Being informed, while this Book was printing, that it was said that M.D. F.R.S. had long since made a like Proposal, for sweetning the Air of Ships, in a Treatise called Aëro-Chalinos, or a Register for the Air, printed in the Year 1677... In which Book is the following Proposal, viz. In order to have the Benefit of Change of Air, to another Country or Climate, almost at any Season, and that without going out of the House; he would have a Room, which he calls an Air-Chamber, to be built... Air-tight every where; with a very large Pair of Organ-Bellows to be placed in the Room; to or from which, Air is to be conveyed through the Wall, by a Copper Pipe; with Valves to open inward or outward as Occasion shall require. With these Bellows, the Air in the Room is either to be condensed and made heavier, by forcing Air in, or lighter, by conveying Air out of the Room.
British scientist (1677-1761)
(September 17, 1677- January 4, 1761) was an English clergyman whose inventions, studies and experiments made major contributions to developments in botany, and in both plant and animal . He was the first to measure utilizing his "Hales Manometer", and also invented a to distill various "airs" i.e., gases. His other medical or health related inventions include a ventillation bellow to improve air quality in enclosed spaces, and surgical for the removal of s. He was a philanthropist and wrote a popular tract on alcoholic intemperance.
From: Wikiquote (CC BY-SA 4.0)
And Mr. Triewald further says, that in the Summer of the Year 1742, be bad sent one of his Engines, calculated for a Sixty Gun Man of War, to France; which being approved of by the Royal Academy of Sciences at Paris, the King of France has ordered all the Men of War to be furnished with the like Ventilators.
And in his Letter to Baron Wasenberg, Envoy from the King of Sweden, dated the 22d of April 1743... he says, "that every Swedish Man of War, and Hospital Ship, was last Year furnished with one of my Engines; which had not been done, in case so they had not experienced the Benefit of the same, the Campaign so before that." So that a Trial was made with these Ventilators in the Year 1741, which proved a very sickly Summer in the Swedish Fleet, except only in the Ship or Ships, which were refreshed by Ventilators: A strong Instance of their great Usefulness; which induced the Swedes to put them into every Man of War and Hospital-Ship, the rear following.
A Translation of which ingenious Treatise, was communicated to me by Dr. Mortimer; in which he says, "In Hospitals and Barracks for the Sick, this Machine is placed in the , from whence two or three Pipes go down, some Inches thro' the Ceiling, into each Room where the Sick lie; and thus draw out all the unwholesome Air and Stench, which does more harm than any Physick can repair. And at the same time, has this accidental Benefit, That those who begin to mend, may give themselves a proper Exercise, in working the Machine: Only they ought to take care to keep all the Garret-Windows open, while the Machine is a going. In Men of War and Hospital-Ships, this Machine is placed on the upper Deck, directly over the great other Hatch: And then the Pipe, which goes down between the Decks, draws out the unwholesome Air; which is instantly supplied by fresh.
November the sixth following, viz. in the Year 1741 Martin Triewald, Captain of Mechanicks and Military Architect to the King of Sweden, and Fellow of the Royal Society at London, in a Letter to M.D. and Secretary of the Royal Society, says, that "this Spring he had invented a Machine, for the Use of his Majesty's Men of War, which went to block up Petersburgh, in order to draw out the bad Air from under their Decks, the least of which does exhaust 36172 cubick Feet of Air in an Hour,"...
[I]t occurred to me the March following, that large Ventilators would be very serviceable, in making the Air in Ships more wholesome; this I was so fully satisfied of, that I immediately drew up an Account of it; several Copies of wbich were communicated, both by my self and others, to many Persons of Distinction, and Members of the Royal Society: Before whom I laid a large Account of it, which was read in their Presence the May following...
In the Year 1740, I wrote to Dr. Martin Physician to Lord Cathcart, General of the Forces which lay imbarked at Spithead, for an Expedition in America, to propose (besides the usual sprinkling between Decks with Vinegar) the hanging up very many Cloths dipped in Vinegar, in proper Places between Decks, in order to make the Air more wholesome: And in case an infectious Distemper should be in any Ship, to cure the Infection with the Fumes of burning Brimstone.
We have here an Instance, that the Study of is not a meer trifling Amusement... For it not only delights the Mind, and gives it the most agreeable Entertainment, in seeing in every thing the Wisdom of the great Architect of Nature: But it is also the most likely Means, to make the Gift of kind Providence, this natural World, the more beneficial to us, by teaching us how, both to avoid what is Hurtful, and to pursue what is most Useful and Beneficial to us.
As Sea-farers, that Valuable and Useful Part of Mankind, have many Hardships and Difficulties to contend with, so it is of great Importance to obviate as many of them as possible: And as the noxious Air in Ships has hitherto been one of their greatest Grievances, by making sick and destroying multitudes of them; so the finding a Means to prevent this great Evil, is of vastly more Consequence to Navigation, than the Discovery of the Longitude; as being a Means of saving innumerable more Lives...
There is no doubt but it will fully answer your Lordships tender Care and Concern for the Welfare of Navigators, as it will contribute much to their Health, by supplying them, in exchange for a very noxious, with Plenty of fresh Air, that genuine Cordial of Life: For that wonderful Fluid the Air, which, by infinite Combinations with natural Bodies, produces surprizing Effects, as it is on the one Hand when pure, the chief Nourisher and Preserver of the Life of Animals and Vegetables; so, when foul and putrid, it is the great Principle of their Destruction.