators would 
 come down and lay hold of the old cesspool their crusade would have some sense in it, and would 
 deserve universal co operation. 
 
 Our own city has been no stranger to this interesting discussion. Free lances have been 
 broken pro and con. This was to have been both expected and desired. It has been a public edu- 
 cator. It has riveted the sound maxim that “man’s breath is his own greatest enemy.” It has fixed 
 the open fire — the foul-air flue — irrevocably in its proper place. But the wasteful open grate, leav- 
 ing behind only five per cent of its radiated heat, would never do in our great school houses. The 
 new plan supplies every lacking requirement, both in respect to health and comfort. 
 
 The new method of waste disposal is claimed to be, as yet, in the experimental stage. In 
 the sense of not yet having silenced all opposition it is an experiment. Only let the experi- 
 ment be fairly and thoroughly made and impartially decided. Partisanism and microbian charla- 
 tanism should be brushed aside so that we may get at the exact truth. It is pitiful to see vested 
 property interests , in and out of school houses, and above all the welfare of school children , preyed 
 upon and buffeted about on such farcical grounds as have recently been published, and the fact that 
 such things have been done in Cleveland merits no more consideration than if these examples had 
 been set in the heart of Utopia itself. 
 
30 
 
 ISAAC D. SMEAD & CO., TOLEDO, OHIO. 
 
 WILL USE THE SMEAD SYSTEM. 
 
 Warren, O., May 11. — [Special to Plaindealer.] — At a meeting of the County Commissioners 
 to-day, it was decided to use the Smead dry-closet system in the Children’s Home, to be erected 
 this season. This decision was arrived at after a thorough investigation into the charges made by 
 the enemies of Smead. 
 
 ONLY A SCARE. 
 
 After months of wire pulling on the part of interested persons, a popular scare was at last 
 put en scene, which resulted in the removal from the Central High School of the Smead system of 
 dry sewerage. 
 
 To say that nineteen-twentieths of the objections urged against the Smead system are abso- 
 lutely without ground or foundation would avail nothing at this time. The people are frightened 
 and they will not stop to reason. 
 
 Tell us, ye bright advocates of mediaeval sewers, which is more dangerous to public health : 
 Ten thousand sewer connections, back-vented from private dwellings, together with the catch- 
 basins all over town, or the chemically pure gases, freed of their poisonous substances by com- 
 bustion ? 
 
 Which is the better — the safer ? Ten thousand house sewer connections, directly poisoning 
 as many families, or five school building stacks that do not at all connect with the buildings in 
 which they are placed? 
 
 And what about the 15,000 or more vaults that exist in the portions of the town not 
 reached by sewerage ? If it is in the nature of this aroma to kill, how is it possible that this com- 
 munity can live and thrive ? 
 
 In the Central High School the system of ventilation is admittedly defective, but that is no 
 reason for the failure of the Smead system. The death of Prof. Campbell is charged to the 
 
 “ system,” and yet a reputable physician returns the cause of death as apoplexy ! The system of 
 
 ventilation will not be improved by the re-introduction of the old sewerage plan ; it will only be 
 more markedly felt. 
 
 But it’s popular, now, to howl about the Smead system, and while the people are in that 
 state of mind anything that bears the name of Smead will act upon their diseased imagination as 
 though the name alone were hurtful. It’s a case of Christian science reversed. In the one case you 
 believe yourself cured, until your illness has left you. In the other you think yourself ill until you 
 do take to your bed. 
 
 There are men in this town — men, too, who know as much about the Smead or any other 
 
 sewerage system as a cow does about dominoes — who have talked themselves into such a fever of 
 
 anti-Smead excitement that they have gone stark mad. For such there is no cure. But for the 
 thinking people the time will come when they will acknowledge their error in driving out of the 
 town the best system of school sewerage ever introduced here. 
 
 Yesterday afternoon some seventy-five physicians examined this terrible death trap and 
 strange to say, pronounced it perfectly harmless, and a good sanitary arrangement. Have they all 
 got Sinead’s money in their pocket ? — Town Topics, ( Cleveland ,) May 11. 
 
 WHAT A CHEMIST FOUND AT THE CLEVELAND CENTRAL HIGH SCHOOL. 
 
 Prof. A. W. Smith, of the Case School of Applied Science, has completed his analysis of the 
 air in and about the Central High, Outh waite and Waring School buildings, and his report was 
 forwarded to Health Officer Ashman Tuesday morning. Prof. Smith says ; 
 
 According to your request, analysis of the air of the Central High, Outhwaite and Waring 
 Street School buildings have been completed, with results as given below : 
 
ISAAC D. SMEAD & CO., TOLEDO, OHIO. 
 
 31 
 
 Friday afternoon of April 26 samples of air were collected from within the two stacks of the 
 High School building, near their exit. The fires in the stacks were then extinguished, and Saturday 
 morning samples were taken from rooms 6 and 18, from the boys’ closet, and on May I in the office. 
 In these samples ammonia and hydric sulphide were determined to ascertain whether air or gases 
 from the stacks escaped into the building. The air from the north and south shafts contained re- 
 spectively, 1.22 and 2.74 parts of ammonia per million, with considerable quantities of hydric sul- 
 phide ; room t; contained 0.13 parts ; room 18, 0.27 parts ; the basement closet, 0. 00 parts, and the 
 office, 0.04 parts of ammonia, with too small a quantity of hydiic sulphide to be determined by 
 ordinary methods. These results show the air of the building, at the above date, to he free from 
 contamination by gases from the shafts, since the quantities of ammonia and hydric sulphide found 
 in the rooms are within the limits to be expected in the city atmosphere, while the quantities found 
 within the shafts prove that the air passing out of them was contaminated with the gases from the 
 closets. This fact was also apparent from the odor noticed within the shaft. 
 
 To ascertain and compare the efficiency of ventilation of the three buildings mentioned, 
 samples of air were taken from the different rooms in the High School on the afternoon of April 26, 
 soon after the pupils had left the building; between 11 and 12 o’clock of the morning of May 1, 
 while the rooms were occupied ; at the Outhwaite and Waring buildings between 3 and 4 o’clock 
 of the afternoons of May 3 and 7 respectively, just before the schools closed for the day. In these 
 samples carbonic dioxide was determined with the following results, as parts per 10,000 by 
 volume : 
 
 Carbonic dioxide (parts per 10,000), Central High School, tests of April 26 : Room 3, 9.1 
 parts; room 6, 11.1 parts; room 11, 6.1 parts; room 12, 10.4 parts; room 15, 14.5 parts; room 
 16, 7.8 parts; room 17, 9.9 parts; room 18, 6.6 parts; basement, 17.3 parts; outside of building, 
 4.5 parts. 
 
 Tests of May 1, same building ; Room 4, 8.4 parts ; room 6, 12.5 parts ; room 9, 7.0 parts ; 
 room 12, 7.7 parts; room 18, 11.7 parts; room 16, 10.5 parts ; 'assembly room, 7.6 parts; base- 
 ment, 8.7 parts ; closet, 5.9 parts. 
 
 Outhwaite School, tests of May 3 : Room 1, 13.0 parts; room 5, 9.4 parts ; room 6, 15.0 
 parts; room 7, 13.0 parts ; room 8, 9.1 parts; room 10, 8.3 parts; room 14, 12.4 parts; room 16, 
 14.9 parts; room 17, 13.7 parts ; basement, 6.3 parts. 
 
 Waring School, tests of May 4 : Room 2, 9.1 parts ; room 3, 8.4 parts ; room 4, 9.8 parts ; 
 room 5, 9.2 parts ; room 6, 7.8 parts ; room 7, 9.9 parts ; room 8, 8.7 parts ; room 10, 6.3 parts ; 
 basement, 7.1 parts. 
 
 Normal air of the city contains from 3.0 to 4.0 parts of carbonic dioxide in ten thousand 
 parts, and according to the best authorities, air containing above 7 parts as the results of respira- 
 tion, is unfit tor this purpose and detrimental to health. The condition of air in the Central High 
 School and Outhwaite buildings must, therefore, be regarded as indicating insufficient ventilation. 
 (1 hese two buildings do not have the Sinead system of ventilation.) 
 
 AN HYGIENIC PROBLEM. 
 
 In the advancement v. hich has been made in modern architecture, it is apparent to those 
 who have knowledge upon the subject that equal progress has not been attained to in the matter of 
 a solution of the all-important hygienic problem. It is stated, for instance, that the sewerage con- 
 structions in the most famous of architectural monuments in the world are defective, and that to 
 this more than to any natural causes may be attributed the fearful death rate, which at certain 
 times prevails to the horror and mystery of the whole world. That much advance has been made 
 in the past century is not to be denied, and, in fact, it might be stated with much truth, that even 
 now more than half the battle is won ; but this problem is an ever-recurring one. The advance of 
 civilization brings with it new features, and adds at times vexatious problems for solution. And 
 
32 
 
 ISAAC D. SMEAD & CO., TOLEDO, OHIO. 
 
 this subject has been under discussion since medical science first secured a foothold, independent of 
 the state and free from the dogmatic surveillance of the church. 
 
 One of the most talented of French writers, Victor Hugo, in the Les Miserables, called at- 
 tention to the wealth which underlies the city of Paris, in its sewers, and stated with that emphasis 
 ringing with the power of thought which surrounds all of that great writer’s works, that because 
 of an almost criminal thoughtlessness on the part of the scientific men of his country, all that wealth 
 was daily being swept away into the sea. 
 
 It is very possible that in America, the time is not far distant when the truth of Victor 
 Hugo’s remarks will find practical demonstration in the direction which those authorities upon 
 hygienic or sanitary engineering are tending, in the solution of the problem of the disposal of sew- 
 age, according to the recent acceptation of that term. 
 
