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H E M E O N ’S
PLAN T &
PRO CESS
VENTILATION
Third Edition
H E M E O N ’S
PLAN T &
PRO CESS
VENTILATION
Third Edition

Edited by
D. Jeff Burton

C R C Press
\Cf^ J Taylor Si Francis Group
Boca Raton London New York

C R C Press is an im print of the

Taylor & Francis Group, an in fo rm a business
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publlcation Data

Hemeon, W. C. L. (Wesley Chester Lincoln)

Henieon’s plant and process ventilation : new edition o f the
classic industrial ventilation text / revised and edited by D. Jeff
Button.
p. cm.
Rev. ed. o f Plant and process ventilation.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 1-56670-347-6 (alk. paper)
1. Factories—Heating and ventilation. 2. Industrial buildings-
-Heating and ventilation. I. Button, D. J . II. Hemeon, W. C. L.
(Wesley Chester Lincoln). Plant and process ventilation.
111. Title.
TH 7684.F2H 396 1999
697.9'2— dc21 98-15349
CIP

This book contains information obtained from authentic and highly regarded sources.
Reprinted material is quoted with permission, and sources are indicated. A wide variety o f
references are listed. Reasonable efforts have been made to publish reliable data and information,
but the author and the publisher cannot assume responsibility for the validity o f all materials or
for the consequences o f their use.
Neither this book nor any part may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means,
electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, microfilming, and recording, or by any infor­
mation storage or retrieval system, without prior permission in writing from the publisher.
The consent o f CRC Press LLC does not extend to copying for general distribution, for
promotion, for creating new works, or for resale. Specific permission must be obtained in writing
from CRC Press LLC for such copying.
Direct all inquiries to CRC Press LLC, 2000 Corporate BlvtL, N.W., Boca Raton, Florida
33431.

Tradem ark Notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks,
and are used only for identification and explanation, without intent to infiinge.

© 1999 by D. Je ff Burton
Lewis Publishers is an imprint o f CRC Press LLC

No claim to original U .S. Government works

International Standard Book Number 1-56670-347-6
Library o f Congress Card Number 98-15349
 Preface to the New Edition
by D, Jeff Burton
This edition of the classic textbook by W.C.L. Hemeon—first
published in 1955— retains the great practical and historical aspects
of that book. I have modified the text as necessary for clarity, to add
new information, or to eliminate outdated or unnecessary information.
Where changes and updates could be made seamlessly, I
incorporated them in the text without notation. Where it seemed
important to identify new information [or to clarify retained text], I
used brackets.
Hemeon was both a theoretician and a successful practitioner. He
actively sought the fundamental principles tmderlying industrial
ventilation practices and then distilled his theoretical approaches
into practical "handbook data."
During the past forty years many of Hemeon's unique approaches
and principles have found their way into the ACGIH Ventilation
Manual and other textbooks (e.g., the contour area approach to hood
design and the VP method of duct design). He coined many words
widely used today ("receiving hood") and developed new ways of
characterizing subjects that are still being studied by others (e.g., the
behavior of stratified warm air in large, open buildings).
Hemeon wrote in the style of his time: long sentences written
with flare and distinction. 1 like his style and have tried to maintain
the flavor. You will appreciate the brilliant practicality of the man
in his own words.
Hemeon was the principle engineer in Hemeon Associates, an air
pollution firm located in Pittsburgh during the 1950s and 1960s.
Before that he was an Associate Professor at the Graduate School
of Public Health at the University of Pittsburgh. Most of his work
was completed and published in the late 1940s and 1950s after Hatch,
McElroy, Tuve, Alden, DallaValle, Silverman, and others had
mostly completed their groundbreaking work.
Hemeon assumed that readers would be somewhat f«uniliar with
the subject. (He thought most would be mechanical or industrial
hygiene engineers.) If you are new to the subject, it may be useful to
review a primer like my Industrial Ventilation Workbook.
The text assumes standard conditions (STP: 70° F, 29.92" Hg, dry
air) except where noted. See recent references (in References and
Bibliography) for ways of dealing with non-standard air conditions.
 Because I am not am expert in every facet of ventilation, and
because I have not had access to every research report published since
1955, 1 cannot vouch for everything that is retained in the text.
(Hemeon's development of formulas related to air ejectors, for
example, leaves me a little nervous; yet it seems soimd.) Even after
forty years, some of Hemeon's theoretical approaches are yet to be
tested and verified experimentally. 1 have moved a few of these to
the Appendix where they will continue to patiently await the
careful scrutiny of graduate students.
Because the book has been revised and retypeset, errors and typos
are inevitable. Pleeise contact me and we will make corrections for the
second printing. (My address is in the References and Bibliography
section.)
Finally, remember this is a textbook. When designing amd
instailling industrial ventilation systems, always involve competent
licensed engineers and follow current codes and standards of good
practice.

Prefaces to the Original Editions

by W.C.L. Hemeon
[Edited for clarity and length]

Design of a ventilation system for industrial spaces consists

essentially of three problems: (1) determination of the airflow rate
amd arranging airflow patterns in the space; (2) design of the duct
system; and (3) selection of the fan. Of these three problems, the
chairacteristics of the first largely distinguish industrial ventilation
from others.
Principles for design of ductwork and selection of the fan were
developed long ago and are well understood. It sometimes seems that
engineers experience such sheer satisfaction in their ability to handle
the design of duct work on a neatly quantitative basis that they are
led to slight the initial problem of selecting suitable exhaust or
ventilation rates as though it were a minor detail to be covered as
qviickly as possible so the job of ductwork design and selection can be
completed, whereas, in fact, the part they overlook is the essential
ingredient of industrial ventilation.
Skill in the design of mechanical cirrangements is also of great
practical importance, sometimes overriding other considerations in
the practical worth of an industrial ventilation system. But this
aspect belongs in the "department of mechanical ingenuity," rather
than in the field of imderstanding principles; i.e., the basic principles
of mechanical design belong to a broader engineering category.
 Any branch of engineering may pass through three stages during
its development. First, it is practiced as an art, where success is
dependent mainly on experience and empirical data, often ill-
defined. Extension of these data to new situations is a haphazard
business.
In the second stage, experience has become crystallized into a
body of principles and design becomes the practice of applying them.
Attamment of this stage makes it possible to commimicate a large
body of information by reference to concisely stated rules of analysis
and design.
As more experience develops, a third stage occurs in which there
is an extensive reduction of design principles to handbook data forms.
Industrial ventilation engineering as currently [1955] practiced is
largely in the first stage among practitioners. The exposition of
principles by DallaValle and Hatch (1932) describing the nature of
airflow adjacent of an exhaust opening and ways of exploiting these
principles for the design of one type of local exhaust hood was an
important first contribution to the development of Stage 2.
The author [Hemeon] has attempted to contribute to a maturing of
this subject by developing certain principles in undeveloped areas
pertaining to air motions of various processes. The first half of this
book is concerned with methods for emalyzing a ventilation problem
and the dynamics of the air polluting process to determine what
ventilating air quantities are needed, local or general exhaust, and in
what manner the air is to be channeled through the space
The principles developed are based on theoretical considerations
so that in some cases experimental verification is [still] necessary.
Having in mind the needs of the user for "handbook" data, we
have, wherever feasible, attempted reduction of the various
principles to tabular or graphical simunaries.
In the course of developing principles, the author has taken the
liberty of coining some words and phrases, e.g., pulvation, inertials,
exterior hood, receiving hood, null point, and loss-and-recapture.
A primary acknowledgement is due to some early contributions of
Professor Theodore F. Hatch, a former colleague of the author.
Perhaps most important is his proof (1936) that fine particles of dust
and fume of interest to occupational health have no power or motility
independent of the air in which they are suspended. He was
associated with J. M. DallaValle (1930-1933) whose work led to
development of empirical equations describing airflow adjacent to
local exhaust hoods. Others include C. E. Lapple and C. B. Shepherd
(particle kinetics in air), R. T. Pring (air induction by falling
materials), G. L. Tuve and G. E. McElroy (air jet behavior and duct
loss factors), and J. Alden (airflow measurement using static pressm«).
 Table of Contents
1. Cftjjectives and General Considerations ............................ 1

2. Dynamic Properties of Airborne Contamineints.............. 11

3. Dispersion Mechanisms...................................................... 23

4. Principles of Local Exhaust................................................. 35

5. Local Exhaust and Exterior Hoods.................................... 47

6. Control Velocities and Distance for External Hoods . . . 67

7. Airflow in Materials Handling System s........................ 93

8. Exhaust for Hot Processes................................................ 117

9. Chcuacteristics of Free Air J e t s ...................................... 149

10. General Ventilation............................................................ 165

11. Estimating Losses in EKict Systems ................................ 189

12. Exhaust Systems for D u s t................................................ 219

13. Evaluation and Control of Heat Exposures.................. 231

14. Field Observations............................................................. 235

15. Fans and Air Movers ........................................................ 263

16. Particle Separators and Dust Collectors .................... 303

References and Bibliography....................................... 359

In d ex................................................................................ 361

Appendix........................................................................ 365
 Chapter 1
Objectives and General Considerations
This chapter provides an introduction and an overview of
materials presented in subsequent chapters.
If one had a giant's eye perspective of a typiceil industrial plant,
one would see various processes inside the plant shielded by thin
walls from the large-scale weather conditions outside. One could
watch the continual struggle of management to warm (or cool) the
plant, while at the same time trying to maintain adequate air
quality.
Industrial ventilation (IV) is concerned largely with engineering
techniques for controlling emissions, expostues, air movement, and for
introducing outdoor air in a pattern and on a scale that is adequate to
maintain satisfactory air quality without excessive exhaust of
tempered air.
The objectives of a ventilation system for offices, conference
rooms, and commercial spaces are to promote comfort and to suppress
odors due to human occupancy, building equipment, and building
materials. Additional important objectives include temperature
control and effective arrangement of air supply points in relation to
the space dimensions, its shape, and nature of its occupancy.
In contrast, the objectives of an industrial ventilation system are
to control airborne dusts and fumes and to control adverse thermal
conditions, or to do both. The purpose may be mainly to eliminate a
hazard to health or to remove a merely disagreeable atmospheric
contamination. The ventilation process may consist of gentle flushing
of the interior space with clean outdoor air at calculated rates just
sufficient to dilute contaminants to predetermined, acceptable
concentrations, or it may take the form of local exhaust ventilation in
which contaminants are withdrawn at their point o f origin into duct
systems for discharge outside the building or to collection vinits.
2 General Considerations

Local Exhaust Ventilation (LEV). By removing the contaminant

at its point of origin before it can escape into the general atmosphere
of the space, satisfactory air purity can be maintained with
relatively small quantities of outside air. This is in contrast to a
system of natural or general ventilation in which large air flows
sweep through a building effectively removing the contauninant but
also making it impossible to conserve tempered air.
Design of a successful local exhaust system depends on the correct
estimation of the rate of airflow into an exhaust opening, the hood.
The flowrate, in turn, depends on the character of the contaminating
process, on the type and dimensions of the hood, its placement
relative to the process, the amount of contaminant generated, and its
degree of toxicity.

