the draft. The cold air in this house is taken directly to the chamber of the furnace from the outside, instead of from a room in the basement; and in each of these flues there is an automatic damper, a patented device, it is understood, by which too great pressure of air into the furnace is avoided when the wind blows. If the air is forced in too rapidly the flue is partly closed, or wholly closed for the moment, in case of a sudden gust.

The sanitary appliances in this house differ from those at Quinsigamond in this respect; that instead of a fire for burning the contents of the vault, there is a flow of water into the vault, regulated by a ball-cock; and at intervals the contents are discharged into the sewer. The urinals have a trough made of a slab of varying width; and they are ventilated at the bottom. They have no partitions to separate the sections, and they are inferior to those last described. The ventilation of the vaults is through an underground channel into the smoke-flue, like the Quinsigamond house. There appears to be no provision for rotating the air from the rooms through the furnace, to be heated at night, as in the last-named school. A damper in the ventilating shaft, to be closed at night, prevents the motion of the air.

The halls and corridors are hea ed by the surplus warm air direct from the furnaces, conducted in galvanized iron pipes of large size. The cost of repairs upon this house of twelve rooms, as per auditor's report, has been $8,375.72.

The Ash Street house has been heated by indirect steam with a Sturtevant blower, run by a 10-horse power engine, to force the air through the radiating coil. The air passes into the several rooms through vertical brick flues extending from the basement upward between the schoolrooms; and the openings into the rooms are at a height of 6 or 8 feet from the floor, as in the two last named houses. The connection from the radiating chamber to these flues is made by galvanized iron conduits; and these conduits have two flues each, one for cold air and one for warm, with a damper controlled by the janitor* in the basement, to regulate the proportion of warm and cold air to be discharged into the room for regulating the temperature. Ventilating flues of brick, built in connection with the hot air flues, opening into the room near the floor, and extending upward and out at the roof, provide means for the exit of air; these flues chiefly depend for their draft upon the pressure of air from the fan, or blower, into the room. Sheet-iron pipes deliver the fresh warm air into each of the dressing rooms. The air is taken from the outside into the blower through a screened window, about three feet wide by five or six feet high. New water-closets have been erected in a separate building in the yard, connected with the schoolhouse, on the girl s' side, by a covered and inclosed walk. The building is provided with common earthen-ware hopper closets, flushed from a single tank, all at once, by the janitor in the basement. The urinals are of slate, with slate partitions dividing the sections, and flushed at intervals by the janitor by means of a perforated pipe extending along near the top. This building is warmed by steam coils connected with the boiler. So far as appears, the ventilation is through the windows, the doors, and the monitor-top. The cost of repairing this six-room house has been $4,628.20.

At Belmont street. This large house of 18 rooms was formerly heated by direct steam. In the old part, of 12 rooms, there were no means of ventilation except the doors and windows; and in the addition of 6 rooms the ventilating flues, though 2 from each room were built for exhausting the vitiated air near the floor, were inadequate for that rapid movement of air which is required by late sanitary science. In the heating of this house the direct piping was allowed to remain for use in extreme weather, if it should be found necessary. An additional boiler was set up, and indirect radiating coils were located in brick chambers at convenient points, from which vertical brick flues of large section extend to the several rooms. The fresh air is supplied to these chambers as it is supplied to the furnaces in the Lamartine Street house; and there is the same contrivance for regulating the temperature, by *It is always preferable for the damper to be controlled by the teacher in the school

room.

letting on more or less of the cold air without obstructing the ventilation. This is done by the teacher in each room. Ventilation is secured by means of a circular fan, 7 feet in diameter, placed to revolve horizontally at the foot of a brick shaft. Each room is connected with this shaft through the floor, or near the floor, by means of brick flues or galvanized iron pipes extending to the basement, and communicating with the shaft through a spacious brick passage in the basement. The fan is run by a separate boiler and a 6-horse power engine.

The water closets are located in a separate building in the yard adjoining the schoolhouse and connected with both the basement and the yard. The closets are built above long vaults filled with water, as in the Lamartine Street house. These vaults were at first connected with the ventilating shaft; and so long as the fan was in motion they were well ventilated; but when the fan stopped at the close of school there was nothing to prevent the foul odors from the closets from passing into the schoolrooms. They are now ventilated through another flue heated by a separate stove. The urinals are similar to those at Lamartine street, described above. These closets are heated by direct steam. The cost of these repairs has been $12,257.36.

REMARKS UPON THE VARIOUS METHODS OF HEATING AND VENTILATING.