 Quite recently the subject of dry closets, as an hygienic substitution for the prevailing system 
 of water closets, has had much and increasing attention. And in its favor it may be stated that 
 after thorough examination, it has gained the endorsement of a large portion of the medical pro- 
 fession, and for that matter, the more who observe this system of dry closets, the larger favor does 
 it attain to. A medical authority, in a centrally located city of the United States, has given his 
 opinion that the system of dry closets, to which his attention was recently called, was far superior 
 to any system of water closets extant, and that the system under discussion was based upon ap- 
 proved scientific principles. As explained in a recent interview, this system is dependent upon a 
 principal of construction which absolutely prevents fermentative or putrefactive changes in the 
 contents of the vault constructed according to the specifications required, and thus obviates any 
 theoretical danger of poisonous emanations therefrom. 
 
 It is an accepted theory that disease in most cases springs from the prevalence of noxious 
 gases arising from defective sewerage and imperfect drainage. It is also supposed that the relation 
 of disease to the noxious gases is through the development of germs. Whatever may be the 
 causes, and of whatever infinitesimal nature, it is generally admitted that decomposition is always 
 to be found at the base. Now, the system of dry closets above referred to does away entirely with 
 decomposition. Remove the cause and the disease will disappear. 
 
 The results are subjected to currents of warm air, which dries up at once <dl its contents, 
 and at stated times the residue is subjected to a quick combustion, which reduces all matter to 
 nothing, that is, to an inodorous, harmless, diffusive gas , which arises and is dispelled in the air- 
 in conclusion, the medical authority above referred to states that such a system prevents putrefac" 
 tive changes in the matter and dispels the gases as they arise in the air. 
 
 “Conceive,” says he, “of the emautaions of this city of 250,000 people passing into the air, 
 and with them the emanations from the vast number of animals of all kinds here and from their 
 excreta ! How inappreciable in comparison are the emanations from the 1,000 pupils of the High 
 School, which through a beneficent plan of the diffusion of gases by and through the atmosphere, 
 are rendered harmless. Contrast, then, the accumulations of organic matter in water, whether 
 standing or running, which are much more liable to discharge noxious gas into the air in pent up 
 places, while they should be afforded the most free diffusion. I have no doubt that the dangers are 
 very much greater with a system of confining in sewers than with this method. I am so impressed 
 with it that I should much prefer to have a system of that kind in my house than any system of 
 water closets I now have, and I have the best that could be obtained at the time. I give this as my 
 free will opinion in the interests of the public health an<J of sanitary science.” — American Artisan. 
 
ISAAC D. SMEAD & CO., TOLEDO, OHIO. 
 
 83 
 
 HEATING, VENTILATING AND DRY CLOSETS. 
 
 A Pater Head Before tiie State Homeopathic Medical Society, at Cincinnati, O., May 
 14, 1889, by J. W. Clemmer, M. D., Columbus, O. 
 
 The hygiene of public buildings is defective. This applies especially to beating and ventila- 
 tion. In any city one can observe a lack of scientific exactness in this matter. Natural law is 
 ignored. Health considerations are lost in the aesthetic effect of the architect or in the stupidity of 
 the engineer. Many halls, theaters, churches, court houses and other public buildings are heated 
 without any means of ventilation excepting that by opening the windows and doors. Under pre- 
 tense of ventilating others, the architect has made vents high up in the wall or ceiling, presumably 
 for the escape of foul air. The result is, the pure, warm air escapes by these means, while the cold? 
 foul air, being of greater specific gravity, descends to the floor. Let it be fixed in mind and in 
 practice that air ducts intended for the escape of cold, foul air, if not placed near the floor, will 
 serve the interests of the coal dealer alone, and rob the innocent occupant of both health and 
 comfort. 
 
 Another mistake you will find, as I have, in visiting public buildings, that foul air registers 
 lead to conduits that return the cold, foul air to the furnace, to be re-heated and returned again to 
 the room. It is observed, too, that cold, foul air flues in the same room with grate fires are incom- 
 patible. By causing draft in the grate flue the air pressure in the foul air ducts is lessened and its 
 contents are returned to the room, thus the order of air circulation is reversed. It is also found 
 that the cold air inlet is too small, or made to pass the air over coal, rubbish and dust heaps, thus 
 fouling it before it reaches the heaters. All sorts of failure may be observed. In very cold weather 
 there is often an inadequate amount of heat furnished. Schools and other assemblies have to be 
 dismissed or punished with a cold temperature. More frequently there is a lack of ventilation. 
 In fact, as a rule, the heating and ventilation of public buildings are horrible. 
 
 AVho is responsible ? Surely not the school girl, or the church member, or the theater goer. 
 The people are not responsible. The architect , the engineer and the physician are responsible. 
 The mechanical artisan plumes himself upon the elegance and beauty of his work. He pleases the 
 owner and the public with a structure whose exterior is the expression of perfect symmetry and 
 form, whose interior bespeaks the embellishment of art and refinement, but alas ! whose sanitary 
 effect is lost in neglect, discomfort and impaired health. The physician, like the supreme judge, 
 renders final decision. The sanitary arrangement of buildings requires his approval. It is his 
 business to decide in matters of health, and it becomes his duty to aid the architect, plumber, 
 builder and engineer to construct sanitary houses. 
 
 The union of scientific fact to mechanical art is the basis upon which rests the hygiene of 
 public buildings. The physiology of respiration is no less a factor in a system of heating and ven- 
 tilation than the construction of flues or the payment of costs. Indeed, a knowledge of the require- 
 ments of physiological existence is the prime factor, whose importance outranks the blandishments 
 of art. A knowledge of the atmosphere and of pneumatic law should be built in the heating and 
 ventilating apparatus. The behavior of the atmosphere under varying conditions of temperature, 
 moisture, ^contamination, high winds and local environments must be understood and respected by 
 
34 
 
 ISAAC D. SMEAD & CO., TOLEDO, OHIO. 
 
 the engineer. A perfect system stands as an index to both scientific knowledge and mechanical 
 skill. Every surgical instrument expresses this fact. Living rooms, like the instrument, in the 
 hands of art, should be fashioned at the dictation of science. In this way, school rooms, for in- 
 stance, would be so constructed and ventilated that the normal proportion of carbonic acid in the 
 atmosphere (4 parts in 10,000) would not, during occupation, reach the danger line at 7 or 8 in 
 10,000. To keep within safe limits, it is found, upon good authority and experiment, that man 
 requires 40 cubic feet of fresh air every minute. This requirement presumes continuous habitation 
 without opportunity for frequent airings, as in the case of public buildings. Dr. Billings says : 
 “For schools the allowance of from 25 to 30 cubic feet per minute and head will answer all need- 
 ful purposes.” With such an amount of air to be supplied so rapidly it is evident that the size of 
 the room and the number of occupants become important considerations. Unfortunately authori- 
 ties differ as to the amount of air space that should be allowed to each occupant of the room. An 
 average of six authorities places the figure at 240 cubic feet. In order that a school room may 
 not be too large for lighting, disciplining and teaching, the number of pupils should not exceed 
 55 or 60. 
 
 From these general, hasty considerations, ventilation begins to assert its claims and to 
 formulate the conditions upon which it is to be secured. Slowly a definition of the subject unfolds 
 itself. Ventilation may be defined to be a constant admission of pure air to a room with an equal- 
 izing temperature, the difference in temperature not to exceed 10 degrees Fahr. in different parts of 
 the room, to displace the foul air which is as constantly exhausted from the building without ap- 
 preciable draft, yet sufficiently rapid to renew all the air in the room in from 10 to 30 minutes, ac- 
 cording to the size of the air space and the number of occupants. 
 
 In public buildings, grates and stoves or any other means of furnishing heat by direct radia- 
 tion alone must be abandoned, because there is not an equalization of temperature in all parts of 
 the room. The supply of heat is irregular and inadequate. Besides, these means oppose the prin- 
 ciple of perfect ventilation. Furnaces of various kinds and in endless variety that pall upon the 
 market, bespeak their own opposition and confusion, in principle and practice. Some afford no 
 ventilation except by opening windows, others are used with an insufficient pure air supply ; others 
 do not admit fresh air directly from the outside, but depend epon cellar air, which is more or less 
 contaminated by fouling sources. 
 
 In the introduction of furnaces, many are adjusted according to a stereotyped method of 
 conduits, flues and pipes, regardless of the size, number or elevation of the rooms to be heated. In 
 many, the requirements of physiological living and the necessity of renewed air at a certain temper- 
 ature are conditions not supplied. 
 
 On account of a lack of sufficient ventilation, emanations from the body, and, in a mixed 
 audience, the malodorous compound gas of neglected “catarrh,” tuberculous and other diseases, 
 bad whiskey and decayed teeth, hang about public rooms as gods of evil to mock the intelligence 
 of the jurist, the divine and the teacher, and to indicate injured innocence in acts of commission by 
 culpable architects and “furnace men,” and the sins of omission by the sanitarian. 
 
 As an index to the worth of heating and and ventilating apparatus in general use, I quote 
 the language of Dr. R. Harvey Reed, of Mansfield, from a reported investigation of the school 
 buildings and churches of that city. These are all heated by furnaces of various kinds, excepting 
 one heated by steam. He says : “I have examined fifteen churches and nine school houses, every 
 one of which I visited in person, from cellar to the garret, and examined carefully their systems of 
 heating and ventilating, and when necessary actually tested the drafts and currents of air by proper 
 methods, to satisfy myself of their exact course ; and whilst a few of them are fair, I have failed to 
 find a single one complete and the majority of them are simply horrible !” 
 
 These observations corroborate those made with respect to some of the public buildings in 
 Columbus. My examinations and information produce the conviction that the ordinary methods of 
 
ISAAC D. SMEAD & CO., TOLEDO, OHIO. 
 
 35 
 
 heating and ventilating public buildings are very imperfect, that the majority of apparatus, both 
 furnace and steam, in present use, fail to reach a standard of perfection required by both health 
 and comfort. 
 
 Steam heating for large buildings is popular. With a low pressure and the direct-indirect 
 radiation, this mode of wanning is satisfactory. Still, steam apparatus lias an element of danger; 
 it is expensive and requires skillful engineering to insure satisfaction. The cost for repairs is con- 
 siderable. For the purpose of perfect ventilation exhaust fans must be attached. The government 
 building at Columbus, the School of Technology in Boston, and many other structures are thus 
 heated and properly ventilated. 
 