General Exhaust Ventilation (GEV). The approach associated

with the term ventilation, in the minds of many people, consists of
the flushing action of a total space and has been more specificcdly
referred to as general ventilation. Since the action of such an
approach is primarily a matter of diluting some contaminant with
clean air, it might more descriptively be termed dilution ventilation.
This method is especially useful where a large number of sources are
widely dispersed in a room and the total quantity of contaminant is
small enough to be diluted effectively by practicable rates of
ventilation. In that case, general ventilation may provide a more
economical system than one of local exhaust.
In the design of a ventilation system in which control of
contaminants will be effected by dilution, the overall ventilation
estimate is made as simply as in this example: if a process generates
0.1 acfm of vapor and the concentration in the air must not exceed 10
parts in 1,000,000 parts of air, then the required dilution ventilation
airflow rate is:

Q = q/C = 0.1 acfm/(10 parts/1,000,000 parts) = 10,000 acfm

where acfm is actual aibic feet per minute-, the flowrates are q and Q.
In plants where there are no air contaminating processes, general
ventilation systems are also needed to remove the excesses of either
solar heat or heat generated within the space by operation of
lighting and machinery. In the past, air for cooling has been
generally estimated on the illogical basis of space volume, as a
certain number of air changes per hour. In today's world, ASHRAE 55
(standard on thermal comfort, latest version) is generally applied to
working situations and required airflow is based on the requirements
to meet that standard.
General Considerations 3

Air Distribution. The turbulent process whereby an air stream

enters and mixes itself with the air of a room is of importance in the
design of either local or general ventilation systems. The process is
related to the problem of avoiding worker discomfort due to excessive
local air velocities, and to effective dilution of contaminants. It is
possible to analyze the behavior of such air streams or jets, but this
certainly carmot be done merely by drawing curved lines on a diagram
coimecting the air inlet of a room to the air outlet—a practice which
is all too common.

Origins of Design Information

Plant engineers and those charged with the design of industrial

buildings often design ventilation systems without the assistance of a
ventilation engineer. Likewise, occupational health and safety
professionals are often called to assist in design. In these cases, all
should rely on concise standards of good practice, as available. These
include the references and bibliography included at the back of this
book.

Historical Backgroimd: Woodworking Machinery; Leather Working;

Metal Grinding and Buffing

The reason for an exhaust system in a woodworking plant is quite

different from reasons applying to the host of modern air
contaminating processes. The tremendous volume of wood waste
(shavings, sawdust, wood chips, and like) produced in a woodworking
factory is so great that, in the absence of automatic conveying
equipment for its continuous removal, the manufacturing operation
would literally choke to death in its own offal within a few hoiurs.
Pneumatic conveying is more nearly suited to the task than any other,
particularly since it simultaneously removes the fine wood dust
produced in such operations as sanding.
Industrial activity just before and cifter the turn of the century
saw a phenomenal growth in the manufacture of articles of commerce
made of wood, and this, in turn, led to a correspondingly flourishing
activity for the contractors who designed and installed exhaust
systems for the handling of wood waste and similar problems.
Because of the fire hazards in such plants, safety regulations
were developed that had a profoimd influence on exhaust ventilation
design for many years. The best of these regulatioi\s specified the
diameter of branch duct to be attached to a given machine and the
static suction to be maintained at the throat of the hood. In this
approach, the code writers succeeded in specifying the two elements
most essential to the satisfactory operation of the system, i.e., rate of
 General Considerations

air exhaust, which together with a suitable hood design, determines

the effectiveness of waste removal, and air velocity in the cormecting
duct which assured adequate transport of the waste to the central
cyclone dust collector. Thus a specification of two inches hood static
suction was equivalent to fixing the branch duct velocity at some
magnitude between 4,000 to 5,000 feet per minute, values known from
experience to be adequate to ensure continuous self<leaiung of the
ducts. Specifications in these terms were simple to understand, easy to
check by measurement and—as regulations—simple to administer.
Two ciraunstances contributed to the development of standard
specifications for practically every type of woodworking machine.
One of these was the fact ttiat since the machines were, in a sense,
standard units, data once obtained would be applicable to practically
all other installations. Second, imlike most industrial ventilation
and dust control problems, the prime criterion upon which
performance was based, and correctly so, was the effectiveness of the
installation in removing the wood waste produced by the machine, a
visual test based on simple common-sense observation. In some
operations, control of atmospheric wood dust was a factor of equal
importance, but here also visual observation served as an adequate
criterion of exhaust efficacy.
The early development of standards for metal grinding exhaust
systems is also interesting. The bulk of solid wastes resulting from
these operations is not great. The prime objective of grinding wheel
exhaust is the removal of fine dust. In the early part of the 1900s, it
was thought that all dust from abrasive grinding was harmful to
health; that the hard sharp petrticles of abrasive dust caused
silicosis or led to tuberculosis. Until the advent of synthetic abrasive
wheels of carbonmdum (silicon Ccubide) and alimdum (fused alumma)
on a large scale, grinding wheels were of natural sandstone, the dust
from which did cause silicosis.
The factors described above led to adoption of today's standard
grinding wheel hoods and standard rates of exhaust. As in the case of
wood waste and wood dust removal, visual evidence sufficed as an
adequate criterion of exhaust hood performance, and all these
exhaust standards were so based.
Standard rates of exhaust serve well enough for the control of
metal grinding dust. They may be entirely inadequate, however,
where the grinding results in dust which is toxic or highly
objectionable in small concentrations. Groimd lead or other heavy
metals, or irritant dusts such as those from incompletely cured
phenol-formaldehyde resins, in concentrations that could be regarded
as minor, can constitute a significant health hazard or a major
nuisance.
General Considerations 5

With the rapid development of new industrial processes

requiring some form of ventilation for control of dust or fumes, it was
natural for engineers to turn to state and federal agencies for
standards of good practice. Unfortunately, there was insufficient
experience with which to meet this demand. The hazards and
exhaust requirements of many new processes could not be appraised by
visual mecins as had been done in tiie case of woodworking and metal
grinding, and so the analysis and tabulation of experience lagged.
Not imtil the tools of air analysis that implement the techniques
of industrial hygiene came into wide use in the middle 1930s was it
possible to gain the data necessary for precise knowledge of the
subject and for subsequent crystallization of that knowledge into
concise form. The pressure for the development of this kind of
information has been great, emd consequently increasing effort has
been expended to codify existing knowledge (e.g., 29CFR1910.94).
Most of this effort, however, has been confined to specific industrial
operations rather than to broad classifications. See, for example.
Chapter 10 of the ACGIH Ventilation Manual, which lists specific
requirements for over 200 urdque operations.

Classification of Processes

Even though there will always and inevitably be many instances

of misapplication of such "coded" requirements, more and more
codification has been nevertheless an objective earnestly sought and
developed. It will be clear from the reading of this text, however,
that an effective smnmary of ventilation knowledge caimot be based
practically on individual industrial operations nor upon individual
industries (with occasional exceptions). Rather it must be
accomplished by classification of situations, to each of which some
general rules of procedure can be formulated.
The broad classification of hoods and processes employed in this
book is simple and adequate to bracket the entire field as shown in
Table 1-1 (next page).
Inasmuch as the foregoing tabulation anticipates the subject
matter discussed in succeeding chapters, a complete definition of
terms employed and their significance must be obtained in those
chapters. A broad discussion is given in Qiapter 4.

Design Objectives

Before one can come to grips with a ventilation design problem it

is necessary to obtain a quantitative conception of the objectives.
Unlike the problems of commercial ventilation in which the
objectives are confined to suppression of body and bvdlding-materials
6 General Considerations

odors while maintaining a comfortable distribution of temperature,

industrial ventilation is concerned with the control of a host of
physical contaminants—dust, fumes, vapors and gases—and with the
relief of excessive industrial heat.

Table 1-1
Classification of Processes and Hoods

HoodType Type of Process

Exterior a. Cold multidirectional dispersion
b. Heat generating
Booths a. Cold; null point of dispersion entirely within booth
hood
b. Cold, and null point outside hood
c. Heat generating
Complete enclosure a. Cold, no air induction into enclosure
b. Cold, with air induction into enclosure
c. Cold, with "splash" impingement on wall opeiüngs
Receiving a. Heat generatmg
(e.g., canopy) b. Mechanical projection of particles toward exhaust
opening

Toxicological Factors. The effect of exposure to excessive

concentrations of air contaminants may be one of severe poisoning
occurring acutely after very brief exposure (e.g., carbon monoxide
poisoning) or from chrorüc daily exposures over a period of weeks,
months, or yecirs (e.g., lead poisoning or benzol poisoning). On the
other hand, exposure may produce only a mild illness, symptoms of
which are obscure. The great majority of air contaminants encountered
in industry are not toxic but are, nonetheless, often objectionable. For
example, they may be irritating or malodorous if present in certain
concentrations.
A fundamental concept, of primary importance and utility in the
study of air purity in relation to health of exposed workers, is that
the human organism can tolerate small amounts of most toxic
substances without injury, because the physiological flushing,
excretion, and repair processes operate at a rate greater than the
destructive effects of those amounts below the tolerance quantity.

