is to be allowed to ascend into the public hall above, and into the committee-rooms. In the committee-rooms, the air entering which is to be only moderately warmed, are to be open fires, fed by coke or other smokeless fuel. All the ventilating and smoke-flues of these apartments, to the number of about 400, are to be carried upon a fire-proof floor under the roof to a ventilating tower or spire over the central octagonal hall. This tower, which is to be 250 feet above Trinity high-water mark, is to be the sole egress and the principal moving power to the whole system.

"Provision is to be made in this tower for making a fire, if it shall be found necessary; but it is hoped that the plenum movement derived from the natural current of the wind, by which the air is forced inwards, aided by the rarefaction of the air, when heated in the various apartments, by which it flows outwards, will, in most cases, produce a sufficient ventilating current in the lofty tower. When the Houses are much crowded, it is intended to make use of mechanical means to propel the air, and prevent indraughts at the doors.

"As the large halls are used in the evening only, and the committee-rooms in the day-time, it is proposed to use upon the committee-rooms the same power which at other times would be devoted entirely to the halls.

"The following is the estimate of the expense of the warming and ventilating arrangements of these buildings, machinery being provided to assist solely in the ventilation of the Houses proper. 1. Air-flues under the basement, &c., and under all the floors, including the vaulting of the basement, and communicating channels in the roof, leading to the central shaft,

2. Apparatus for warming, purifying, propelling, and regulating the admission of the air,

3. The central shaft,

4. Fire-proof floor under the roof, to simplify the general construction of the flues, and permit them to be discharged by a central shaft,

Total,

£ 12,320

12,000

20,000

20,680

£ 65,000"

- pp. 236–238.

To pass from these great and expensive works to the more simple, though more important, matter of ventilating private houses in connection with warming them; the great principle laid down by Dr. Wyman should always be borne in mind, namely, that the greatest economy in warming can

not be combined with the most perfect ventilation. They are things incompatible with each other. To produce a sufficient ventilation with the least possible waste of heat must, therefore, be the measure of excellence aimed at.

The heating apparatus now in common use with us may be arranged under three kinds. The open fireplace or grate; the close stove, or a vessel or system of pipes containing hot water or steam, placed in the room occupied by the family; and the apparatus for hot air, in whatever form it may be constructed. Where the open fireplace or grate is used, it must always be accompanied by a good ventilation; as the flow of air to the chimney, above and by the side of the fire, must be attended by an equal flow of fresh air from without. With the wide fireplaces and open flues, such as were used by the early settlers in New England, the ventilation was in such excess, that the temperature of the room could never be raised much above that of the external air. The model of this old fireplace and chimney was probably brought from England by the Puritans, where it had lately been substituted for the more simple hole in the roof, in the dwellings of the common people; as Holinshed says that old men, in his time, mentioned the great increase of three luxuries since their remembrance, namely, glass windows and chimneys to their houses, and pillows to their heads.

The introduction of the close stove was an immense advance from the open fireplace, even after it had been improved by narrowing it to its smallest dimensions, in giving a comfortable temperature to rooms; while it has been attended with the great evil of rendering the ventilation imperfect. Used as it sometimes now is, under the name of the air-tight stove, in a close room, it cannot fail to be most pernicious to the health of all exposed to it. The mode of warming by hot water or steam held in vessels or pipes within the occupied room may be subject to the same abuse. Should this method of warming houses be improved and extended, as we think it not unlikely it will be, some flue or aperture should always be provided for ventilation; otherwise, it will become quite as injurious as the air-tight stove.

The system of warming by hot air, whether the air be heated immediately by the furnace, by water, or by steampipes, is one of the greatest improvements in domestic comfort of the last twenty years. The furnace is a ventilating

as well as heating apparatus, and it is only necessary to provide for a sufficient evaporation of water, to be introduced with the air, to render the atmosphere of a room always comfortable and healthy. Those to whom the sight of an open fire is pleasant, and who are not willing to abandon the domestic hearth, may use hot air for their halls, entries, and many other rooms, and retain the fireplace and its accessories in their sitting-rooms; and this combination furnishes the most perfect method of warming and ventilating now known.

The peculiarities of the foregoing systems of warming and ventilating are fully described and examined by Dr. Wyman; and as it is our purpose rather to call attention to his work, than to furnish a treatise of our own, we may here close our notice with again recommending his book for the sound judgment, accurate science, and good taste which everywhere pervade it.

