The Eliot school building was erected in 1860. It has fourteen large class-rooms, and its halls and stairways are ample. It is warmed by furnace-heat. The scholars are mainly of foreign parentage. The day on which the inspection was made was a bright, cold day in mid-winter; the wind was blowing briskly from the north-west. The thermometer indicated a temperature of 21° in the outer air; the barometer was at 30°.

The ventilating system of this building consists of a square wooden shaft in the corner of each room, with a suitable opening at the floor and ceiling. This shaft begins at the floor of the room, without any special means for producing an upward draft, and terminates in one of the two large receivers in the attic upon which the galvanized iron “ventilators" are placed. At the time of the inspection it was found that the desirable draft did not exist for exhausting the foul air of the room, although a fresh wind was blowing outside, establishing sufficiently favorable conditions to demonstrate the practical utility of the patent " ventilators alluded to.

The four cast-iron smoke-pipes from the furnaces pass upward through the corridors; they are evidently useful for the heat which they give, but they might be made of greater use if placed within a properly-constructed ventilating shaft into which the foul air of the adjacent rooms could enter, to be surely drawn upward and outward.

The Brimmer School-house is satisfactorily warmed by furnaces of recent pattern. The windows are provided with strips of board within the lower sash at the bottom; this arrangement serves to direct the current of air away from the children's heads when the windows are opened at the bottom. The ventilating apparatus is like that just described in connection with the Eliot School-house, except that the shafts are smaller, as are also the ventilating-cowls upon the roof; on inspection, there was no apparent upward current in the flues.

The corridors are comparatively narrow, and contain the hooks for the deposit of the children's outer clothing during the school-hours.

The Brimmer School building was erected in 1843. The scholars who attend comprise those of American, Irish, and German nationality.

The day of the inspection was cloudy, with a heavy atmosphere. The thermometer stood at 31°, the barometer at 30.02, in the outer air. The wind was south-east and very light. The day was unfavorable for ventilation.