Threshold Limit Values (TLV®). Tolerance levels vary over a

wide range in accordance with the properties of the substance. A
human, in the course of an average working day, may inhale some 300
to 600 cubic feet of air. A figure of 350 cubic feet is conventionally
referred to as average, mainly because it is numerically equivalent to
10 cubic meters, a convenient decimal figure in the SI system. A daily
dosage figure for a particular air contaminant is therefore reducible
to an atmospheric concentration basis. For example, a permissible
daily intake of 10 milligrams can signify that the threshold limit
General Considerations 7

value, previously called maximum allowable concentration (MAC), is

about one milligram per cubic meter.
In the first half of the 1900s, concepticms and techniques were
developed for measuring atmospheric concentrations of dusts, fumes,
cmd the like, and appraising the degree of hazard to health from the
results. Originally, attention was confined to substances recognized to
be definitely toxic. Later, lists were extended to include many
substances, toxic properties of which were uncertain, and, finally, a
still larger number were added, the limit values for which served
simply to define objectionable concentrations from the standpoint of
sensory response without any allegation of toxicity. In the latter Ccise,
air pimty standards are not designed for complete elimination of odor
or irritant. (This, again, is in sharp contrast with the practice in
nonindustrial ventilation.)
Acceptable exposure concentrations are given in the latest ACGIH
TLV® list and OSHA's PEL tables 29CFR1910.1000. (See References.)

[Editor's note: 2nd Edition Tables 1-2 to 1-7 showing older exposure
limits have been deleted from this edition.]

Metal Fumes and Dusts. Fume is that particulate matter formed

from parent metal at high temperatile, usually molten, by a process
of volatilization and oxidation. If the same material is condensed to
a powder and is involved in some handling process whereby the
particles become airborne, it is considered to be dust. Lead oxide in
the atmosphere around a high temperatile pot of melted lead is a
fume; the individual particle size is a fraction of one micrometer (or
micron). Lead oxide in the form of litharge, however, on becoming
airborne is properly termed dust; the individual particle size is at
least several microns due to aggregation of individual particles that
are much smaller.
Metallic fumes and dusts having a TLV® or PEL of 0.1 milligram
per cubic meter are "high toxicity." Control of such compounds by
ventilation often presents problems of more than average difficulty
which is aggravated by the fact that atmospheric concentrations in
this range are invisible in ordinary circumstances. On the other hand,
it is relatively simple to meet the specifications for manganese and
zinc oxide which have higher acceptable exposure levels.
The distinction between toxic metal fumes and nuisance fumes is
indicated partly by the magnitude of the limits, except that in the
case of zinc oxide, a transitory systemic toxic action known as metal
fume fever may occur at concentrations above the PEL.
Mild steel welding fume, a common example of a "nuisance fume,"
contains a high proportion of iron oxide plus the constituents of the
welding rod coating. Visual criteria in this case has been a
8 General Considerations

traditional basis for judging objectionable concentrations. The

threshold limit value has been variously defined for electric welding
hunes as from 1-5 milligrams per cubic meter. These concentration
figures merely describe atmospheric conditions that have been found,
by experience, to be objectionable. Classified as toxic rather than
nuisance are those fumes generated by welding of certain metals
which introduce compoimds like lead, cadmium, chromium, etc.

Irritants. Irritant substcmces that cause discomfort to the nose or

eyes are foimd among gases, vapors, fumes, mists, and dusts. While
their physical properties vary widely, for the present it is sufficient
to group togetixer all those substances having in common this one
irritant characteristic. There is no need, of course, for a measurement
of concentration to inform exposed people that concentrations of some
contaminant u e present in irritating concentration. However, it has
been found u se^ l to convert irritation experience into terms of
atmospheric concentrations which then often become the limiting
value. Such limits do not, in general, represent complete freedom from
irritation for all persons. Rather they describe a compromise
concentration, to which workers find it possible to become accustomed.

Toxic Gases. These compotmds differ from the toxic fumes, dusts,
and mists oiUy because of their gaseous state. While some are
characterized by faint odor discernible to a specialist in
environmental hygiene, many of these substances at low but
hazardous concentrations may be regarded, for practical purposes, as
lacking in any sensory warning properties and their presence is
therefore not perceptible to the average person. In this case, the
identification and evaluation of contcuninant sources is often the
principal problem in ventilation design and will require the guidance
of an industrial hygiene engineer.

Solvent Vapors. Solvents differ from other substances because, as

used in industry, they are often intended to {or perform as a part of
the process) vaporize completely at some stage of the process. The
quantities evaporating are usually known, and it is therefore possible
to compute ventilation requirements on the basis of air flows required
to dilute them.

Nuisance Dusts are, by definition, "nontoxic" materials. The

criterion, therefore, of a satisfactory exhaust system is logically
based on the same considerations that determine the objectionable
situation in the first place. This is sometimes a visual one. The
principal consideration applying to this group of contaminants is that
few special problems exist as to identification of sources and there is
General Considerations 9

little need for extraordinary care in providing for complete control of

all potential sources, as is sometimes true of toxic materials. Visual
observations are often adequate for appraisal of the magnitude of the
design problem, and also for appraisal of the completed unit.
Common examples of this type of dust are seen in wood sanding,
gypsum handling, and the synthetic abrasive powders: silicon
carbide and fused aluminum oxide.

Ventilation Design for Low Concentrations

Reference has been made to the scale of difficulty in the design of

ventilation control systems to attain low atmospheric concentrations,
such as 0.1 or 0.05 milligrams per cubic meter. It is true that the low
concentration specification is an important indication of the
magnitude of the problem but it does not in itself completely define it.
Difficulty may stem from the existence of a large number of sources of
contamination in a given area, and also from the problem of locating
all of them. Ordinary visual methods of identifying such sources are
of limited utility. Understanding of the physical mechanism
whereby fumes or dust become airborne and detailed observations of
the various operations provide a sounder basis for inferences
preliminary to satisfactory design.
Still another factor of importance is the rate of contamination of
the atmosphere. Although data are usually lacking on this rate, it
nevertheless has a bearing on the problem equal in importance to the
value of the maximum allowable concentration. This point is
effectively illustrated in the following problem.

Example 1. A new process, which is to be installed in a plant,

consists essentially of a rectangular tank 8 ft long by 3 ft wide,
containing a solution which generates mists that are described as
extremely toxic to humans. The PEL is given as 0.001 milligrams
per cubic meter, equal to 0.00003 milligrams per cubic foot. (This is
about 50 times as toxic as lead, at 0.05 milligrams per cubic
meter.) It is known that the process generates the dangerous mist
at a maximum rate of 0.72 mg per hr from the tcuik in question.
The tardc is to be exhausted by slots along each long side. What is
a suitable minimum safe rate of exhaust in these circumstances?

Solution. Conventional exhaust ventilation rates for tanks might

caU for 100 to 250 cfm per sq ft of t<ink area. In the absence of data,
one might expect a ventilation specification of, say, 3 x 8 x 200 =
4,800 cfm. However, the emissions data permit one to calculate
the airflow rate required to dilute the contaminant to a safe
level, say 25% of the PEL. The escape rate is 0.72 mg per hr. To
10 General Considerations

dilute this flow to 0.00003 mg per cu ft requires 0.72/(0.00003 x 60 x

0.25) = 1,600 cfm. Even though extremely toxic as indicated by the
PEL, the quantity evaporating is quite small. In any case one can
conclude that an exhaust at some level below 4,800 cfm would be
entirely adequate if the minimum exhaust rate was important.

Appearance of Various Dust Concentrations

Dust and fume concentrations can be roughly described in terms of

sight perception. Some dusts may be present in potentially harmful
concentrations though not visible in ordinary interior illumination
and visa versa. For example, quartz dust or lead oxide dust can be
present in concentration well above the allowable limit yet not be
apparent visually. Harmful concentration of manganese oxide dust on
the other hand, would nearly always be apparent.
Table 1-2 provides a rough scale of dust concentration values in
terms of the sense of sight. These figures are bcised on the author's
impressions and should not be regarded in any way as other than an
approximate description. It is clear by comparing this scale of values
with threshold concentrations of free silica dust (typically 1-5
miUion particles per cubic foot) that hazardous concentrations are
apparent visually only under the most favorable conditions of
illumination.
Concentrations of metals like lead, with maximum permissible
concentrations of 0.01 to 0.2 milligram per cubic meter, are seldom
visually apparent imtil very toxic concentrations are attained.

Table 1-2
Sight-Perception Dust Scale
(Approximate Visible Dust Concentrations in General Air)

Short Distances Long Distances

< 10-15 feet > ^ 2 0 0 feet
Lighting Concentration. Million Particles/cu foot
Beam of sunlight, 2 2
background dark
Beam of sunli^t, 10-20 2-5
background dark
Bright daylight, 10-20 5-10
no direct sun
Low intensity daylight 20-40 10-20
Dim artificial light 100-200 75-100
(night)
 Chapter 2
Dynamic Properties of Airborne Contaminants
The subject matter covered m this chapter is fundamental to the
field of industrial ventilation. It deals with the motion of gaseous
and particulate contaminants in relation to the air with which they
are mixed; in other words, with their segregation tendencies.
For this discussion, it suits our purpose to present a classification
based on physical rather than hygienic properties of the vMious
airborne substances. While the previous chapter emphasized human
reactions to such substances, they are now divided simply into
physical categories: dust, fumes, mists, vapors, and gases.
Dust. The term dust has the ordinary connotation. Ehists are
finely divided solids that may become airborne from the original
state without any chemical or physical change, other than fracture.
Dispersion of a dust in air may result from disintegration of Ivunps of
parent material, as in crushing and grinding of rock, or from
disturbance of a deposit of already pulverized material. Dust in
atmospheric suspension generally consists of particles ranging in size,
for the most part, from 0.25 to 20 micrometers, with numerically most-
common sizes in the zone between 0.5 and 5 micrometers. On a weight
basis, however, the majority of dust is composed of particles larger
than 10 to 20 micrometers.
Fumes. Fumes are solid, air-bome particles that have resulted
from some chemical or physical process that involved a chemge of
state— usually a thermal process of oxidation, sublimation, or
evaporation and condensation. Consequently, the size of the particles
is very much less than that of dusts, even though their respective
ranges overlap. In general, the weight proportion of fume particles
larger than 0.5 to 0.75 micrometers is negligible. The electron
microscope reveals that there are vast numbers in the range between
0.01 and 0.1 micrometers (the ordinary light microscope is incapable
of revealing particles smaller than about 0.25 micrometers). Table 2-1
gives a scale of common objects in microns (an older term for
micrometers).

