On this page
-
Text (1)
-
Untitled Article
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
-
-
Transcript
-
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.
Untitled Article
which he was mainly instrumental in carrying into effect . We must therefore be content only to mention that he took an active part in the erection of most of our public edificeB ; in the widening and improvement of the streets and roads of the town and neighbourhood ; in the establishment and management of the gas works ; in the measures for relieving the lower parts of the town from the dangerous and destructive floods to which they had been subject ; and in the establishment and support of various useful
charities and public institutions , such as the Friendly Societies , the Saviugs' Bank , the Lancastrian School , and the Mechanics' Institution . But there is one charity which has been more particularly indebted to his exertions , and which remains as a lasting monument of his iugenuity and benevolence ; we mean the Derbyshire Infirmary . It was here that he found full scope for his inventive powers , as all the arrangements of the building were conducted under his immediate superintendence ; and by means of a well-digested and judicious plan , and by the adoption of numerous original contrivances , lo which we shall advert more particularly hereafter , he succeeded in producing a hospital , which has , in many respects , served as a model to similar institutions in England , and has obtained a well-deserved celebrity even on the continent .
Throughout all his public services , there was no quality of mind which Mr . Strutt evinced in a more remarkable degree than that perfect sincerity , independence , and singleness of purpose , which obtained for him the respect even of his warmest opponents . Whenever he was convinced that his judgment had been formed upon good grounds , he pursued his purpose , utterly regardless of opposition and misrepresentation ; and not unfrequently did he stand out either alone or in small minorities , in the decided and , as experience hns proved , the well-founded couviction that his views must in the end prevail . In short , to use the words of one of his friends on a recent occasion , *• Him powerful mind , and extensive scientific and moral attainments , were devoted for many years , through good report and through evil report , to the improvement of the town , the extension of its commerce , the establishment of its literary and scientific institutions , and the
amelioration of the general condition of its inhabitants . Thi « he did , with the most unwearied , assiduity , - uncompromising integrity , and singleness of heart , which
Untitled Article
ever distinguished a philosopher aud philanthropist . " Happily he lived to see his services duly appreciated by the public ; and it was on the occasion to which we have just referred , that he received from his fellow-townsmen a testimony to his services , which was of all others the most gratifying to his feelings , in their unanimous election of his only son as one of their Representatives in Parliament .
We should have been anxious to give a full report of Mr . Strutt ' s scientific contrivances , but to enumerate all his inventions and improvements would exceed the limits of this short memoir . Perhaps it may be sufficient to notice generally his very numerous and scien * tine plans for the improvement of domestic economy , of which a full account
will be found in the work on the Derbyshire Infirmary , by his intimate and iugenious friend , the late Mr . Charles Sylvester . Amongst these we may more particularly specify his improvements in various kinds of cooking apparatus ; in machinery to facilitate the washing , wringing , and drying of clothes and
linen ; and numerous other arrangements for domestic convenience , tending to cleauliness and order , and to great economy of fuel and labour . He bestowed much time and attention in devising plans for economizing fuel in all its various applications , and we believe there are few who have made themselves so
completely master of this importaut and difficult subject . His hot-air stove , and the application of it to the warming and ventilating of large buildings and manufactories , is a most important invention ; and it may be safely asserted that this contrivance , combining the advantages of great economy with complete ventilation , was the first , and is , without doubt , the most scientific and effectual of all the
numerous schemes which have been attempted for this object . To the importance of complete ventilation , as connected with the warming of manufactories or apartments , occupied by numerous persons , he was particularly alive , fully aware of its beneficial effect , in promoting health
and comfort in a degree not in general sufficiently appreciated , but acknowledged by all medical men ; and he deprecated the adoption of those plans for the warming of manufactories , where this most important principle , so essential to the health of the persons employed , is overlooked . Amongst his other inventions and improvements , we may mention a eelf-act-
Untitled Article
140 Obituary . —miliam Strutt , Esq ., F . R . S .
-
-
Citation
-
Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Feb. 2, 1831, page 140, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2594/page/68/
-