 What is wanted, especially in meeting the demands of a rapidly increasing school life, is an 
 apparatus that will heat the largest building in the coldest weather, and guarantee perfect ventila- 
 tion, at a moderate cost. It must supply the conditions already indicated : (1) regulation and uni- 
 formity of temperature throughout the room and building ; (2) abundance of pure air for every 
 person, and ( 3 ) prompt removal of foul air from each room. 
 
 The Sinead system of heating and ventilation supplies these conditions and meets all require- 
 ments. The pure air supply is brought in through a basement window, always open, to the cold 
 air room, always clean, in which is located the heating apparatus or air warmers. These furnaces 
 differ from all others in being constructed upon principles founded in the engine boiler, which pre- 
 sents the largest amount of heated surface. The heat generated in the fire box, together with the 
 flame, smoke and other heated products of combustion, instead of passing more or less directly to 
 the smoke Hue, as in other furnaces, is held as long as possible. The heat, flame, etc., are made to 
 return to the front of the air warmer (furnace) through twelve iron tubes immediately above the 
 tire box ; thence they are again returned to the rear, through a large flue, to the smoke stack. 
 Economy of fuel finds explanation in the character of the warmer in presenting a large amount of 
 tire surface, which means surface with fire inside. The whole is encased in masonry work with cold 
 air inlets at the bottom, and, at the top, the hot air chambers are mounted with brick flues to con- 
 duct the pure, warm air to the rooms above through registers. Above each register is the “ regu- 
 lator,” which is a ratchet crack moving over a dial marked “warm air” and “cold air.” When 
 the crank is moved to the right, pure, cold air from the fresh air room in the basement is admitted 
 to the room ; when turned to the left, pure, warm air is admitted, and from the same source, only 
 it is made to pass over the tubular heaters. The regulation of temperature to any- degree is by 
 means of a valve at the bottom of the air flue near the heater, so arranged as to give vent to either 
 warm air or cold air, and by means of a chain put in command at the regulator. It is possible to 
 regulate the temperature of the air admitted to the room, but it is impossible to cut off the circula- 
 tion of pure air into the room, ar to impede its ventilation. Despite the carelessness or preoccupa- 
 tion of the teacher, the supply of pure air is constant and irresistable. The foul air is taken out 
 through a number of registers (6 inches by 3 or 4 feet) located around the room in the baseboard. 
 The sum of the vent areas is more than that of the warm air register, a requisition often disre- 
 garded. 
 
 Vent shafts at convenient points in relation to the rooms are erected, large enough to carry- 
 on the circulation of the building and tall enough to extend beyond the cone of the roof, in order 
 to avoid temporary embarrassment to the outflow during high winds. At the base of each of these 
 shafts or stacks is placed a small furnace, the “ stack heater,” to secure draft. 
 
 It becomes plain, now, to see how the foul air in the room is to find vent. After being 
 drawn out at the baseboards, the foul but partially warmed air is made to pass under the floor and 
 to traverse this enclosed space between the floor and ceiling in all directions by means of furred 
 strips over the joists. In its passage the floor and feet of the occupants are kept warm, thus meet- 
 ing the injunction of professional advice, “Keep your feet dry and warm.” After the escaping air 
 serves such good purpose, it is conducted to one corner of the room, where it enters the vent shaft 
 
30 
 
 ISAAC D. SMEAD & CO., TOLEDO, OHIO. 
 
 on its way out at the top of the shaft. This circulation beginning with the great ocean of atmos- 
 pheric air through the cold air room, over warmers into flues, into rooms and halls, beneath floors 
 and out the stack, back to space, is like the great circulation of waters in nature, beginning with 
 absorption from the ocean, followed by saturation, condensation, cloud formation, precipitation, in 
 the endless round of rain, river and its return to old ocean. 
 
 “ The Sinead system of dry closets' ’ is a newly discovered star in the firmament of sanitary 
 science. It is not a necessary part of the Sinead system of heating and ventilation. Each may be 
 adjusted to a building without the other. Together they complement each other. When the dry 
 closets are added, the course of the foul air on its way out of the building is changed. The ex- 
 haust air from every room in the building is taken downward at convenient points (under the 
 floor), all sources being drawn to the foul air gathering room (in the basement), in which is placed 
 at one end a trench over which the closet seats are placed. At the other end of the trench, or 
 vault, is erected the vent shaft or foul air stack. The closet trench is nothing but a horizantal sec- 
 tion of the shaft. At the base of the stack, remember, is placed the stack heater. The vault is 
 about four feet wide and four feet deep, and as long as seating capacity may require. It is lined 
 with brick and the seats with sheet iron, making the vault fire proof. The floor of the vault rests 
 upon iron cross bars. Beneath this is an interspace of a few inches overlying a bed of gravel. 
 The brick floor upon which the excreta are deposited, as well as the gravelly sub-strata, will absorb 
 an excess of liquid matter pending its removal by the currents of air through and under the vault 
 on its way to the stack from the foul air room. A urinal is also attached, with the same relation 
 to the vault as the seats. The floor near the urinal and seats is made of perforated iron, to provide 
 for the inward draft. 
 
 The two systems are outlined. With this picture of a building that is intended to breathe, 
 to do its own plumbing and drainage, to dispense with the services of the “night cart” and all its 
 associate evils, to place the hygiene of public buildings so far in advance of present methods that it 
 would appear to stand matchless in its approach to Eutopiau perfection, the Goddess Hygiea is con- 
 sulted to learn if these things are true in practice as in tautology. These were the thoughts that 
 induced me to investigate, with a determination to either oppose or attack according to conviction. 
 This system is being introduced into many public buildings through the country, and it becomes 
 our duty, as physicians, to investigate its sanitary effect, especially on school life. 
 
 Time will not permit of details. The history and literature of the subject bristle with re- 
 ports of investigating committees, chemists and sanitarians. I will glean a few statements from 
 these sources and from personal examinations and tests. Besides, you are invited to investigate for 
 yourself. The work, like a model, invites inspection. You will find that 2,000 cubic feet of air 
 every hour is afforded every occupant ; that rooms are kept at a uniform temperature in the coldest 
 weather ; that the temperature of the room at floor and ceiling does not vary more than 0 to 8 de- 
 grees ; that the air is exchanged every 10 to 20 minutes ; that the exhaust at the top of the vpnt 
 stack, as determined by the air meter, equals the amount of the pure air at the registers. In heat- 
 ing the room the thermometer will show, under proper conditions, an increase of temperature of 
 two degrees per minute, indicating that the work of the warmers is rapid and very satisfactory on 
 a cold morning. Again, oil of peppermint scattered in the fresh air room, in two minutes is de- 
 tected in the foul air gathering room, showing how rapidly air makes a complete circuit of the 
 building. 
 
 One of the School Board committee of East Saginaw, Mich., reported: “By using a deli- 
 cately adjusted air meter, we observed the supply of fresh, warm air was sufficient to fill the room 
 every 12 minutes. By applying the same means to the ventilating stacks in the base, the outflow of 
 vitiated air corresponded in quantity to the supply of fresh air. The same test applied to the closet 
 vaults, showed 350,000 cubic feet to pass every hour, which at 80 per cent, relative humidity, is 
 capable of taking up about five gallons of liquid matter every hour. Five-sixths of the excreta are 
 
ISAAC D. SMEAD & CO., TOLEDO, OHIO. 
 
 37 
 
 liquid constituents. Upon scientific principles it is shown that the dry closet will do all that is 
 claimed for it. But it is not necessary to depend upon theory when practice demonstrates the 
 fact.” 
 
 My visits to the Columbus schools corroborated the statements of others. In each case the 
 closet room was absolutely odorless. Upon raising a seat lid a strong down current was found, 
 sufficient to draw out a lighted match and a tallow candle. The fmcal matter was thoroughly dry. 
 It was impossible to get bad odor, even at the seat. The vaults are cleaned by combustion in situ. 
 The residue of a winter's dejecta can be burned easily, leaving only the ashes to be swept out by 
 the janitor. 
 
 The Columbus School Board are highly pleased with the system, and are giving it place in 
 all new buildings and in some of the old. In their last annual report reference to expense for coal 
 is made : “ Average tons to room — Steam, 10; Sinead, 0.” In ten years, seven buildings heated 
 
 by steam cost nearly *11,000 for repairs, while the Sinead guarantees no costs for repairs for first 
 ten years. 
 
 In my researches I found no trouble or complaint with the heating and ventilating apparatus. 
 This seems to be faultless. 
 
 The dry closet system in Cleveland, in the Central High School building, did not work well 
 for a time, until certain corrections were made in a faulty adjustment of tin system. The gullibility 
 of the people and their ignorance of technical matters paved the way to a newspaper sensation 
 causing public excitement and remonstrance, under the pressure of which the Board of Health issued 
 an edict of extermination which, at this writing, is trembling in the balance of execution before the 
 Board of Education. In my judgment, this sanitary board, in condemning the dry closets, is making 
 a record that will being rcpvoach to itself in the near future. 
 
 The Annals of Hygiene, the official organ of the State Board of Health of Pennsylvania, in 
 its April number of the current year, contained an article describing the dry closet system. In the 
 May number is found an editorial upon the same subject. Extracts only can be given. The article 
 in the April number created comment. Among others, an Ohio physician writes, “ because of a 
 newspaper publication condemning the system which he desired to have verified or disproven.” It 
 is claimed that the gases of decomposition from the vent stack cause disease. The editor says : 
 “Before deciding to describe this system in our pages we made a most critical examination of its 
 working qualities and then set to work to try to find fault therewith.” He goes on to explode the 
 theory of contamination. He wrote to physicians in localities of the dry closets, and says: “In 
 no instance does the experience of scientific men give a shadow of support to this unfounded news- 
 paper representation.” One of the editor’s correspondents reports that the closets were introduced 
 into all the school buildings of his city, and says : “ I have examined them repeatedly and never 
 
 found one that allowed the faintest odor to get out into the building. This is the only system of 
 inside closets with such a record.'''’ 
 
 The editor gives no names, and, after disclaiming any interest outside the interest of human- 
 ity, says of the dry closet system : “It is, we believe, a great step in sanitary progress and we are 
 anxious to give it all the publicity possible.” 
 