11
12 Dynamic Properties o f Airborne Contaminants

Table 2-1
Micrometer (micron) Dimensions of Common Objects
Object Size. Micrometers (nücrons)
325 mesh screen 43
Red blood cells 8
CcHnmonpollens 15-25
Human hair, coarse 75
Human hair, fine 50
Cotton fiber 15-30

The rapid volatilization at elevated temperatures of molten

metals such as lead or zinc, accompanied by oxidation to solid
particles of lead oxide or zinc oxide, illustrates a common type of
fume production:

2Zn (plus heat) - -> 2Zn O2 - ■>2ZnO

metal vapor air fume

Some salts such as ammoruum chloride experience sublimation

when the temperature is raised sufficiently. In this process, the salt
does not pass through a molten state. The particles resulting from
recondensation by cooling in the surroimding atmosphere are very
snuill and are often classed as fumes.
Waxes may also be volatilized at temperatures above their
melting point and when the vapors recondense as reduction of their
temperature permits, a finely divided airborne suspension of wax
particles results. In some cases chemical changes, partial thermal
decomposition, may also occur. The formation of an oil smoke is the
same process, but, because it results in minute droplets of liquid oil
rather than solid wax, we prefer to consider it imder "Mists."

Boundary Between Dusts and Fumes. Examples can be cited of

processes in which the distinction between dusts and fumes may not be
clear cut. The combustion of pxdverized co«il produces fly ash which
we prefer to classify as dust because of its coarse particle size
characteristics, even though it results from a drastic chemical and
physical process.
Melted lead surfaces rapidly accumulate a film of lead oxide,
dross, which becomes airborne when the metal surface is agitated. It
can be argued that this material is either dust or fmne. However,
these cases need not concern one if the nature of the particles is
vmderstood. Our objective in classifying contaminants is to direct
attention to their significant physical and chemical properties, i.e.,
size, rather than for the sake of classification system per se.
Dynamic Properties o f Airborne Contaminant 13

Mists. Atomization of liquid to fonn an airborne suspension of tiny

liquid droplets—a mist—may take place in different ways.
Pneumatic atonuzation of paint particles in a spray gvm results from
shear forces on liquid filaments.
Of sigruficance are those mists formed by the collapse of an air or
gas bubble. This may be seen in the fracture of a large soap bubble.
Small bubbles of froth that accumulate on the surface of an
electroplating solution create a mist of the plating solution. A liquid
stream falling into a tank of liquid or onto the floor also creates
bubbles and mist. Sea salt may become airborne by this same
mechanism where conditions are favorable to the formation of foam.
If the liquid is a water solution of a solid, evaporation of the
water takes place after nust formation and a system of dry particles
in atmospheric suspension, having the same composition as the
material dissolved in the mother liquor, results. Particle size of the
dry suspension is a hmction of (a) the concentration of solids in the
original solution, and of (b) the size of the original liquid droplets
comprising the mist. The particle size of the dry material in the
exhaust air from a lacquer spray booth is relatively coarse, because
they are formed from a mist of which the droplets are large—several
hundred microns in diameter—and the concentration of solids in the
original liquid lacquer is high.
As is the case of dusts cmd fumes, one can readily cite systems
showing how the mist classification frequently overlaps with the
others. A dry salt suspension resvilting from the misting process might
be duplicated by a dusty operation involving the same material in
dry powdered form. An oil mist can be formed by the atomizing action
of a high speed mechanical process, or it could result from thermal
volatilization and subsequent recondensation by natural cooling to
temperatures below its dew point. (The particles from the latter
process would, nevertheless, be much smaller than from the former.)
It may also be noted that volatilization and condensation of an oil is
the same process as that cited for formation of a wax fume. The
difference is only in respective forms, liquid vs. solid, that are normal
for each at the final temperatures.

Gases and Vapors. There is seldom any confusion in the meaning

of the terms gases and vapors. They are molecular dispersions, in
intimate mixture with molecules of the air. Gases are those which
carmot exist as liquids at ordinary temperatures except at high
pressures, like carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides, etc.
Vapors, on the other hand, are those which are commoiUy liquid at
ordinary temperatures with vaporization characteristics determined
by the vapor pressure of the liquid and the concentration of its vapor
in the surroimding air. A vast number of industrial solvents illustrate
14 Dynamic Properties o f Airborne Contaminants

this group, as well as aniline, lütrobenzene, nitroglycerine, and

mercury, to dte a few. It is of interest to note, in passing, that mercury
differs from the molten metals zinc and lead, which produce fumes, in
that it does not readily oxidize to form its solid oxide. It vaporizes at
normal temperatures to form uncombined mercury vapor.

Density and Inertia — Some Historical Fallacies

It is sometimes mistakenly assumed that the specific gravity of

dusts or other particulate matter play an important role in the action
of ventilating or exhaust systems; that the density of vapors and
gases of high molecular weight dictates the necessity for designing an
exhaust system to withdraw a stream of air from the lowest point of a
room or enclosure. Let's examine a few commorüy asked questions.
1. In a room where, for example, carbon tetrachloride evaporates
from numerous pieces of equipment, is it correct to assxame that, since
the moleculcu weight of this solvent is more than 5 times that of air,
the vapor will accumulate near the floor; therefore, several suction
openings placed to withdraw air a few inches from the floor will
prevent the accumulation of excessive concentrations of vapor in the
air at breathing level?
2. The specific gravity of lead dust is greater than that of other
common dusts. Does this mean that its settling rate is so great that
this factor must be taken into account in the design of exhaust for
operatioirs involving dusts of this character?
3. In local exhaust design for dust control, where the solid
particles are projected through the <iir at high velocity, what is the
significance of the advice that the hood opening be placed so that
the material will be projected into the throat of the hood? Does this
signify that satisfactory dust control is impossible in those instances
where those directions cannot be followed? If that design procedure is
sound, how critical is the positioning of the hood throat relative to
the trajectory?
In the following discussion, the role of density and of particle
inertia will be considered in relation to these questions. First, it will
be shown that airborne contaminants (whether gaseous or particulate
and in concentrations or sizes that are of practical sigrdiiiccmce in
occupational hygiene) have little real significant weight or inertia,
and that those factors, therefore, do not normally enter into
calculations for design of ventilation.

Vapors and Gases

The action of gravity on a volume of gas or vapor is determined

not by the weight of the gas molecules alone, but on the average
Dynamic Properties o f Airborne Contaminant 15

weight of all molecules of whatever nature contained in the

particular mixture. Also, molecular mixtures (of health concern
concentrations) are permanent; there can be no spontaneous separation
of the heavier molecules from the lighter ones. The density ratio
(specific gravity of significance in any settling rate) therefore, is

Density of mixture of air and vapor

Density of air

rather than, as is sometimes mistakenly suggested

Density of pure vapor _ MW of pure vapor

Density of air MW of air

where MW is the molecular weight.

The maximum possible concentration that may be attained by any
vapor relative to air, as in the air space above a covered container of
the liquid, or in a film very close to the surface of evaporating
solvent, is limited by the vapor pressure of the solvent at the
temperature in question. If the characteristic vapor pressure of a
solvent is 76 millimeters Hg at room temperahire, tììen the maximum
possible concentration of vapor attainable in the air space above the
liquid is the ratio of this pressure to that of the atmosphere— 760
millimeters, i.e., 76/760, or 10%. Expressed generally, if c is maximum
percent concentration, and Pf is vapor pressure of the liquid in
millimeters of mercury, then

Pf
c= X 100 in percent at standard conditioi\s
760

The average molecular weight of such a mixture is the average,

weighted according to the percentage. The "molecular weight of air"
is 29; therefore, the average molecular weight of the mixture

c * ( M W ^ , ^ ) + ( 1 0 0 - c) . 2 9
MWaverage
100

This average moleculair weight may be expressed as a ratio with

air's molecular weight (MW = 29) to describe the specific gravity.
In Table 2-2 the specific gravities (SG) of some common organic
solvents are compared with the molecular weight ratio. The latter is
frequently tabulated, erroneously, as the specific gravity of the
16 Dynamic Properties o f Airborne Contaminants

vapor. The discrepancy is especially misleading in the case of

solvents of low vapor pressure, like toluene.
A common industrial exception to the preceding remarks is
typified by the case of boiling degreaser solvents in open contact with
air. Thus, trichlorethylene is 3.7 times as heavy as air in a boiling
degreaser. Even here, however, the density is not represented by the
ratio for molecular weights because the solvent vapor is typically 85
to 90°C and the air at 20°C, and a temperature correction must be
applied.
Table 2-2
Density of Air-Solvent Vapor Mixtiures

Vapor Pressure SG of Sahirated Ratio of MWsolvent

Substance at 20°C, mm Hg air mixture to MWajr

Acetone 184.8 1.24 2.0

Benzene 74.2 1.16 2.7
n-Butanol 6.3 1.01 2.6
Ethyl ether 430.0 1.88 2.6
Methyl alcohol 92.0 1.01 1.1
Toluene 22.0 1.06 3.2
Trichlorethylene 60.0 1.28 4.5
Xylene 10.1 1.04 3.7

Industrial Values

Concentrations approaching the maxima cited are scvcely ever

encountered in industry except as accidental occurrences. Measured
concentrations of benzol vapor above a table surface with a source in
the center of the table are shown in Figure 2-1.

