The
noxious gases were thus conveyed either to the flue or open air; but
this type of ventilator was unsightly in the extreme, and some few
attempts were made to replace it by a more elegant arrangement, as in
the ventilating lamp invented by Faraday, and in the adaptation of the
same principle by Mr. I.O.N. Rutter, who strove for many years to
direct attention to the necessity of removing the products of
combustion from the room. But with the increase of the gas industry,
the methods for purifying the coal gas became gradually more and more
perfect, while the rooms in the modern houses were made more lofty;
and the products of combustion being mixed with a larger volume of
air, and not containing so many deleterious constituents, became, if
not much less noxious, at all events less perceptible to the nose. As
soon as this point was reached, the ventilating tubes were discarded,
and from that day to this the air of our dwelling rooms has been
contaminated by illuminants, with hardly an effort to alleviate the
effect produced upon health. I say "hardly an effort," for the Messrs.
Boyle tried, by their concentric tube ventilators, to meet the
difficulty, while Mr. De la Garde and Mr. Hammond have each
constructed lamps more or less on the principle of the Rutter lamp;
but either from their being somewhat unsightly, or from their
diminishing the amount of light given out, none of them have met with
any degree of success.
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