 Dr. II. .1. Herrick, of Cleveland, a prominent physician and sanitarian, is on record favoring 
 the dry closet system. lie regards it “ far superior to any water closet. The drying out process 
 prevents the fermentation or putrefactive changes which would induce the generation of noxious 
 gases.” Again he says : “ The atmosphere has a very much greater capacity for destroying and 
 
 diffusing noxious germs or noxious gases than water.” 
 
 The objection urged that the surrounding atmosphere is fouled by ejections of noxious gases 
 in the dry closet system is empty cavil. Grant it is an evil. The same system of ventilating 
 sewers, house drains, and soil pipes obtains in the sewerage system. The soil pipe is extended 
 through the roof for the purpose of ventilation. The foulest and most dangerous section of the 
 
38 
 
 ISAAC D. SMEAD & CO., TOLEDO, OHIO. 
 
 sewerage system is in the dwelling. Sewer gas under air pressure in the sewer, will bubble up 
 through the trap water. Traps may be syphoned. Ventilation is often defective ; plumbing may 
 be bad. In order to avoid sewer gas by its diffusion and dilution with the atmosphere, the whole 
 sewer is ventilated. Sever gas is taken out at every gutter drop and manhole along the trunk 
 sewer , and 6ut at every soil pipe in every plumbed house , thus creating thousands of short vent 
 stacks in every city to discharge noxious gases and bacteria. No one is foolish enough to attempt a 
 sensation in which is pictured bacteria and death germs, as large as bats, flowing through these 
 vents to decimate an unsuspecting populace. 
 
 Why should the dry closet be attacked ? Three hundred and fifty thousand cubic feet of air 
 passing through its vault every hour insures perfect ventilation, as compared to the dangerous im- 
 perfections of plumbing. Besides the dry closet does not tolerate putrefaction and decomposition 
 of organic matter in foul, slimy, damp places as culture beds for disease germs. The desiccation 
 of excreta, with the prompt removal of its liquid portions (5-6ths) into regions of atmospheric dilu- 
 tion, is nature’s own method. The chemistry of the sun and vegetation in the great laboratory of 
 nature, provides for the disposal of noxious gases. Oxygen is the scavenger of nature whose j>ro- 
 ducts, ammonia and carbonic acid are appropriated by plant life. 
 
 All I ask of any closet system is the complete removal of both liquids and solids from the 
 building with no trace of malodor of its dangerous presence in living apartments. We all know 
 what the old fashioned vault is, what the reeking laterine is, what plumbing is. They do not meet 
 these conditions satisfactorily. Then let the dry closet system, which is not opposed by its own 
 defects, but by the irrational dread of innovation , be treated with fairness and reason. Foisting 
 upon it the same objections that are placed against the system in prevalent use, is manifestly unfair, 
 and hobbles its merits. Like all progressive ideas, this is opposed in its infancy only to stimulate 
 its worth and growth. Despite its invective abuse its supremacy in school buildings is already es- 
 tablished. 
 
 FROM REPORT OF COMMISSIONERS, DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA , FOR 1S88. 
 
 * * * * The above expenditure includes amount paid to Isaac D. Smead, under contract 
 
 No. 841 for the introduction and construction of the dry closet system in the Peabody, Garnett, 
 Abbott and Henry School buildings — $3,879.30. 
 
 The appropriation was applied to the removal of the water closets from the basements of the 
 Peabody, Garnett, Henry, Abbott, Force and Franklin. At the first four named the Smead dry 
 closet system was constructed. 
 
 The dry closet system, as placed in the old and new buildings, has proved a great success. 
 In the twelve-room buildings occupied during the year, with an average of 600, and the eight-room 
 buildings, with an average of 400 pupils, the evaporation so far consumed the excrement that, at the 
 closing of the school year when they were burned out , nothing remained but a small quantity of 
 ashes, and at no time has there been any cause of complaint. 
 
 The system is an economical arrangement, both in first cost and constant use, as they are not 
 liable to become impaired to any extent and repairs to them can at no time be extensive or expen- 
 sive. 
 
 Thomas B. Entwistle, 
 Inspector of Buildings, District of Columbia. 
 
 OX VENTILATION, BY IP B. POWELL. 
 
 The school rooms that have been provided during the last ten or more years are cheerful, 
 thoroughly ventilated, and healthful. I am glad to be able to say the system of ventilation em- 
 ployed ventilates, and ventilates in spjite of the preoccupation of the teacher or of the janitor. In 
 
ISAAC D. SMEAD & CO., TOLEDO, OHIO. 
 
 ;50 
 
 respect of heating, lighting and ventilation, nothing more is to he desired in the new buildings. 
 Some of our older buildings, however, although tine, imposing structures, are poorly ventilated or 
 not ventilated at all. The more prominent of the former are the Franklin and the Jefferson ; of the 
 latter, the Wallach and the Craneli. Nothing, to my mind, should he urged more strongly, save 
 only additional accommodations, than the improvement of the ventilating processes in the buildings 
 named and in a few others. So easily may this he done, and at such a trilling expense compara- 
 tively, with the knowledge now possessed, that I should feel myself remiss did 1 fail to call your 
 attention to this most urgent need and thus emphasize the suggestions of my co-laborers. 
 
 W. I>. Powell, 
 
 Superintendent of Schools, District of Columbia. 
 
 S ANITA BY CONDITION OF PUBLIC SCHOOLS. 
 
 The sanitary condition of our public schools has been greatly improved since the recom- 
 mendations in my previous report have been carried out, as far as the appropriation made by Con- 
 gress would permit. Another appropriation, however, is needed to reconstruct the yard closets and 
 the apartments in which they are located belonging to some of the old school houses. The Smead 
 dry closet system having been adopted by the commissioners and introduced in twenty school build- 
 ings, it may be proper for me to give some explanation of the practical workings of this system, as 
 it is now in use in connection with Sinead's system of heating and ventilation. 
 
 “ Fresh air from out of doors is supplied in such quantities as may be desired, which is 
 heated by furnaces and passes through various flues into each school room. The same volume of 
 air enters the room constantly and the proportion of warm and cold can be regulated by the teachei 
 according to the requirements. After circulating through the room, it passes out through grated 
 openings which are placed at short intervals in the baseboards on the outer boundaries of the room. 
 This warm air then passes under the door, heating it sufficiently to warm the feet, and is carried to 
 the foul air room in the basement. From thence it is drawn, by way of arched openings in the brick 
 wall, through the privy vaults, beneath the seats, to the brick foul air chimney, whence it escapes 
 into the open air. The, philosophy of the arrangement is exceedingly simple. This current is created 
 by the natural disposition of heated air to rise, and the draught thus produced in the stack is amply 
 sufficient for the purpose. For use in summer, a small heater is built in the wall at the base of the 
 stack, and when the draught is not sufficiently strong without it (as perhaps on damp, muggy days), 
 a tire may be quickly kindled here, and the hot air rising through the stack at once stimulates the 
 draught to any required extent.” 
 
 I have examined these closets under all circumstances and conditions since they have been in 
 use, and I find them at all times working satisfactorily , the air in the rooms being purer than where 
 plumbing fixtures are used. 
 
 Samuel A. Robixsox, 
 
 Superintendent of Plumbing, District of Columbia. 
 
40 
 
 ISAAC D. SMEAD & CO., TOLEDO, OHIO. 
 
 CONSIDERING THE SMEAD DRY CLOSET SYSTEM. 
 
 Proceedings of a Meeting of the Board of Education of Cleveland, Ohio, Monday 
 
 Evening, May 6th, 1889, on that Subject. 
 
 Drtring the "discussion, by the members of the Board of Education, upon the subject of the 
 removal ot the closets, the opinion seemed to be general that it was advisable to discontinue their 
 use, although not one member sustained the charges made by t lie Trader. Mr. Zucker (ex-presi- 
 dent), who was most prominent in the matter, said : 
 
 * * * * Now, Mr. Chairman, I will say this, and I say it deliberately, if I did not believe 
 
 there had been but a single case of sickness resulting from the introduction of the Sinead system, 
 yet would I heartily vote in favor of the resolution I have introduced. If I thought there had been 
 only one case of sickness, if I thought it would stop one further case of sickness I would vote for it. 
 I would do that, Air. President, on this principle : We are legislating on this subject for the peo- 
 ple we are spending the money of the people ; the whole people , the city of Cleveland, are not 
 immediately interested there ; are only interested so far as their children go there. But when those 
 parents that have pupils attending the school, and still more these people who have little children 
 living in houses in the immediate neighborhood, ore panic stricken on account of this matter , it is 
 our manifest duty to do all we can to allay that panic and stop that fear to prevent that sickness. I 
 am no physician, but I know this, that the feor and dread of sickness, especially with a child, is 
 often more harmful than the sickness itself, nay, is the direct cause of sickness. I appeal to you as 
 physicians if I am not stating a fact. I am told that to-day there are between two and three hund- 
 red absentees from that school, and those who are there are only kept by sheer moral force ; that 
 there is a panic and demoralization existing among the pupils that do attend that utterly destroys 
 the efficiency of the entire school. I could stop right here and say further comment is unnecessary. 
 That is enough in itself. 
 
 Air. Chairmen, I am told by reputable citizens living in that neighborhood, people whose 
 character I know is as high as the highest among us, that there is a large amount of sickness in 
 that neighborhood. 
 
 Xow, I want to pause right here. I have to-night on this floor noticed the public prints more 
 than I have in many years. I do not know of anything that has ever come before us that has so 
 engrossed public attention, that so comes to the home of every citizen as this. In the Plain Dealer 
 of to-day I find an interview with a physician of reputable standing (Dr. Herrick). That interview 
 is very scientific. It reminds, me Air. President, very much of the sixty-nine reasons the young at- 
 torney gave his client to prove that they could not put him in jail. After he got through, the fellow 
 says, “But hang it all, I am in jail.” And Dr. Herrick’s interview reminds me of that story. He 
 gives sixty-nine cogent reasons why it is not the cause of sickness. But hang it all, there is sick- 
 ness. So much for that interview. Again, it strikes me as very singular that that scientific re- 
 porter had all his scientific questions so scientifically laid out. It appears to me, Air. Chairman, 
 more as an argument than as a scientific statement. But I, for one, in the face of the facts that a 
 body of well known citizens have adopted a resolution and made certain requests and demands on 
 
ISAAC D. SMEAD & CO., TOLEDO, OHIO. 
 
 us, as they have a right to do, because we are only their servants, the servants of the citizens gener- 
 ally — I say, in the face of such action, I Khali pay no attention to this scientific discussion, so scien- 
 tifically laid down in this newspnijier, which newspaper, in its editorial columns, has called upon Ida 
 Honed o f Jf duration to coot out the evil — tin Sinead system — body and soul. 
 