Figure 2-1. Concentrations of benzene vapor above table top; from

evaporation at center at a rate of 2.5 cc per minute. (After Gunner,
Trarwactions, 19th Aimual Safety Congress.)
Dynamic Properties o f Airborne Contaminant 17

Experiments of Fig. 2-1 were conducted in a small, closed room and

precautions taken to avoid drafts of air over the table top. It is
significant that even in these circumstances representing minimum air
disturbetnce, there was appreciable air circulation as evidenced by
the rapidity with which concentrations decreased within two to
three inches above the source. The vapor pressure of benzol at
ordinary temperatures is 74 mm Hg; therefore, the maximum
concentration in a film above the vapor source would be a little under
10%. In a vertical distance of 2 inches, therefore, concentrations had
decreased by two orders of magnitude. Note also the "spill" from the
edge of the table. These hydrocarbon vapors (concentrations of 0.1­
0.01%) will quickly mix with room air and settle only a few inches.
Concentrations of 0.1 to 0.5% by volume may be taken as the
maximum likely to be encountered in occupationsd hygiene-related
ventilation work. (Higher concentrations may be foimd within the
ventilated enclosures attached to vapor recovery systems.) The
specific gravity of such low air/vapor mixtures is practically unity,
since they typically consist of 99.5 to 99.9999% air.

Air mixing. Random air currents of more than 15 to 20 fpm are

found in the most carefully draft-protected spaces. Most important is
the ease with which mixing for dilution occurs. Actual conditions one
encounters in ventilation problems are highly favorable for mixing.
One almost never deals with large masses of vapor but, rather, with
slender streams of vapor-air mixtures comparable with streams of
cigarette smoke observable in random motion in a smoking loimge.
Another analogy can be given to illustrate these principles. Into a
large tank of water which is being gently heated and, therefore, has
noticeable convection currents, a very dilute solution of salt is
allowed to trickle from a pipette. Rather effective mixing would be
foimd to occur, with no accumulation of higher salt concentrations at
the bottom of the tank than elsewhere; a permanent molecular
mixture occurs in mixing and no separation can occur.
A word of explanation is required regarding some circumstances in
fire and explosion protection which might seem to refute some of the
conclusions of previous paragraphs. If a large vessel of solvent were to
be heated accidentally or otherwise to effect rapid evaporation,
massive quantities of vapor would pour over the rim and move toward
the floor with velocities that are predictable by the methods
illustrated above. In such large quantities, dilution with distance of
fall would be relatively slow, and fire or explosion by igiution at a
lower level is not an uncommon occurrence.
The travel of ether vapors in a channel can be demonstrated on a
laboratory scale in which the stream can be readily ignited after
traveling several feet. The channel serves to minimize mixing with
18 Dynamic Properties o f Airborne Contaminants

air. A similar effect is seen without a channel where the ether is

heated with resulting rapid evaporation.
All these circumstances, of vital concern in fire protection, are of
an accidental nature, a sudden, imexpected chain of events. They do
not affect the conclusions applicable to the design of industrial
ventilation for occupational hygiene purposes.

Inertials. We shall have frequent occasion in later discussions, as

in the present, to distinguish between very fine dust and coarser
particles. The distinction is of such importance as to warrant a formal
designation. The term inertials will be used in this text to describe
the larger particles having relatively high inertia, a term which
will serve as a reminder of special properties and will assume more
meaning as the subject matter develops. For the present, it suffices to
thmk of inertials as particles of such weight that they fall readily
by gravity as contrasted to fine dust which tends to remain in air
suspeirsion. Inertials may be considered to have a minimum size of
around 50 to 100 microns, and fine dust a maximtun of 10 to 20 microns.
Fine dust particles have important health significance, partly
because they account for practically all of the particles in the
atmospheric suspension. They are the particles able to penetrate the
respiratory tract, and they are of the size having the greatest
chemical reactivity (i.e., potential toxicity).

Aerodynamics of Dust Particles

When a particle falls under the influence of gravity it reaches a

constant terminal velocity, very rapidly in the case of fine dust. The
magnitude of this velocity for spherical fine dust particles is given by
the expression (derived and discussed in detail later in this chapter)

^= 1.37x 10*p,D"
( 1)

where ut is terminal velocity in feet per second, p, is density of the

particle in poimds per cubic feet, D is diameter of the particle in feet
(3.05 X 10® microns equals 1 foot)

This equation permits calculation of the settling velocity for a 10

micron particle, of 2.7 specific gravity (water = 1), to be about Ut = 1.5
^ m . This is a low velocity in comparison with air velocities above 20
fpm characteristic of most occupied industrial spaces. Even particles
of 30 to 40 microns of the same specific gravity will attain settling
velocities of orUy 15 to 20 fpm. On the basis of gravitational forces
alone, it is plain that very small particles have little power of
motion independent of the air in which they are suspended.
Another random document with
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eight thousand merks per annum (£444, 8s. 10d.⅔), she conceived
that four thousand was the least that could be modified for her
behalf, along with the mansion of Duncrub, which had been assigned
to her as her jointure-house.
The Lords of the Council ordained that Lord Rollo should be cited
for a particular day, and that for the time past, and till that day, the
tenants should pay her ladyship a thousand pounds Scots, she
meanwhile enjoying the use of Duncrub House. Lord Rollo, failing to
appear on the day cited, was declared rebel, and the lady’s petition
was at the same time complied with in its whole extent.[173]
William Murray, tavern-keeper in the 1696. Jan.
Canongate, was again a prisoner on account
of an offensive news-letter. He had suffered close imprisonment for
twenty-one weeks, till ‘his health is so far decayed, that, if he were
any longer where he is, the recovery thereof will be absolutely
desperate.’ His house having been shut up by the magistrates, his
liquors and furniture were spoiled, and ‘his poor wife and family
exposed to the greatest extremity and hazard of being starved for
cold and hunger in this season of the year.’ He represented to the
Privy Council that he was willing to be tried for any crime that could
be laid to his charge. ‘Ane Englishman’s directing,’ however, ‘of ane
news-letter to him was neither a crime nor any fault of his.... In case
there was anything unwarrantable in the letter, the postmaster was
obliged in duty to have suppressed the same, after he had read and
perused it.’ His having, on the contrary, delivered it, ‘after he had
read and perused it,’ was ‘sufficient to put him in bonâ fide to believe
that the letter might thereafter be made patent.’
Murray went on to say that ‘this summar usage of himself and his
poor family, being far above the greatest severity that ever was
inflicted by their Lordships or any sovereign court of the nation,
must be conceived to be illegal, arbitrary, and unwarrantable, and
contrair both to the claim of right and established laws and
inviolable practice of the nation.’
The Council did so far grant grace to Murray as to order him out of
jail, but to be banished from Lothian, with certification that, if found
in those bounds after ten days, he should be taken off to the
plantations.[174]
 The imbecile Laird of Drum was recently Jan. 16.
dead, and the lady who had intruded herself
into the position of his wife—Marjory Forbes by name—professed a
strong conviction that she would ere long become the mother of an
heir to the estate. For this consummation, however, it was necessary
that she should have fair-play, and this she was not likely to get.
Alexander Irvine of Murtle, heir of tailzie to the estate in default of
issue of the late laird, had equally strong convictions regarding the
hopes which Lady Drum asserted herself to entertain. He deemed
himself entitled to take immediate possession of the castle, while
Marjory, on her part, was resolved to remain there till her expected
accouchement. Here arose a fine case of 1696.
contending views regarding a goodly
succession, worthy to be worked out in the best style of the country
and the time.
Marjory duly applied to the Privy Council with a representation of
her circumstances, and of the savage dealings of Murtle. When her
condition and hopes were first spoken of some months ago,
‘Alexander Irvine, pretended heir of tailzie to the estate of Drum’—so
she designated him—‘used all methods in his power to occasion her
abortion, particularly by such representations to the Privy Council as
no woman of spirit, in her condition, could safely bear.’ When her
husband died, and while his corpse lay in the house, Murtle
‘convocat a band of armed men to the number of twenty or thirty,
with swords, guns, spears, fore-hammers, axes, and others, and
under silence of night did barbarously assault the house of Drum,
scaled the walls, broke up the gates and doors, teared off the locks,
and so far possessed themselves of all the rooms, that the lady is
confined in a most miserable condition in a remote, obscure, narrow
corner, and no access allowed to her but at ane indecent and most
inconvenient back-entry, not only in hazard of abortion, but under
fear of being murdered by the said outrageous band of men, who
carouse and roar night and day to her great disturbance.’
The lady petitioned that she should be left unmolested till it should
appear in March next whether she was to bring forth an heir; and the
Lords gave orders to that effect. Soon after, on hearing
representations from both parties, four ladies—namely, the spouses
of Alexander Walker and John Watson of Aberdeen, on Murtle’s
part, and the wife of Count Leslie of Balquhain and the Lady
Pitfoddels, on Lady Drum’s part—were appointed to reside with her
ladyship till her delivery, Murtle meanwhile keeping away from the
house.[175]
If I am to believe Mr Burke, Marjory proved to have been under a
fond illusion, and as even a woman’s tenacity must sometimes give
way, especially before decrees of law, I fear that Murtle would have
her drummed out of that fine old Aberdeenshire château on the
ensuing 1st of April.