ART. IX.-Memoirs, Official and Personal; with Sketches of Travels among the Northern and Southern Indians; embracing a War Excursion, and Descriptions of Scenes along the Western Borders. By THOMAS L. M'KENNEY, late Chief of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, Author of The History of the Indian Tribes of North America, &c., &c. Two volumes in one. [Title to Vol. II. On the Origin, History, Character, and the Wrongs and Rights of the Indians, with a Plan for the Preservation and Happiness of the Remnants of that Persecuted Race.] New York. 1846. 8vo. pp. 340, 136.

book place it aside from It is the tribute of a sin

THE purpose and spirit of this the technical canons of criticism. cere philanthropist to a cause to which he has given not fair words alone, but the substantial efforts and costly sacrifices of many years. Yet, in a merely rhetorical point of view, the work has no need to intrench itself upon its moral rights, and evade criticism. Without art or ostentation, it possesses great merits of style. Its narrative is the plain, straightforward, unsophisticated story of a man of strong

sense, true refinement, and deep sympathy. Its appeals are in heart-coined words, of the utmost directness and cogency.

Colonel M'Kenney was appointed in 1816, by Mr. Madison, "Superintendent of the United States Indian Trade with the Indian Tribes." For twenty years previously, our government had conducted, under officers of its own appointment, and on capital drawn from the public treasury, a barter traffic with the various Indian tribes on our borders. The object of this arrangement was to protect the tribes from the imposition and extortion, which had grown into a system and constituted the basis of a common law among the irresponsible traders, many of whom had rapidly become rich on a business the lawful profits of which would have yielded them a bare subsistence. The federal government had from its formation exercised a careful and truly parental guardianship over all friendly Indians within its territory, though subsequent injustice and outrage have nearly obliterated the memory of those days. But the efforts of the government in their behalf encountered the most vehement opposition from individuals and companies engaged in the Indian trade; and by their influence over the Southern and Western delegation in Congress, the public trade establishment was abolished in 1822. Colonel M'Kenney, having triumphantly rebutted, by an overwhelming array of testimony, certain calumnious charges of official malversation, and still retaining the highest confidence of the administration, was, in 1824, appointed chief of the bureau of Indian Affairs, then first established as a separate department of the office of the secretary of war. Though opposed to the election of General Jackson, he was suffered to remain in office for nearly seven months after the change of administration, it being found impossible to fill his place with any one whose personal qualifications for it bore comparison with his own; and he owed his final dismission undoubtedly to his refusal to sign and issue from his office a circular, the designed and understood effect of which was to break down the Cherokee government, and to deprive that tribe of its independent national existence. When he asked the acting secretary of war the reasons for his dismissal, the reply was, "Why, Sir, every body knows your qualifications for the place; but General Jackson has long been satisfied that you are not in harmony with him in his views in regard to

the Indians." This removal was a marked era in Indian history, as the commencement of that encroaching, arbitrary, and oppressive policy which has cost the country millions of treasure, many thousands of valuable lives, and more reputation than a patriotic American likes to acknowledge, and which has issued in the forced emigration, under treaties surreptitiously made, of tribes far advanced in the arts and refinements of life, and entitled to their soil by the joint claims of original proprietorship, reiterated guaranty and recognition on the part of the United States, and productive occupancy. Since his removal from office, Colonel M'Kenney has devoted himself, with great ardor and perseverance, to the objects which had received his chief attention when in office under the government. He has endeavoured, by public lectures, an extensive correspondence, and personal intercourse in every part of the country, to excite a sufficiently deep interest in the remains of our aboriginal tribes, to lead to some concerted plan and organized movement for their preservation, improvement, and elevation. His enthusiasm and eloquence, aided by an unusual combination of the best personal endowments for such a mission, have powerfully stirred up strong minds and good hearts, wherever he has gone. The present publication is designed to fix and deepen the necessarily vague and evanescent impressions made by the living voice.

The title of the first volume allows our author a wide range of autobiography; but he has taken advantage of it, beyond the main scope of his work, only to give us a few anecdotes of public men and traits of official life at Washington, which his readers would not willingly lose. From a chapter chiefly devoted to anecdotes of President Monroe we quote the following, as illustrative of a striking contrast between the better days of our republic and our own.

"In 1823, I think it was, I write from memory, Colonel Freeman, then fourth auditor of the treasury, died. Mr. Calhoun, being then secretary of war, asked me if I would accept the office made vacant by the Colonel's death. I assented, when, leaving me in his office, he went over to see Mr. Monroe, the President, and ascertain his pleasure on the subject. Mr. Calhoun soon returned, telling me the President very cordially assented,

but had scarcely finished the sentence, when the President's messenger came in, saying to Mr. Calhoun that the President