 Mr. Morris : Mr. Chairman, being a new member of this Board of Education, realizing 
 fully the vast importance of this question, some three weeks ago I set myself diligently about inves- 
 tigating, as best I might, the various complaints, going to the scholars of the schools, who had lei t 
 the schools and who were still attending, going to the schools that had the Sinead system and going 
 to the schools that had not the Sinead system in, but the water system and outside closets, and in 
 every available way that I knew of or could think of, tried to inform myself as to the merits of the 
 complaints made. I coincide with Mr. Zucker’s views to a very large extent. There is no question 
 in my judgment but what something must be done at the Central High School. What that some- 
 thiny is, it seems to me, is a very wide question. I cannot, under my present understanding of the 
 facts, endorse outside closets, as we have them now. 
 
 I find that by going to the Sterling Avenue School, toe have an odor there that surpasses 
 anything you could inan/ine </s connected with any one of the Sinead system of closets in the 
 city. We go to Brownell and we find the same facts existing — outsieb closets there — that the 
 neighbors condemn and say that it is unbearable at times for them to stand the stench from them. 
 I read in the Leader of last Saturday that the sanitary condition of the Walton Avenue building is 
 very bad. The closets are in the basement of the building and very near several of the recitation 
 rooms ; that the stench is at times unbearable, but the teachers have been unable to cause the Board 
 of Education to take action in the matter. This is a water closet system school, to be sure, not an 
 outside system, but a mere water closet system. But I find that it is no worse by going there 
 than the system at Sterling or at Brownell. 
 
 Now, while I endorse largely Mr. Zucker’s remark, I want to say that I had an interview to- 
 day with a gentleman who has been quoted as condemning this system, and he told me himself that 
 he could not charge it to the Sinead system, although he felt as though he had. to. I have interviewed 
 many citizens. I went along Arlington street, and saw very many people there. I found none, in 
 fact, who said that lie had ever perceived a disagreeable odor from the Central High School. One 
 of this committee of ten told me in person that he and his wife had never smelled a bad or disagree- 
 able. smell from the Central High School. A young lady of sixteen, an attendant at the II igh School, was 
 at our house to dinner this last week, and told me in person that she left the school because fa r mother 
 ions scared. I asked her the question, if she ever smelled disagreeable odors in her room. She said 
 no. I asked her why she left school. She said she left the school because her mother was scared. 
 1 asked her if she ever discovered disagreeable odors be fore the Sinead system was put in. She said 
 yes, she had, but she considered the Sinead system an improvement over the old method. 
 
 Now, in view of those facts, I am not ready to take immediate action on removing this whole 
 system out of the school. But I am informed by men of judgment, men who are versed in this 
 business, that there is an addition that we can make for the system we have there which will be 
 perfectly sanitary, and I offer it as an amendment to a part of the resolution which is now before 
 us. It is an amendment to that portion of the resolution pertaining to the construction of tempor- 
 ary elosets, and if adopted we may then act in the future by putting up either outside closets or any 
 method that may be found to be most judicious. 
 
 The clerk then read the resolution of Mr. Morris. 
 
 “By Mr. Morris: To amend the resolution of Mr. Zucker, that Superintendent of Build- 
 ings Wright is instructed to immediately provide receiving troughs under the seats of the closets at 
 the Central High School, which shall be provided with running water and connected with the city 
 sewers, thereby carrying off at once the excrement into the city sewers — without disturbing the 
 
42 
 
 ISAAC D. SMEAD & CO., TOLEDO, OHIO. 
 
 ventilating part of the closets, and to strike out that part of Mr. Zucker’s resolution that relates to 
 closets being erected outside of the building.” 
 
 The Chairman : It is moved that the amendment just read be adopted, with a motion also 
 to strike out a part of the original resolution. Are there any remarks ? 
 
 Mr. Bemis : I am opposed to that amendment. I do not wish to vote in favor of a closet 
 system of that kind, even temporarily, in our High School building or in any building. I would 
 prefer seeing such closets outside the building. If we are to have temporary closets made, I would 
 prefer that they should be made outside the building, as is provided for in the original resolution, 
 and that is the reason I shall vote against the amendment. 
 
 Dr. Smith : Mr. Chairman, this is a question which interests us all, and we are desirous of 
 getting all the light we can upon the subject. The gentleman who first spoke referred at some 
 length to arguments of Dr. Herrick. 
 
 Now, I feel like rising to a defense of Dr. Herrick. Dr. Herrick is a Professor of Hygiene, 
 in the Medical Department of the Western Reserve University, and lias been for years. He is a 
 man who is recognized as authority upon sanitary matters, lie has given, in that interview that 
 was published in the Plain Dealer this morning, his candid opinion, and Dr. Herrick is here to- 
 night. I should be very much in favor of asking him to say a few words to the Board, if he will. 
 It might, perhaps, assist us in knowing just what disposition to make of this matter. I move that 
 Dr. Herrick be asked to make a few remarks to us on this subject. 
 
 The Chairman : It is moved and seconded that Dr. Herrick be requested to take the floor 
 and make some remarks on the question. 
 
 Mr. Zucker : Mr. Chairman, I object. My objection is this: Dr. Herrick has already 
 taken sides. Dr. Herrick’s opinion is already well known. Or, are we to understand that Dr. 
 Herrick has changed his opinion since this morning, or will he give us additional reasons why he 
 believes as he does ? That is all he can do. I would suggest that copies of the Plain Dealer be 
 procured and distributed for the purpose of making known his opinion. Why not ask every citizen 
 who has come here from the vicinity of the High School to come upon this floor and give us his 
 opinion as to whether the health and lives of the people in that vicinity are in danger or not ? I do 
 not believe we want these outside opinions. 
 
 Why, Mr. Chairman, the same plan was proceeded with when they first shoved this system 
 onto us. They wanted more time. They deluged us with books and pamphlets in favor of the 
 Smead system. 
 
 Now, Dr. Herrick’s reputation is not going to be hurt by my little say. I object to a physi- 
 cian who has taken one side of a case, who has put himself- in a public print in a lengthy interview 
 in order to help that side, being allowed to come on this floor, as an outside member or a member of 
 the Twenty-first District, to instruct us how to vote. I shall object to hearing from the gentle- 
 man. 
 
 The Chairman : Is there anything further on this question ? All in favor of the motion 
 will signify it by saying aye. 
 
 Mr. Felton : I desire to explain my vote. I wish, in the first place, to say that I am en- 
 tirely displeased with the turn matters are taking here. The gentleman took the floor and assumed 
 an air of candor, proposes to address his neighbors as honest, honorable gentlemen, having convic- 
 tions like themselves 
 
 The Chairman : The gentleman is out of order. 
 
 Mr. Felton : I will endeavor to keep in order. I have no objection to hearing from Dr. 
 Herrick in this connection, except for the reason that I agree with Mr. Zucker that it is not proper 
 to call in outside parties, and although I would like to give Dr. Herrick, or any one else whose 
 
ISAAC D. SMEAD & CO., TOLEDO, OHIO. 
 
 43 
 
 name has been mentioned by this body, an opportunity to be heard, I shall, for the reason given, 
 vote no. 
 
 Motion by Dr. Smith lost. 
 
 The Chairman : The question is now on the motion of Mr. Morris. 
 
 Mr. Parmely : I hope this amendment will not prevail. I was very glad to hear from the 
 member of the Thirteenth the history of the proceedings by which the Smead system was put into 
 the schools. I was very glad that he went into no scientific discussion of the relative merits of the 
 Smead or any other system ; and that he read then and we have heard the remonstrance of the citi- 
 zens in the neighborhood of the Central High School. We have heard and know of very many 
 cases of sickness up there and that there is a very general feeling against it, and that this Smead 
 system has caused much of this sickness. Now, we should respect the rights of citizens ; we should 
 respect the rights of people who live in the vicinity of the Central High School. I do not think we 
 should go into a discussion to-night of the relative merits of different systems. I hope that this 
 amendment will not prevail. I believe that it is the best policy for the Board to take some steps to 
 immediately take the Smead system out of the Central High School. 
 
 Mr. Morris : Perhaps, in further explanation of my amendment, I should add a word or 
 two to what I have said. I may not be fully understood. I am told by those who claim to be ex- 
 pert in the matter that by the method I suggest we obtain the same result that we would to have 
 the closets outside, and it is done at a great deal less expense, a great deal quicker, and the whole 
 thiug can be accomplished in at least two days, and at the same time accomplish what we desire — 
 that is, obviate the evaporation into the atmosphere, by carrying off immediately, without deleteri- 
 ous effects, through the sewer ; this can be done, and then outside closets, as seems best, can be 
 adopted afterwards, and these troughs can answer exactly the same purpose as closets on the 
 outside. 
 
 Dr. O. B. Campbell : Mr. Chairman, it is a well known fact that we have a panic in the 
 neighborhood of the Central High School, and as a practicing physician in the neighborhood I know 
 something of the facts in regard to the sickness. If ice can allay the panic, ve will to some extent 
 allay the sickness. It is a recognized fact that a scare unnerves a community and individuals that 
 are prone to sickness. Now, I favor this amendment for the reason that it will take much less time 
 to put in those troughs, and that action will certainly allay the panic and excitement, and will not 
 stop our schools, and final and conclusive action can be taken later. 
 