Sir Robert Grierson of Lagg, the notable ‘persecutor,’ who had

been not a little persecuted himself after the Revolution as a person
dangerous to the new government, was now in trouble on a different
score. He was accused of the crimes of 1696.
‘clipping of good money and coining of false
money, and vending the samen when clipped and coined,’ inferring
the forfeiture of life, land, and goods.
It appears that Sir Robert had let his house of Rockhill to a person
named John Shochon, who represented himself as a gunsmith
speculating in new modes of casting lead shot and stamping of cloth.
A cloth-stamping work he had actually established at Rockhill, and
he kept there also many engraving tools which he had occasion to use
in the course of his business. But a suspicion of clipping and coining
having arisen, a search was made in the house, and though no false
or clipped coin was found, the king’s advocate deemed it proper to
prosecute both Shochon and his landlord on the above charge.
The two cases were brought forward June 22.
separately at the Court of Justiciary, and
gave rise to protracted proceedings; but the result was, that Sir
Robert and Shochon appeared to have been denounced by enemies
who, from ignorance, were unable to understand the real character of
their operations, and the prosecution broke down before any assize
had been called.[176]
Shochon was residing in Edinburgh in 1700, and then petitioned
parliament for encouragement to a manufactory of arras, according
to a new method invented by him, ‘the ground whereof is linen, and
the pictures thereof woollen, of all sorts of curious colours, figures,
and pictures.’[177]
‘Lagg’—who had drowned religious women at stakes on the sands
of Wigton—had the fortune to survive to a comparatively civilised
age. He died in very advanced life, at Dumfries, about the close of
1733.
Some printed copies of certain ‘popish Apr. 10.
books’—namely, The Exposition of the True
Doctrine of the Catholic Church in Matters of Controversy, An
Answer to M. Dereden’s Funeral of the Mass, and The Question of
Questions, which is, Who ought to be our Judges in all Differences
in Religion?—having been seized upon in a private house in
Edinburgh, and carried to the lodging of Sir Robert Chiesley, lord
provost of the city, the Privy Council authorised Sir Robert ‘to cause
burn the said books in the back-close of the town council by the hand
of the common executioner, until they be consumed to ashes.’
Six months later, the Privy Council 1696.
ordered a search of the booksellers’ shops in
Edinburgh for books ‘atheistical, erroneous, profane, or vicious.’
We find the cause of this order in the fact, that John Fraser, book-
keeper to Alexander Innes, factor, was before the Council on a charge
from the Lord Advocate of having had the boldness, some day in the
three preceding months, ‘to deny, impugn, argue, or reason against
the being of a God;’ also he had denied the immortality of the soul,
and the existence of a devil, and ridiculed the divine authority of the
Scriptures, ‘affirming they were only made to frighten folks and keep
them in order.’
Fraser appeared to answer this charge, which he did by declaring
himself of quite a contrary strain of opinions, as became the son of
one who had suffered much for religion’s sake in the late reigns. He
had only, on one particular evening, when in company with the
simple couple with whom he lived, recounted the opinions he had
seen stated in a book entitled Oracles of Reason, by Charles Blunt;
not adverting to the likelihood of these persons misunderstanding
the opinions as his own. He professed the greatest regret for what he
had done, and for the scandal he had given to holy men, and threw
himself upon their Lordships’ clemency, calling them to observe that,
by the late act of parliament, the first such offence may be expiated
by giving public satisfaction for removing the scandal.
The Lords found it sufficiently proven, that Fraser had argued
against the being of a God, the persons of the Trinity, the immortality
of the soul, and the authority of the Scriptures, and ordained him to
remain a prisoner ‘until he make his application to the presbytery of
Edinburgh, and give public satisfaction in sackcloth at the parish kirk
where the said crime was committed.’ Having done his penance to
the satisfaction of the presbytery, he was liberated on the 25th of
February.
The Council at the same time ordered the booksellers of Edinburgh
to give in exact catalogues of the books they had for sale in their
shops, under certification that all they did not include should be
confiscated for the public use.[178]

In the austerity of feeling which reigned Apr. 15.

through the Presbyterian Church on its re-
establishment, there had been but little 1696.
disposition to assume a clerical uniform, or
any peculiar pulpit vestments. It is reported, that when the noble
commissioner of one of the first General Assemblies was found fault
with by the brethren for wearing a scarlet cloak, he told them he
thought it as indecent for them to appear in gray cloaks and cravats.
[179]
When Mr Calamy visited Scotland in 1709, he was surprised to
find the clergy generally preaching in ‘neckcloths and coloured
cloaks.’[180] We find at the date here marginally noted, that the synod
of Dumfries was anxious to see a reform in these respects. ‘The
synod’—so runs their record—‘considering that it’s a thing very
decent and suitable, so it hath been the practice of ministers in this
kirk formerly, to wear black gowns in the pulpit, and for ordinary to
make use of bands, do therefore, by their act, recommend it to all
their brethren within their bounds to keep up that laudable custome,
and to study gravitie in their apparel and deportment every manner
of way.’
From a poem of this time, in which a Fife laird, returned from the
grave, gives his sentiments on old and new manners, we learn that
formerly
 We had no garments in our land,
But what were spun by th’ goodwife’s hand,
No drap-de-berry, cloths of seal,
No stuffs ingrained in cochineal;
No plush, no tissue, cramosie,
No China, Turkey, taffety;
No proud Pyropus, paragon,
Or Chackarally there was none;
No figurata, water shamlet,
No Bishop sattin, or silk camblet;
No cloth of gold or beaver hats,

· · · · ·

No windy-flourished flying feathers,

No sweet, permusted shambo leathers, &c.

And things were on an equally plain and simple footing with the
ladies; whereas now they invent a thousand toys and vanities—
As scarfs, shefroas, tuffs, and rings,
Fairdings, facings, and powderings,
Rebats, ribands, bands, and ruffs,
Lapbends, shagbands, cuffs, and muffs;
Folding o’erlays, pearling sprigs,
Atries, fardingales, periwigs;
Hats, hoods, wires, and also kells,
Washing balls and perfuming smells;
French gowns cut and double-banded,
Jet rings to make her pleasant-handed;
A fan, a feather, bracelets, gloves—
All new-come busks she dearly loves.[181]

The spirit which dictated these lines was 1696.

one which in those days forced its way into
the legislation of the country. In September 1696, an overture was
read before parliament ‘for ane constant fashion of clothes for men,
and another for ane constant fashion of clothes for women.’ What
came of this does not appear; but two years later, the parliament
took under consideration an act for restraining expenses of apparel.
There was a debate as to whether the prohibition of gold and silver
on clothes should be extended to horse-furniture, and carried that it
should. Some one put to the vote whether gold and silver lace
manufactured within the kingdom might not be allowed, and the
result was for the negative. It was a painful starving-time, and men
seem to have felt that, while so many were wretched, it was impious
for others to indulge in expensive vanities of attire. The act, passed
on the 30th August 1698, discharged the wearing of ‘any clothes,
stuffs, ribbons, fringes, tracing, loops, agreements, buttons, made of
silver or gold thread, wire, or philagram.’

Two young men, Matthew M‘Kail, son of Apr.

an advocate of the same name, and Mr
William Trent, writer, hitherto intimate friends, quarrelled about a
trifling matter, and resolved to fight a duel. Accompanied by John
Veitch, son of John Veitch, ‘presentee of the signator,’ and William
Drummond, son of Logie Drummond, youths scarcely out of their
minority, they went two days after—a Sunday having intervened—to
the park of Holyrood Palace, and there fought—it does not appear
with what weapons—but both were slain on the spot; after which the
seconds absconded.[182]

A preacher named John Hepburn, who July.

had been called to the parish of Urr in
Galloway, before the regular establishment of the church in 1690,
continued ever since to minister there and in the neighbouring
parish of Kirkgunzeon, without any proper authority. Enjoying the
favour of an earnest, simple people, and cherishing scruples about
the established church, he maintained his 1696.
ground for several years, in defiance of all
that presbyteries, synods, and general assemblies could do for his
suppression. Holding a fast amongst his own people (June 25, 1696),
he was interrupted by a deputation from the presbytery of Dumfries,
but nevertheless persisted in preaching to his people in the open air,
though, as far as appears, without any outward disorderliness. It
affords a curious idea of the new posture of Presbyterianism in
Scotland, that one of the deputation was Mr William Veitch, a noted
sufferer for opinion in the late reign.
The Privy Council took up this affair as a scandalous tumult and
riot, and had Mr Hepburn brought before them, and condemned to
give bond under a large forfeiture that he would henceforth live in
the town of Brechin and within two miles of the same—a place where
they of course calculated that he could do no harm, the inhabitants
being so generally Episcopalian. Meanwhile, he was laid up in the
Old Tolbooth, and kept there for nearly a month. There were people
who wished to get in to hear him. There were individuals amongst
his fellow-prisoners also anxious to listen to his ministrations. The
Council denied the necessary permission. We hear, however, of Mr
Hepburn preaching every Sunday from a window of his prison to the
people in the street. He was then conducted to Stirling Castle, and
kept in durance there for several months. It was three years before he
was enabled to return to his Galloway flock.[183] The whole story
reads like a bit of the history of the reign of Charles II. misplaced,
with presbyteries for actors instead of prelates.

A crew of English, Scots, and foreigners, Sep.

under an Englishman named Henry Evory
or Bridgman, had seized a ship of forty-six guns at Corunna, and had
commenced in her a piratical career throughout the seas of India and
Persia. Having finally left their ship in the isle of Providence, these
pirates had made their way to Scotland, and there dispersed, hoping
thus to escape the vengeance of the laws which they had outraged.
The Privy Council issued a proclamation, commanding all officers
whatsoever in the kingdom to be diligent in trying to catch the
pirates, ‘who may probably be known and discovered by the great
quantities of Persian and Indian gold and silver which they have with
them,’ a hundred pounds of reward being 1696.
offered for apprehending Bridgman, and
fifty for each of the others.[184]

Since the Reformation, there had been Sep.

various public decrees for the establishment
of schools throughout Scotland; but they had been very partially
successful in their object, and many parishes continued to be without
any stated means of instruction for the young. The Presbyterian or
ultra-Protestant party, sensible how important an ability to read the
Scriptures was for keeping up a power in the people to resist the
pretensions of the Romish Church, had always, on this account, been
favourable to the maintenance of schools whereby the entire people
might be instructed. Now, that they were placed securely in
ascendency, they took the opportunity to obtain a parliamentary
enactment ‘for settling of schools,’ by virtue of which it was ordered
that the heritors (landowners) of each parish in the realm should
‘meet and provide a commodious house for a school, and settle and
modify a salary to a schoolmaster, which shall not be under one
hundred nor above two hundred merks [£5, 11s. 1d.⅓ and £11, 2s.
2d.⅔].’[185] It was thus made a duty incidental to the possession of
land in each parish, that a school and schoolmaster should be
maintained, and that the poorest poor should be taught; and, in
point of fact, the community of Scotland became thus assured of
access to education, excepting in the Highlands, where the vast
extent of the parishes and other circumstances interfered to make
the act inoperative. The history of the commencement of our
parochial school establishment occupies but a page in this record;
but the effects of the measure in promoting the economic and moral
interests of the Scottish people are indefinite. It would be wrong to
attribute to that act solely, as has sometimes been done, all the credit
which the nation has attained in arts, in commerce, in moral
elevation, and in general culture. But certainly the native energies
have been developed, and the national moral character dignified, to a
marked extent, through the means of these parish schools—an effect
the more conspicuous and unmistakable from the fact of there
having been no similar institution to improve the mass of society in
the sister-kingdom.