Though these four houses have been in use one winter, it is too early to judge of their relative merits. With the exception of a slight break in the engine at Ash street, which interrupted the school a day or two, and the ventilation of the closets at Belmont street, which has now been made right, they have all worked well. In each case the tests repeatedly applied have shown an air supply equal to 20 or 30 cubic feet of air per minute per child, which is ample; and in all cases the air in the schoolrooms is quite pure and free from all disagreeable odors.

In order to apply tests to all the newly ventilated schoolhouses under all conditions and for a series of months, the committee on schoolhouses have purchased four or five anemometers or air-meters and placed them in the hands of the principals of the schools, with directions for their uniform use, and for similar records of the results. It will be observed that the principles applied in the heating and ventilation, and to some extent in the sanitary appliances, at the Quinsigamond and the Lamartine Street houses are identical. In the practical application there are variations. Both these houses are built, in these respects, substantially upon the methods introduced the year before at Dix street, and before that at Ledge street and at Adams square. This plan is known as the Smead system. Its working has been entirely satisfactory in all the houses where it is in use; and so far, none of the methods outlined above have shown any superiority to it. Whether either of them will prove superior can be determined only by experience, and by comparison of the cost of fuel. Whether the furnaces at Quinsigamond which are smaller, or the larger ones at Lamartine street, which have never been used anywhere else, will prove more effective than the Smead furnace, in raising a large volume of air to a moderate temperature; and which of the three will prove the most economical of fuel and the easiest to manage, can be known only by trial, with equally careful and efficient janitors. Whichever proves to be the best should be introduced into the new houses to be built hereafter.

The costly experiments with four methods of heating and ventilating schoolhouses, have placed the city in a position to know what is best; and they have attracted the attention of committees from all parts of the country. It is not likely that five or six different plans, none of them without merit, can be seen in any other one place. There has been a difference of opinion as to whether a sufficiently rapid change of air in a schoolroom, to supply thirty cubic feet of air per minute to each of forty or fifty pupils, can be secured without some mechanical means. This has been done without machinery at Dix street, Adams square and Ledge street, and the past year at Quinsigamond and at Lamartine street. For very large buildings of irregular construction, and where the basements cannot be used for furnaces with direct vertical flues, indirect steam heat is undoubtedly the best; and a fan is very useful to move

the air. But for ordinary schoolhouses, if the radiating surface is large so as never to be overheated, the warm air furnace is more prompt, more direct, and more economical of fuel. Unlike a business block, a schoolhouse is in use only five or six hours a day. During this time the air within should be changed about once in fifteen minutes, and the temperature should be kept steadily at 68° or 70°. For the rest of the twenty-four hours the temperature may be much lower. Under these conditions the heat can be generated quicker and fuel and heat more easily saved when not needed, in a furnace than with a steam boiler. And ventilation can be secured by a heated flue as well as by a fan. The heated flue has this advantage that it will draw when the janitor is not present; while the fan has to stop if the engineer is away, or at the close of school; and there are no conditions under which a flue will not draw if heated. The fan is not always positive in its operation. If all the rooms are closed in a calm day, and if the ducts are of equal length and capacity, and the registers of the same size, a fan will deliver an equal quanity of air to each of several rooms in a given time; but if one of the rooms is opened, or if it is located on the leeward side of the house in a gale, or if its register is larger, then this room will receive from the fan a greater quantity of air than the other rooms. The same is true of an exhaust fan. The fan then depends upon favorable or uniform conditions for uniformity of action, just as much as the heated flue does. It is more expensive, more liable to disorder, requires more care and skill, and does not work alone. It should not be used when the simpler means will do the work as well.

The Salisbury Street house was completed and occupied for the first time in September, 1890. It contains ten rooms, all spacious and well lighted. The ceilings are of iron. The corridors are broad-almost too roomy; and the house has an elaborate system of heating by steam and ventilation by means of a fan driven by steam power. In this house the system of exhaust ventilation has been introduced. From each room a flue extends to the exhaust-room from which the fan forces the air, thus withdrawing it from the room. With this system there is a practical difficulty: If a door is left open, or if there are cracks around the windows or elsewhere, the cold outer air is urged into the schoolroom. More air is withdrawn by the fan than enters through the heating-stacks. It has now been practically shown that it is much better to force the warm air into the room if a fan is used, as seems advisable in large houses heated by steam. In this case the surplus air which does not find an exit through the ventilating flues, passes outward through the doors when open, and through the crevices around the windows. The quantity of air received into the room through the heating apparatus would be in excess of that which passes outward through the ventilators, this excess finding an exit elsewhere.

DIRECTIONS FOR JANITORS OF SCHOOL-HOUSES, Worcester, Mass.