 N. B. Wood : I believe we are speaking on the amendment. It has nothing to do with the 
 main question. As I understand the amendment I am entirely opposed to it. I am opposed to 
 putting in any troughs, or anything of the kind, as it will be only a source of greater annoyance 
 than the present system, that is to say, if it be actually a damage. Any trough of that kind will 
 clog up in spite of anyth.ng you can do, unless you have the Cuyahoga river going down it. I shall 
 oppose it entirely. 
 
 James Wood : Mr. Chairman, this system of troughs is called by plumbers the Mott system, 
 and it would not be much better than the system now there. It would take time. It is a trough 
 under the closet which holds water. I suppose that is the intention of Mr. Morris, the water to run 
 in there and into the sewer. The janitor is supposed to pull the plug out of the end of the trough 
 and discharge it every so often, and the oftener the cleaner it is supposed to be kept. I am entirely 
 opposed to that. I believe, if I am right, it has already been taken out of two or three schools in 
 the city. It is a closet that is used in some cases out of doors where there is a building for it. 
 Railroad companies use it at stations ; and when it is used entirely out of doors it is unhealthy, and 
 it would be wrong to put it into any of our schools in the basement. I shall oppose it. 
 
 Mr. Guuzenhauser : I shall oppose the amendment for the same reason. We have that very 
 system in the Walton School and we have taken it out of the Rockwell School for the reason that it 
 is a failure. 
 
44 
 
 ISAAC D. SMEAD & CO., TOLEDO, OHIO. 
 
 Mr. Beman : Mr. Chairman, a single thought or two. It is suggested it will take more 
 time and be more expensive to have temporary closets outside. Now, as I understand the original 
 resolution the proposition is to build merely temporary closets. These will not be built with great 
 expense. They certainly can be built in a very short time. Any mechanic will tell you that they 
 can be built at very slight expense, as they are neither designed to be permanent nor ornamental. I 
 would like to inquire what time it would take? Is the Superintendent of Buildings present ? 
 
 Superintendent of Buildings : They can, no doubt, be built in four days, a temporary 
 closet ; it would be very temporary though. It is a question in my mind — we will have to build 
 them under the laws of the Board of Health. 
 
 Mr. Zuc-ker : If it is necessary we can put on a double force and build them. There is 
 something more than money at stake. I am surprised that a new member should seek to dally with 
 a matter of this kind; it is monstrous. It wants to be torn up — rooted out; and if the Smead 
 people knew what was best for themselves they would voluntarily tear out these closets. I am sur- 
 prised that any member should come to their rescue. As has been said by the member from the 
 Third, this very system they now seek to have temporarily adopted has already been condemned by 
 us in other buildings. We want the Smead system out of the school, and whatever you do after 
 that take time to consider the matter of the system to be adopted. You are not going to allay the 
 panic by the plan that is proposed by this amendment. We have already rooted out such a system 
 from another school, finding it very bad. Even if you have to shut up the school for four days it is 
 better than having any sickness ; and the plan that meets the wishes of the patrons of the schools, 
 the teachers, superintendent and all the neighborhood ought to be adopted, and that ought to be argu- 
 ment enough. 
 
 Mr. Morris ; Mr. Chairman, I want the gentleman from the Thirteenth to understand that 
 the in ir members of this Board have a right to their opinions, and my opinion is, that I can save, by 
 my plan, two days time over his, and if we adopt the system proposed by the amendment we can 
 allay this panic* two days quicker than by his plan. If we adopt this plan I will guarantee that 
 there shall not be one single bit of odor connected with the closets as long as the air is drawn up 
 through those stacks, and if it is run off into the sewer there could not be anything deleterious pass 
 into the atmosphere to annoy or injure the people in the neighborhood, and it will save time over 
 the other plan of outside closets. 
 
 The Chairman : Are there any other remarks ? 
 
 Mr. Wilbur: It seems very strange that at the Central High School we have these com- 
 plaints. There are five or six other schools in the city where we have the Smead system and we 
 hear no complaints from them. On the contrary we hear from people living in the vicinity of these 
 schools that it is one of the best systems that was ever put into any school house. I want to say 
 that before this system was adopted at all by the city board that it was put into the West Cleveland 
 School, on Cherry street. That school is not far from where I live. A member of the West 
 Cleveland Board, who is a steam titter, and who goes around to different cities to put in steam ap- 
 paratus in big hotels and school houses, recommended that system. He took me out there and 
 showed it to me when they were putting it in. I followed it up pretty thoroughly at that time. I 
 believed that it was the best system ever introduced, and I have had no occasion since then to 
 change my mind. I think those people who live out in the vicinity of the Central High School are 
 mistaken ; that they have not investigated enough. I believe the matter ought to be put into the 
 hands of competent doctors and chemists to investigate and report back to this board. I think we 
 can make mistakes by throwing out that system without taking necessary precautions before we 
 do it. 
 
 Mr. Felton : Mr. Chairman, I did not intend to say anything on this amendment. I am not 
 in favor of it for the simple reason that I do not quite agree with the mover of the amendment, that 
 it will allay the excitement in that region. I am fully convinced that the people in that vicinity are 
 
ISAAC D. SMEAD & CO., TOLEDO, OHIO. 
 
 45 
 
 so thoroughly aroused, and so earnest in their belief — and T have not a shadow of doubt as to their 
 sincerity — that I believe that nothing will satisfy them but the removal of those closets ultimately. 
 I should be opposed to any temporizing with the present closet. At the proper time I wish to say 
 something on the main question. I may say at this time, however, somewhat in the line of thought 
 of the gentleman just upon the door, while I am not an advocate of this system, and do not care a 
 continental whether it goes up or goes down, I am happy to be able to say, and I presume the gen- 
 tleman who is the inventor of the patent is equally happy to say he does not know me, I never 
 happened to meet him ; I never received an introduction, as I know of, to himself or any of his 
 agents. I claim nothing for my integrity. I do hope I have been laboring with this subject from 
 beginning to end with an honest purpose ; and I believe this is true of every member of the old 
 board ; and I now believe that every member of the new board, and I agree with my friend recently 
 upon the floor that the new members of this board are about the size of the old men, about as com- 
 petent to speak and defend themselves and their cause. 
 
 I did take some pains, though in the first place incidentally, to learn in reference to this 
 W est Cleveland High School, to which Mr. Wilbur refers, fully two years before I was called upon — 
 without any expectation of ever being called upon — to act on this board on that question. I asked 
 a friend of mine, instrumental in procuring the Smead system for that building, how he liked it. I 
 knew nothing of it. He spoke in high praise of it. He said it worked admirably. He invited me 
 to come out and see it. I never did. 
 
 On the strength of that testimony, given at that time, under such circumstances, when ulti- 
 mately we came to vote here — I will say with all deference to the gentlemen who were upon the 
 floor upon both sides I was not influenced one iota — I voted upon the strengh of the information I 
 obtained under such circumstances as could leave with me no doubt of its sincerity. I am aware of 
 the fact — we are all aware of the fact — that there is a panic in the region of this High School ; for 
 a cause or causeless is not so much a question for us now to decide. I am satisfied that we cannot 
 allay that panic or excitement there except by removing the cause. These gentlemen who have ex- 
 pressed themselves are sincere. I know they mean what they say. They sincerely feel and believe 
 their families and themselves have been poisoned, and they are being poisoned, by reason of those 
 surroundings — of the environment of the gases from that High School building. 
 
 I do not understand from the resolution or from the amendment that there is any attack on 
 the one hand or that there is necessity of any defense on the other — any attack of the Smead sys- 
 tem as such, or any defense of it. I do not stand here to either defend or assail. A little later I 
 may have something to say on the main question. I think the system ought to be removed for the 
 time being, because the people in that vicinity desire it, right or icrong in their convictions. I feel 
 that we must allay that panic. 
 
 Mr. Stewart : Mr. Chairman, I was not aware that the plan proposed by the substitute had 
 ever been experimented upon in any other building : but if it has been tried elsewhere and failed, 
 there is no use of our experimenting any further with it. I think we are fully satisfied, from all 
 the information we can gather from the papers and from citizens, that there is an extended disquiet 
 in the neighborhood of that High School, not only among the citizens, but among the pupils. We 
 are expected to do something for the people who are apprehensive for their lives, citizens and pupils, 
 and I see nothing in this amendment that would restore quiet, or help to restore the people to their 
 usual routine of life, and I think it ought not to be adopted, but that the original resolution is the 
 proper one for us to adopt to-night. 
 
 Mr. Wilbur : I am informed that Mr. Smead is in the room, and as he is directly interested 
 I think it would be no more than fair justice and right that he be heard. I will therefore move that 
 he be permitted to take the floor five or ten minutes to address the board. 
 
 Mr. Z ucker : Mr. Chairman, I object. We are not now seeking to introduce a system of 
 closets or of heating in a new school building. We all know about the Smead system. As the 
 
46 
 
 ISAAC I). SMEAD & CO., TOLEDO, OHIO. 
 
 member from the Fifteenth ha* said, we are all acquainted with it, and most believe that , for cer- 
 tain buildings , it is a good thing. We have had all the explanation on the High School subject 
 that we need. I thought that I had treated the inventor of this system perfectly fair in reading his 
 long communication. We have got his ideas. The history explains itself. We know what has 
 happened out there even better than he. He is not a citizen. What is he going to tell us. On the 
 same principle and for the same reason that I object to hearing from a physician I object to hearing 
 from the inventor. We are men. We have understanding enough and know enough of what has 
 happened to judge of these things ourselves, without calling in outside opinions. 
 
 Mr. Wilbur: Mr. Chairman, my object in making that motion is this : To take out those 
 closets and throw them outside is to injure Mr. Sinead’s business ; practically condemns that system 
 in this city. That will be carried to other cities and hurt the business, whether it is right or wrong 
 it matters not. As I said before, it is nothing more than just that lie be given a chance to stand up 
 before this board and explain that system, so that we will understand it. He can explain it better, 
 perhaps, than anybody else. I hope the motion will prevail. 
 
 Mr. Morris : Mr. Chairman, in view of the fact that we are not dealing with the adoption of 
 any system, it seems to me entirely out of place to bring into this board any one to defend it or 
 speak against it. I certainly hope this motion will not prevail. 
 