It is a rather whimsical association of Oct. 15.

ideas, that Sir David Dunbar, the hero of the
sad story of the Bride of Baldoon[186]—the 1696.
bridegroom in the case—was an active
improver of the wretched rural economy of his day. Some years
before his unfortunate death in 1682, he had formed the noted park
of Baldoon, for the rearing of a superior breed of cattle, with a view
to the demands of the market in England. It was, as far as I can learn,
the first effort of the kind made in Scotland, and the example was not
without imitation in various parts of the southwestern province of
Scotland.
 Andro Sympson, in his gossiping Description of Galloway, written
before the Revolution, speaks of the park of Baldoon as a rich
pastoral domain, of two and a half miles in length and one and a half
in breadth, to the south of the river Blednoch. It ‘can,’ he says, ‘keep
in it, winter and summer, about a thousand bestial, part whereof he
[Sir David Dunbar] buys from the country, and grazeth there all
winter, other part whereof is his own breed; for he hath nearly two
hundred milch kine, which for the most part have calves yearly. He
buys also in the summer-time from the country many bestial, oxen
for the most part, which he keeps till August or September; so that
yearly he either sells at home to drovers, or sends to St Faith’s, and
other fairs in England, about eighteen or twenty score of bestial.
Those of his own breed at four year old are very large; yea, so large,
that, in August or September 1682, nine-and-fifty of that sort, which
would have yielded betwixt five and six pound sterling the piece,
were seized upon in England for Irish cattle; and because the person
to whom they were intrusted had not witnesses there ready at the
precise hour to swear that they were seen calved in Scotland, they
were, by sentence of Sir J. L. and some others, who knew well
enough that they were bred in Scotland, knocked on the head and
killed.’
The estate of Baldoon having, by the marriage of the heiress, Mary
Dunbar, come into the possession of Lord Basil Hamilton, a younger
son of the Duke and Duchess of Hamilton, we now find that young
nobleman petitioning the Privy Council for permission to import
from Ireland ‘six score young cows of the largest breed for making up
his lordship’s stock in the park of Baldoon,’ he giving security that he
would import no more, and employ these for no other end.[187]
The example of the Baldoon park was 1696.
followed by the Laird of Lochnaw and other
great proprietors, and the growing importance of the cattle-rearing
trade of Galloway is soon after marked by a demand for a road
whereby the stock might be driven to the English market. In June
1697, the matter came before the Privy Council. It was represented
that, while there was a customary way between the burgh of New
Galloway and Dumfries, there was no defined or made road. It was
the line of passage taken by immense herds of cattle which were
continually passing from the green pastures of the Galloway hills into
England—a branch of economy held to be the main support of the
inhabitants of the district, and the grand source of its rents. Droves
of cattle are, however, apt to be troublesome to the owners and
tenants of the grounds through or near which they pass; and such
was the case here. ‘Several debates have happened of late in the
passage of droves from New Galloway to Dumfries, the country
people endeavouring by violence to stop the droves, and impose
illegal exactions of money upon the cattle, to the great damage of the
trade; whereby also riots and bloodsheds have been occasioned,
which had gone greater length, if those who were employed to carry
up the cattle had not managed with great moderation and prudence.’
On a petition from the great landlords of the district, James Earl of
Galloway, Lord Basil Hamilton, Alexander Viscount of Kenmure,
John Viscount of Stair, Sir Andrew Agnew of Lochnaw, Sir Charles
Hay of Park, &c., a commission was appointed by the Privy Council
‘to make and mark a highway for droves frae New Galloway to
Dumfries,’ holding ‘the high and accustomed travelling way betwixt
the said two burghs.’[188]
Amongst Sir David Dunbar’s imitators, it appears that we have to
class Sir George Campbell of Cessnock, in Ayrshire, so noted for his
sufferings under the late reign. The parks of Cessnock had formerly
been furnished with ‘ane brood of great cattle’ and a superior breed
of horses, both from Ireland; but, on the unjust forfeiture of the
estate, the stock had been taken away and destroyed, so that it was
‘entirely decayed out of that country.’ Sir George, to whom the estate
had been restored at the Revolution, obtained, in March 1697,
permission from the Privy Council ‘to import from Ireland sixty cows
and bulls, thretty-six horses and mares, and six score of sheep, for
plenishing of his park.’ Soon after, the 1696.
Council recalled the permission for the
sheep.

The rolls of parliament and the books of Oct.

the Privy Council contain about this time
abundant proofs of the tendency to manufacturing enterprise. Sir
John Shaw of Greenock and others were encouraged in a proposed
making of salt ‘after a new manner.’ There was a distinct act in
favour of certain other enterprising persons who designed to make
‘salt upon salt.’ John Hamilton, merchant-burgess of Edinburgh, was
endowed with privileges for an invention of his, for mills and engines
to sheel and prepare barley. James Melville of Halhill got a letter of
gift to encourage him in a manufacture of sail-cloth. Inventions for
draining of mines are frequently spoken of.
William Morison of Prestongrange was desirous of setting up a
glass-work at a place within the bounds of his estate, called
Aitchison’s Haven or New Haven, ‘for making of all sorts of glass, as
bottles, vials, drinking, window, mirror, and warck [?] glasses.’ ‘In
order thereto, he conduced with strangers for carrying on the said
work, who find great encouragement for the same, within the said
bounds.’ On his petition, this proposed work, with the workmen and
stock employed, was endowed by the Privy Council (April 27, 1697)
with the privileges accorded to manufactories by acts of parliament.
Connected with Prestongrange in this business was a French
refugee named Leblanc, who had married a Scotchwoman, and got
himself entered as a burgess and guild-brother of Edinburgh,
designing to spend the remainder of his life in the country of his
adoption. It was his part to polish the glass for the making of
mirrors, an art never before practised in Scotland; and this business
he carried on in a workshop in the Canongate. It was found, however,
that ‘the glasses must have mullers and head-pieces of timber, and
sometimes persons of honour and quality desired also tables,
drawers, and stands agreeable to the glass for making up a suit.’
Leblanc offered to employ for this work the wrights of the
corporation of the Canongate; but they plainly acknowledged that
they could not execute it. He was obliged to employ wrights of
Edinburgh. Then came forth the same Canongate wrights, with
complaints of this infraction of their rights. It was a plain case of the
dog in the manger—and the consequence was the stoppage of a
branch of industry of some importance to the community. On
Leblanc’s petition, the Privy Council gave 1696.
him permission to make up the upholstery
work connected with his mirrors, on the simple condition of his
making a first offer of it to the wrights of the Canongate.
One George Sanders had obtained, in 1681, an exclusive privilege,
for seventeen years, for a work for the twisting and throwing all sorts
of raw silk; but he never proceeded with the undertaking. ‘Joseph
Ormiston and William Elliot, merchants,’ proposed (June 1697) to
set up such a work, which they conceived would be useful in giving
employment to the poor, and in opening a profitable trade between
Scotland and Turkey; also in ‘advancing the manufactories of
buttons, galloons, silk stockings, and the like.’ They designed ‘to
bring down several families who make broad silks, gold and silver
thread, &c.,’ and entertained ‘no doubt that many of the Norwich
weavers may be encouraged to come and establish in this country,
where they may live and work, at easy rates.’ On their petition, the
adventurers had their proposed work invested by the Privy Council
with the privileges and immunities of a manufactory.
On the 22d February 1698, David Lord Elcho, for himself and
copartners, besought the favour of the Council for a glass-work
which they proposed to erect at Wemyss. They were to bring in
strangers expert in the art, and did not doubt that they would also
afford considerable employment to natives and to shipping; besides
which, they would cause money to be kept at home, and some to
come in from abroad. They asked no monopoly or ‘the exclusion of
any others from doing their best, and setting up in any other part of
the kingdom they please;’ all they craved was a participation in the
privileges held out by the acts of parliament. Their petition was
cordially granted.
Viscount Tarbat and Sir George Campbell of Cessnock, ‘being
resolved to enter into a society for shot-casting, whereby not only the
exportation of money for foreign shot will be restrained, but also the
product of our own kingdom considerably improved,’ petitioned
(February 1698) for and obtained for the said society all the
privileges accorded by statute to a manufactory for nineteen years.
It was well known, said a petition in September 1698, ‘how much
the burgh of Aberdeen and inhabitants thereof had in all times been
disposed to the making of cloth and stuffs, stockings, plaids, and all
other profitable work in wool.’ It therefore appeared reasonable to
certain persons of that burgh—Thomas Mitchell, John Allardyce,
Alexander Forbes, John Johnstone, and 1696.
others—that a woollen manufactory should
be set up there, and they petitioned the Privy Council for permission
to do so, and to have the usual privileges offered by the statute;
which were granted.[189]
 In 1703, a cloth manufactory was in full operation at Gordon’s
Mills, near Aberdeen, under the care of Mr William Black, advocate.
Though established but a year ago, it already produced broad cloths,
druggets, and stuffs of all sorts, ‘perhaps as good in their kind as any
that have been wrought in this kingdom.’ Mr Black had French
workmen for the whitening and scouring of his cloths, and boasted
that he had created a new trade in supplying the country people with
sorted fleece-wool, ‘which is a great improvement in itself.’ Amongst
his products were ‘half-silk serges, damasks, and plush made of wool,
which looks near as fine as that made of hair.’ Unlike most
enterprisers in that age, he desired to breed up young people who
might afterwards set up factories of the same kind, ‘which,’ he said,
‘will be the only way to bring our Scots manufactories to reasonable
prices.’ But he did not propose to do this upon wholly disinterested
principles. He petitioned parliament to make a charge upon the
county of Aberdeen, for the support of boys working at his
manufactory, during the first five years of their apprenticeships;[190]
and his desire was in a modified manner complied with.
About the same time, William Hog of Harcarse had a cloth
manufactory at his place in Berwickshire, where he ‘did make, dress,
and lit as much red cloth as did furnish all the Earl of Hyndford’s
regiment of dragoons with red cloaths this last year, and that in a
very short space.’[191]
It would appear that up to 1703 there was no such thing in
Scotland as a work for making earthenware; a want which, of course,
occasioned ‘the yearly export of large sums of money out of the
kingdom,’ besides causing all articles of that kind to be sold at
‘double charges of what they cost abroad.’ William Montgomery of
Macbie-hill, and George Linn, merchant in Edinburgh, now made
arrangements for setting up ‘a Pot-house and all conveniences for
making of laim, purslane, and earthenware,’ and for bringing home
from foreign countries the men required for such a work. As
necessary for their encouragement in this undertaking, the
parliament gave them an exclusive right of 1696.
making laim, purslane, and earthenware for
fifteen years.[192]