(1) To sweep the entries, stairways, and schoolrooms, and brush out the chalk trays twice each week; and to sweep the entries and stairways daily, when necessary. (2) To dust the furniture as often as the rooms are swept, and the windows, blinds, walls, and ceilings as frequently as may be necessary to keep them in good order. (3) To wash the floors, doors, stairs, balusters, seats, desks, and other wood-finish, and to clean carpets during the summer vacations; to wash the windows twice each year—once in the month of April and once the last week in August.

(4) To build fires whenever they are needed, and in season to have the room suitably warmed at the time for opening the schools. Where the buildings are heated by steam the janitor is not to leave the building during the school session without notification and consent of the principal of the school; to give attention to the fire during the day, and to visit the schoolrooms as often as necessary to see that they are properly warmed and not overheated (68 to 70 degrees being the proper temperature) these visits to be at least once in each school session, and at such hours as may be agreed upon, unless excused by the principal of the school.

(5.) In buildings heated by furnaces and provided with a system of ventilation, janitors are to remain in or about the building, and are not to leave during the

*See Figs. 61, 62.

school session (as per paragraph 4); and under ordinary circumstances the cold-air boxes must be kept wide open for the admission of outside air; in case of very high winds it may be necessary to partly close the slides, but this is to be regarded as exceptional, and must not be practiced habitually.

(6.) When the buildings have no special ventilating apparatus the furnaces are not to be left while the drafts are open; and in buildings of more than four rooms, the janitors are to remain during the school sessions.

(7.) They are to see that the receptacles for water are kept full.

(8.) Where stoves are used, fuel sufficient for the day must be carried to the several rooms. Where steam-heating apparatus is used it shall be kept clean and in good order. Boilers shall all be blown off as often as necessary, and the tubes cleaned once each week. The safety valves should be tried every day, and all other valves kept properly packed. Ashes shall be drawn from under the boilers each day. Janitors of buildings heated by steam will be held responsible for the safety of the pipes from freezing. In extremely cold weather they must take unusual precaution, either by remaining during the night or until satisfied of the safety of the apparatus. (9.) Janitors must keep themselves informed in regard to the condition of the heating apparatus and give immediate notice of any possible danger arising therefrom.

(10.) It is not required that fires shall be kept up on holidays or during vacations, except enough to protect the apparatus.

(11.) Hot water only to be used in thawing steam or water pipes.

(12.) Janitors shall remove the snow and make paths in the yards leading to the several entrances, and to the outbuildings, and shall pile the snow in a place most convenient for its removal, if necessary; and shall sprinkle sand or ashes upon the walks when in a slippery condition.

(13.) To use the fuel economically; to screen the ashes, and to burn the screenings on the fires.

(14.) To shut any windows that may be left open at the close of the school session, and to keep the windows, outside doors (including those of the outbuilding), and the gates locked except during school hours.

(15.) To take every precaution to avoid accidents from fire.

(16.) Janitors shall maintain a general supervision of the estates during vacation. When workmen are employed on the premises, or when fuel is received, they are to see that none of the property is misused or taken away.

(17.) No person not connected with the schools shall be allowed on the premises without permission from the superintendent of public buildings, or the principal of the school; and smoking in or about the buildings is prohibited.

(18.) To notify the superintendent of public buildings whenever repairs are needed upon the buildings in their care: but janitors are expected to make good small defects around their schoolhouses when such can be done in less time and to greater advantage than by giving notice to the superintendent.

(19.) To do such other work as properly belongs to the office.

(20.) Whenever a vacation occurs of a week or more, janitors shall see that all movable property, such as maps, globes, charts, etc., is securely locked up.

(21.) Janitors, in the performance of their duties, are under the direction of the principals of the schools, and of the superintendent of public buildings, under the direction of the joint standing committee on public buildings.

(22.) Substitutes for janitors must be approved by the superintendent of public buildings; and only in cases of emergency will the employment of an unauthorized person in the place of a janitor be allowed by the superintendent.

(23.) Principals are requested to report monthly to the superintendent of schools upon the conduct of their janitors, and he will notify the suberintendent of public buildings of any neglect or inefficiency.

Approved by the School Committee.

WORCESTER, November, 4, 1890.

APPENDIX IV.

PLANS AND SPECIFICATIONS OF SCHOOLHOUSES.

[Extract from a circular issued in 1881 by State Superintendent William C. Whitford, of Wisconsin.]

The ninth design is furnished by Henry C. Koch & Co., architects, of Milwaukee. It is for a one-story, elegant school building, containing three school

710-No. 3-7

FIG. 1.-Design 9, perspective view.