 Dr. Smith : It seems to me it cannot do any harm to hear from Mr. Smead. We are the 
 party of the one part and Mr. Smead is the party of the other part in this matter. We are both 
 interested, lie is as much interested as we are. I do not see that it is going to hurt us if we get a 
 little more light on the subject. 1 am sure 1 do not feel like cutting off one side entirely, and not 
 allow anybody to say anything except upon the side that I believe. 1 am sure I, for one, would be 
 very glad to hear what Mr. Sinead has to say. 
 
 Mr. O. B. Campbell : Mr. Chairman, I should like to hear Mr. Smead talk to us. lie would 
 be able to give us some ideas and suggestions. I do not think it is fair to shut him out and not 
 allow him to say a word. I voted against Dr. Herrick speaking here because he had already given 
 us his idea — what he thought. I don’t think it is right to shut out Mr. Smead. 
 
 The motion to permit Mr. Smead to address the board was lost. The motion of Mr. Morris 
 was also lost. 
 
 The Chairman : The question is now on the adoption of the original resolutions of Mr. 
 Zueker. 
 
 Dr. Smith : Mr. Chairman, I desire to say a few words on this question, inasmuch as the 
 history that has been read by the gentleman from the Thirteenth seems to have pointed very em- 
 phatically, in several instances, to me as having been instrumental, or one of the instruments, in 
 introducing this system here. By way of preface I would like to g<> a little further back than the 
 gentleman did and give some of the reasons why I was in favor of introducing this system, which I 
 think may be interesting to some members of the board. 
 
 I have now been a member of the board some thirteen or fourteen years, and there has always 
 been one question which has given us a great deal of trouble, and that is the question of 
 sewerage connections with our schools, our closets and our urinals ; our closets and our urinals have 
 given us the greatest amount of trouble. We have had complaints from school building after school 
 building because they were not in satisfactory condition. We have continuously used disinfectants, 
 changed traps and changed various things in the hope of relieving it. When my attention was first 
 called to this system it struck me as being different from anything we had before and it might be 
 possibly a solution at least in part, or altogether, of the difficulty under which we had labored for 
 so many years. Therefore I felt the more interested in it. I took pains to investigate it in other 
 cities. I visited it at Canton, and took pains not only myself to visit it, but I invited the medical 
 society which was present at Canton at the time — the Northern and Central Ohio Medical Associa- 
 tion — to go down to one of the High Schools there and other schools in the city and examine into 
 
ISAAC I). SMEAD & CO., TOLEDO, OHIO. 
 
 47 
 
 this system. We went clown and looked at this system of dry closets and this system of heating 
 and ventilating. The system of dry closets is the only one under discussion to-night. It was the 
 unanimous opinion of the physicians that went down there that the system was an improvement 
 upon anything which we had had. Not only that, Imt I examined it in other cities — in Oberlin, in 
 Toledo — and became thoroughly convinced in my own mind that it was a good thing. I was not 
 satisfied then, and I asked Mr. Sinead if he would be kind enough to give me a list of all the cities 
 in Ohio in which the system was in use, and he gave me a list. 1 then looked over my medical 
 directory of the United States to see if I knew a physician in the cities in which this system was in 
 use in which I had confidence, and I made a list of the physicians in the cities in which this system 
 was in use, and I then directed to them a personal letter, asking them their opinion of the system. 
 With one single exception, and that in Akron, where the system had been introduced in an old 
 building, and where they said it did not seem to work — with that single exception, I got no unfavor- 
 able answer. 
 
 It is well known that a gentleman who was connuected with the board at the time, who is not 
 now a member of the board, who was on the opposite side of the question, wrote to various parties 
 expecting to get facts upon the other ride — upon hi s side — and the letters were so wumitnously on the 
 side opposite to that which he was on that he never even presented the letters here to the hoard,. 
 
 Now, I wrote to such men as Dr. Weaver, of Dayton ; Dr. Baldwin, of Columbus; Dr. 
 Seltgman, of Defiance; Dr. Phillips, of Canton; Dr. Hubbard, of Ashtabula; Dr. Garver, of 
 Sandusky— I cannot recall all of them. Now, all of the gentlemen to whom I wrote — Dr. Miller, of 
 Massillon ; Dr. , member of the Board of Health at Bellefontaine, and so on from the Presi- 
 
 dent of the Ohio State Board of Health, Dr. T. Clark Miller, who says, “ I tell you, Doctor, that 
 this system is a new sun in sanitary science.” From the evidence which I had I could not help be- 
 lieving this system was all right, and the system was introduced here, and I believe, except as far as 
 the Central High School is concerned, not a single member is in doubt as to its efficiency and as to 
 its value. 
 
 Now, as to some of the arguments which have been used and reasons adduced that this system 
 should come out of the Central High School. The principal one seems to be that there is a panic in 
 the Central High School. I will admit that, but l tell you, gentlemen, that this panic is not alto- 
 gether a. true panic if is a panic which has been influenced very largely by some things which, are 
 not altogether true. It is well known to members of this board that the death of one gentleman has 
 been attributed to this system. He died after having made a four weeks’ trip to Lake Superior, 
 coming home in the middle of the vacation, befort the Smead system nuts introduced into the High 
 School. He came home and he came down town in the forenoon. I met him in the morning about 
 9 o’clock. He appeared to be perfectly well. I refer to Mr. Foote. He appeared to be perfectly 
 well in the morning; he went home and ate a very hearty dinner, and before evening he was dead. 
 Now, it has been attempted to attribute that death to this system. That was during the vacation, 
 after a four weeks trip to Lake Superior, and before the system was introduced into the High School. 
 That is one argument that has been used. 
 
 Another thing that has been said is that on last Tuesday morning, Dr. Thayer had taken his 
 son out of the High School on account of the dangerous effects of the Smead system and would not 
 allow him to go to school longer at the High School, when the fact was that on Monday, the day 
 before this article appeared in the paper. Dr. Thayer's son was in the High Scdiool, and on Wednes- 
 day, the day after, he was in the High School and has been there every day since, so far as I know, 
 unless he has not been there to-day. Now, upon such evidence as this, if this be the method of 
 argument in regard to this system, how could it be that there would not be a panic created ? Now 
 that was not fair. I will leave it to any gentleman to sa_\ that it was fair to say that Dr. Thayer’s 
 son was absent on account of the danger from this system, when the fact is, that the day before 
 Tuesday he was in school, and Tuesday was a vacation day, a national holiday — of course he was 
 
48 
 
 ISAAC D. SMEAD & CO., TOLEDO, OHIO. 
 
 away that day — but the next day he was in school, and has been there ever since, and was not taken 
 out on that account. Now, I have this directly from his brother ; he would know ; so that I know 
 whereof I speak. 
 
 I will admit that there has been a panic worked up at the Central High School, and there are 
 a great many honest people who believe that this is a very dangerous system. Now, I cannot agree 
 with them, because, from my standpoint, I do not see where the danger lies. Now, if it is danger- 
 ous, then every dwelling house in the city is a dangerous thing to the neighbors, because the Cleve- 
 land Board of Health require that, connected with every water closet, there shall be a communica- 
 tion opening into the open air from above the building. Now, then, every man who puts a water 
 closet into his house and makes use of this pipe to carry otf the odors, etc., from the closet to the 
 top of the house, according to this principle, is infecting his neighbors. 
 
 Now, this question of the germ theory is a pretty hard one to answer ; it is a pretty hard one 
 to discuss, because there is so much in it people do not understand. Why is it that ten men who 
 come in contact with the discharges from typhoid fever are not affected at all by it, whereas one is? 
 Now, it is not certainly because they do not all breathe the same germs ; but for some reason they 
 do not come in contact with the right kind of soil which causes them to develope. 
 
 Now, here, in this closet system, we have this fcecal matter deposited at the bottom of the vault. 
 In the course of a few hours it becomes dried over and fermentation ceases. This matter in the 
 course of a very short time is entirely dry. Now, I will admit there may be odors ; there must be 
 odors in the air passing over this, going out in the stack. Nobody will deny it ; but that these 
 odors will be deleterious would be a very difficult matter to prove. Whether they are or are not would 
 require the most careful examination by scientific men with the microscope to determine it. Now, 
 there are scientific men who believe that a germ will only live six hours if it is dried ; that, after six 
 hours, if the germ is dried, that it will not take root in the system, and will not produce disease. 
 Others believe that the typhoid fever germ, after a certain time, will not take root, and that it must 
 require moisture in order to effectuate and produce its poisonous effect. Now, why it is that in some 
 instances the germ takes effect and in some does not, is beyond our comprehension. We do not 
 understand that, and probably never will. If we were as susceptible to germs as some people think 
 we are, we would all have been dead years and years ago. 
 
 By taking out the Smead system I feel as if we were taking out the very best thing which we 
 have got in the city foi something else. Now, I do not know but that is the best thing to do ; 
 I do not know but these gentlemen are so earnest in the matter — and I believe they are honest, be- 
 cause many of them are personal friends of mine, not but I have great confidence, as far as their 
 belief and honesty is concerned. I know that these gentlemen are not trying to manufacture this 
 feeling themselves, but they have come to believe that this is a very deleterious system, a very in- 
 jurious system and do a great deal of harm ; but I think they are mistaken, and I think if they 
 study the matter carefully for day in and day out, as these members of the board have, who have 
 been cognizant of this system from the time of its introduction here, they will sooner or later 
 agree with us. 
 
 We know also that two years ago, in Detroit, there was a greater hurrah in regard to the 
 Smead system than there has been in Cleveland. Mr. Smead was pictured as a thousand-headed — 
 devil — if I have the right word, with a thousand arms reaching out and taking the school children 
 and crushing them to death by his poisonous gases. What has been the result of that thing? It has 
 been lived down, and not only lived down, but every school building that has been built in that city 
 since has had the Smead system introduced into it ; a medical college and hospital have adopted it. 
 Now, if it was as bad as it was pictured to be two years ago in Detroit, what would have been the 
 result? Last week even there were new ones put in. How was it in Columbus, in Washington ? 
 One was put in, then another and another. So it has been in Cleveland, I believe generally, ex- 
 cept so far as the Central High School is concerned. Those people who live around the Central 
 
ISAAC D. SMEAD & CO., TOLEDO, OHIO. 
 
 49 
 
 High School are so opposed to it that perhaps we cannot convince them that it is best for them, hut 
 I think the time will come when they will see their mistake. I think if we introduce the water system 
 they will be much more annoyed than they are at present. 
 
 And besides, in Cleveland, it is a question where all the odors come from. I have wondered 
 myself where thev come from. We have the fertilizing works, coal oil works, spent acid works, 
 crucible steel works, all producing disagreeable odors. We cannot lay all these odors to this. I 
 have talked with the teachers of the High School and they have told me that they have smelled this 
 old spent acid smell in the school for the last ten or fifteen years ; it was not the closets at all. I 
 have two nieces going to the Central High School ; they have only been in it since the first of Feb- 
 ruary, and they both tell me that they have not once smelled, either in the basement or any other 
 of the rooms, any smell which they could attribute to the closets. Now, there have been smells 
 there ; we will admit that, but I think these gentlemen are mistaken in charging them to the closets ; 
 and I believe that the time will come when they will see their mistake, and when they will he ylad 
 to welcome hark the Smead system in the High School. I believe if we put it out we put out the eery 
 best system which we have in the city. 
 
 I have prepared a resolution which I will introduce and, with the consent of the chair I will 
 read it : That further action on this subject be postponed until next Monday evening ; and that 
 this board select a committee of seven physicians who shall be asked to examine the Smead closets 
 in the High School and report to this board at an adjourned meeting of this board, to lie held next 
 Monday evening, their findings in regard to the Smead closets, as to its working, influence upon 
 the health of both pupils and citizens and any other questions which may seem to them important. 
 
 Now, it seems to me if we postpone the consideration of this matter until next Monday 
 night, and then appoint a committee, it will be the best thing to do. 
 
 The Chairman : That will have to be introduced as a substitute. 
 
 Mr. Smith : I move this as a substitute for all that has gone before. 
 
 Mr. Zucker : Mr. Chairman, I rise to a point of order. It is not a substitute ; it does not 
 amend, and it groups two distinct matters together, and one is new matter. 
 
 The Chairman : The Chair rules that the motion is strictly in order and entertains the 
 motion. 
 
 Mr. Zucker : I do not wish to take issue with the Chairman on a parliamentary question 
 and for that reason I do not appeal, but I think if he will consider it carefully he will see that my 
 point is correct. I am opposed to postponement ; I am opposed to it for the reason I stated before. 
 It is dallying with the measure. I insist that we take action to-night. We need no postponement. 
 I do not care for the opinion of seven interested physicians. I haven’t the least doubt if the gen- 
 tlemen can get seven physicians to agree on the one side I can get seven to agree on the other. 
 Physicians disagree. That is proverbial. That is not going to help us. We want to recognize 
 this: “It is not a theory, but a condition that confronts us.” Shall these children go on dying, 
 this sickness go on increasing, this panic go on increasing, until the schools are closed and you de- 
 moralize your entire system. Let us give our decision to-night without postponement. 
 
 Mr. Melickar : Mr. Chairman, I move the previous question. 
 
 The motion was seconded and lost. 
 
 Dr. Smith : Mr. Chairman, it has been customary for this board for years past, wherever 
 there were whereases that reflected upon particular individuals connected with the resolution, to 
 strike them out ; and I move those whereases be stricken out. I do not believe any member of this 
 board wishes to do Mr. Smead an unkindness in the removal of these closets. I am sure while 
 members of the board are in favor of taking them out of the Central High School, they are not in 
 favor of taking them out anywhere else. I move the whereases be stricken out. 
 
 The motion was adopted. 
 
50 
 
 ISAAC I). SMEAD & CO., TOLEDO, OHIO. 
 
 Mr. Morris : I move the words “ other than said Smead system ” be stricken out of Mr. 
 Zucker’s resolution. 
 
 The motion was seconded. 
 
 The Chairman: You have heard the motion, that the words “other than said Smead sys- 
 tem ” be stricken out. Are there any remarks ? 
 
 Mr. Zucker : I trust none of the members, Mr. Chairman, will allow himself to be caught 
 in this trap. This is the whole light over again. If we are going to denounce the Smead system 
 let us say so. The resolution says the committee shall recommend some other system. It simply 
 says we don’t want that system. Those members who voted to strike out the whereases can now 
 see the animus of that motion. If this motion is carried, then Mr. Smead can work with this com- 
 mittee to get them to bring in a favorable report. If you adopt the resolution as introduced, the 
 committee will have no authority to consider the Smead system. 
 
 The motion by Mr. Morris was lost, and the original resolutions by Mr. Zucker were 
 adopted. 
 
 Motion by Mr. Zucker to reconsider vote adopting his resolutions lost. 
 
 THE DRY CLOSETS IX T1IE CENTRAL 111 Oil SCHOOL BUILDING. 
 
 There has been great excitement in the neighborhood of the Central High School building, 
 created by sens* ft iomil art hie# published in one of the leading daily papers of thin city. 
 
 This building was erected in l«7(i. Architecturally it is quite satisfactory. The recitation 
 rooms are large and well lighted, but the ventilation of the building has always been unsat- 
 isfactory. For a number of years complaints were made of the plumbing, and foul odors were 
 constantly finding their way into the recitation rooms from the water closets in the basement. 
 
 In lssT the health officer. Dr. Ashmun, sent a communication to the Hoard of Education, 
 stating that the Central High School building was in an unsanitary condition, and that the water 
 ' losets must be removed from the building and some other system introduced. Tlie Board of Edu- 
 cation finally decided to introduce the “Smead” system of dry closets, which were put in the 
 building in 1KKK. Soon afterwards school opened and it was found the odors were more noxious 
 than ever. Mr. Smead was given a few days to remedy the matter or the closets were to be taken 
 out. It was found that the old ventilating stacks, which were already in the building and were 
 made use of, were not high enough, and that when the wind blew in certain directions it curled 
 down over the roof, thus creating a reverse current into the building. This was soon remedied by 
 raising the stacks twenty feet higher. Since th is time no complaints have come from the school 
 room of hud odor s, although there has been the usual amount of headache due to imperf ect ventila- 
 tion. 
 
 But the troubles of .Mr. Smead arose this time, not from within, but from without. In order 
 to make this clear, it will be necessary to go back to the first introduction of the dry closets into 
 the building. At that time a clipping from some obscure so-called health journal, published by a 
 Seven-day Adventists’ Association up in the wilds of Michigan, calling attention to the dangers of 
 the “Smead” system of disseminating diseased germs from the top of the stacks, together with a 
 petition objecting to the introduction of the dry closets, was industriously circulated in the neigh- 
 borhood of the High School building and signed by many residents of that locality. But the 
 Board of Education, which contains several physicians, after carefully investigating the matter, 
 came to the conclusion that this danger was purely imaginary, and proceeded to put in the closets. 
 The present trouble is a continuation of the old fight. When no further objections could be made 
 to the sanitary condition of the closets, attacks were made upon the system as causing sickness in 
 the community, due to the noxious gases escaping from the ventilating shaft. Reporters were in- 
 
ISAAC I). SMEAD & CO., TOLEDO, OHIO. 
 
 51 
 
 dustriously sent from house to house, and every case of sickness, from attacks of measles to 
 whooping cough, was attributed to the “ Smead ” system. Professor Foote, who died before the 
 system was introduced, was enumerated among the victims ; and the recent death of the principal, 
 Professor Campbell, who died of apoplexy, has proven an unanswerable argument in newspaper 
 circles as to the dangers of the system. Indignation meetings were held and petitions presented to 
 the Board of Education until they were finally, in deference to public opinion, compelled to order 
 the closets out, and temporary ones were erected outside of the building. 
 
 The average attendance of pupils at the High School has been slightly higher since the in- 
 troduction of the dry closets than during the previous four years. The death rate, as revealed by 
 statistics in the health office, is considerably less in the neighborhood of the High School than the 
 average for the entire city, The Smead system is in full operation in many other school buildings 
 in parts of the city much more densely populated than in the neighborhood of this building ; and 
 no complaints have been made from the residents about the dissemination of noxious odors from 
 the ventilating stacks. 
 
 Since the temporary closets have been erected, and foul odors are smelt in reality, the health 
 office has been besieged by the same residents of this locality, and the health officer requested to 
 call a meeting of the representative physicians of the city to investigate the matter. At the second 
 meeting of the physicians, the following resolution was adopted, by a vote of thirteen in favor and 
 three against the resolution : 
 
 “That the Smead dry closet system, as used in the Central High School of this city, is the 
 best method known to us ; 
 
 That a return to the water-carriage system would be to increase, rather than lessen, the dan- 
 gers of disease-breeding in the building and neighborhood ; 
 
 The improved ventilation of the Central High School building is imperatively demanded and 
 would, in our opinion, remove most if not all the cause for complaint.” 
 
 From a scientific standpoint, the following objections have been urged against the system : 
 First, The possibility of back draughts. Second, The possibility of disseminating diseased germs 
 from the top of the stack. Third, The improper ventilation of the building during the summer 
 months, when the furnace is not in operation, and the doors and windows open. If any of these 
 objections are proven to be valid by scientific experiments and investigations, the system could very 
 easily be modified to meet all requirements. The following suggestions are offered as modifications 
 which might be made, and thus forestall all criticisms : 
 
 First, as to back draughts, which under ordinary conditions are impossible, they could be 
 remedied very easily by a system of automatic valves, thus making such currents impossible. 
 Second, as to the possibility of the dissemination of diseased germs from the top of the stack, our 
 present knowledge of the subject of bacteriology would lead us to believe improbable, y et this 
 could be remedied by causing the air to pass through actual fire instead of over it as now, thus 
 effectually destroying all germs. Third, as demonstrated at the meeting of the physicians in the 
 Waring School building, it seems that during the summer months, when the doors and windows 
 are open, there may be a reverse current of air from one room to another, and it seemed to be the im- 
 pression of many of those present that it would be an improvement in the ventilating system to 
 have each room connected separately with the foul air gathering room . — From Cleveland Medical 
 Gazette.