Dec 1.
 On a low sandy plain near the mouth of
the Eden, in Fife, in sight of the antique towers of St Andrews, stands
the house of Earlshall, now falling into decay, but in the seventeenth
century the seat of a knightly family of Bruces, one of whom has a
black reputation as a persecutor, having been captain of one of
Claverhouse’s companies. The hall in the upper part of the mansion
—a fine room with a curved ceiling, bearing pictures of the virtues
and other abstractions, with scores of heraldic shields—testifies to
the dignity of this family, as well as their taste. Some months before
this date, Andrew Bruce of Earlshall had granted to his son
Alexander a disposition to the corns and fodder of the estate, as also
to those of the ‘broad lands of Leuchars;’ and Alexander had entered
into a bargain for the sale of the produce to John Lundin, younger of
Baldastard, for the use of the army. Against this arrangement there
was a resisting party in the person of Sir David Arnot of that Ilk.
Sir David, on the day noted, came with a suitable train to Earlshall,
and there, with many violent speeches, proceeded to possess himself
of the keys of the barns and stables; caused the corns to be thrashed;
brought his own oxen to eat part of the straw; and finally forced
Earlshall’s tenants to carry off the whole grain to Pitlethie. The
produce thus disposed of is described as follows: ‘The Mains [home-
farm] of Earlshall paid, and which was in the corn-yard at the time,
six chalders victual, corn, and fodder, estimat this year [1697] at
fourteen pounds the boll, is ane thousand three hundred and forty-
four pounds Scots; and nine chalders of teind out of the lands of
Leuchars-Bruce, corn and fodder, estimat at the foresaid price to two
thousand and sixteen pounds.’
The Privy Council took up this case of ‘high and manifest
oppression and bangstrie,’ examined witnesses on both sides, and
then remitted the matter to the Court of Session.
A similar case of violently disputed rights occurred about the same
time. John Leas had a tack from the Laird of Brux in Aberdeenshire,
for a piece of land called Croshlachie, and finding it a prosperous
undertaking, he was ‘invyed’ in it by Mr Robert Irving, minister of
Towie. The minister frequently threatened 1696.
Leas to cause the laird dispossess him of his
holding, possibly expecting to harass him out of it. Leas stood his
ground against such threats; but, being simple, he was induced to let
Mr Irving have a sight of his ‘assedation,’ which the minister no
sooner got into his hands, than he tore it in pieces. A few weeks after,
May 8, 1693, Irving came to Croshlachie, and causing men to divide
the farm, took possession of one part, put his cattle upon it, and
pulled down two houses belonging to Leas, who was thus well-nigh
ruined.
Still unsatisfied with what he had gained, Irving came, in March
1694, with Roderick Forbes, younger of Brux, whom he had brought
over to his views, and made a personal attack upon Leas, as he was
innocently sowing his diminished acres. ‘Tying his hands behind his
back, [Irving] brought him off the ground, and carried him prisoner
like a malefactor to his house.’ While they were there preparing
papers which they were to force him to subscribe, Leas ‘did
endeavour to shake his hands lowse of their bonds; but Mr Robert
Irving came and ordered the cords to be more severely drawn, which
accordingly was done.’ He was detained in that condition ‘till he was
almost dead,’ and so was compelled to sign a renunciation of his
tack, and also a disposition of the seed he had sown.
On a complaint from Leas coming before the Privy Council, Irving
and young Brux did not appear; for which reason they were
denounced rebels. Afterwards (June 16, 1698), they came forward
with a petition for a suspension of the decreet, alleging that they had
come to the court, but were prevented from appearing by accident. ‘It
was the petitioners’ misfortune,’ they said, ‘that the time of the said
calling they were gone down to the close, and the macers not having
called over the window, or they not having heard, Maister Leas
himself craved [that] the letters might be found orderly proceeded.’
On this petition, the decreet was suspended.
In August 1697, we are regaled with an example of female
‘bangstrie’ in an elevated grade of society. It was represented to the
Privy Council that the wife of Lumsden of Innergellie, in Fife—we
may presume, under some supposed legal claim—came at midnight
of the 22d July, with John and Agnes Harper, and a few other
persons, to the house of Ellieston, in Linlithgowshire—ostensibly the
property of the Earl of Rutherglen—which was fast locked; and there,
having brought ladders with them, they scaled the house, and
violently broke open the windows, at which they entered; after which
they broke open the doors. Having thus 1696.
taken forcible possession of the mansion, they brought cattle, which
they turned loose, to eat whatever fodder the place afforded.
On the petition of the Earl of Rutherglen, this affair came before
the Council, when, the accused lady not appearing, the Lords gave
orders that she and her servants should be cast out of the house of
Ellieston, and that John and Agnes Harper should pay a hundred
pounds Scots as damages, and to be confined (if caught) until that
sum was paid.[193]
 Jean Douglas, styled Lady Glenbucket, as 1697.
being the widow of the late Gordon of
Glenbucket, had been endowed by her husband, in terms of her
marriage-contract, with a thousand pounds Scots of free rent out of
the best of his lands ‘nearest adjacent to the house.’ At his death in
1693, she ‘entered on the possession of the mains and house of
Glenbucket, and uplifted some of the rents, out of which she did
aliment her eight children till May [1696],’ when an unhappy
interruption took place in consequence of a dispute with her eldest
son about their respective rights.
According to the complaint afterwards presented by the lady—
though it seems scarce credible—‘she was coming south to take
advice regarding her affairs, when her son, Adam Gordon, followed
her with an armed force, and, on her refusal to comply with his
request that she would return, avowed his determination to have her
back, though he should drag her at a horse’s tail. Then seizing her
with violence, he forced her to return to Glenbucket, three miles, and
immured her there as a prisoner for thirty days, without attendance
or proper aliment; indeed, she could have hardly eaten anything that
was offered for fear of poison; and ‘if it had not been for the charity
of neighbours, who in some part supplied her necessity, she must
undoubtedly have starved.’ The young man meanwhile possessed
himself of everything in the house, including the legal writings of her
property; he left her and her children no means of subsistence, ‘yea,
not so much as her wearing clothes,’ and she ‘was glad to escape with
her life.’ He also proceeded to uplift her rents.
The lady craved redress from the Privy Council, which seems to
have become satisfied of the truth of her 1697.
complaint; but what steps they took in the
case does not appear.[194]

Every now and then, amidst the mingled 1696. Dec. 12.
harmonies and discords proceeding from
the orchestra of the national life, we hear the deep diapason of the
voice of the church, proclaiming universal hopeless wickedness, and
threatening divine judgments. At this time, a solemn fast was
appointed to be held on the 21st of January next, to deprecate ‘the
wrath of God,’ which is ‘very visible against the land, in the
judgments of great sickness and mortality in most parts of the
kingdom, as also of growing dearth and famine threatened, with the
imminent hazard of ane invasion from our cruel and bloody enemies
abroad; all the just deservings and effects of our continuing and
abounding sins, and of our great security and impenitency under
them.’
It was while the public mind was excited Dec. 23.
by the complicated evils of famine and
threatened invasion, that an importation of atheistical books was
found to have been made into Edinburgh, and several young men
were denounced to the authorities as having become infected with
heterodox opinions. At a time when every public evil was attributed
to direct judgment for sins, we may in some faint degree imagine
how even an incipient tendency to irreligion would be looked upon
by the more serious-minded people, including the clergy, and how
just and laudable it would appear to take strong measures for the
repression of such wickedness. We have to remember, too, the
temper of Sir James Steuart, the present public prosecutor. One
delinquent—John Fraser—had, upon timely confession and
penitence, been lightly dealt with; but there was another youthful
offender, who, meeting accusation in a different frame of mind, at
least at first, was to have a different fate.
Thomas Aikenhead, a youth of eighteen, ‘son to the deceest James
Aikenhead, chirurgeon in Edinburgh,’ was now tried by the High
Court of Justiciary for breach of the 21st act of the first parliament of
Charles II., ‘against the crime of blasphemy,’ which act had been
ratified by the 11th act of the fifth session of the parliament of the
present reign. It was alleged in the indictment that the young man
had, for a twelvemonth past, been accustomed to speak of theology
as ‘a rhapsody of feigned and ill-invented nonsense,’ calling the Old
Testament Ezra’s fables, and the New the 1696.
history of the Impostor Christ, further
‘cursing Moses, Ezra, and Jesus, and all men of that sort.’ ‘Likeas,’
pursued this document, ‘you reject the mystery of the blessed Trinity,
and say it is not worth any man’s refutation, and you also scoff at the
mystery of the incarnation of Jesus Christ ... as to the doctrine of
redemption by Jesus, you say it is a proud and presumptuous
device ... you also deny spirits ... and you have maintained that God,
the world, and nature, are but one thing, and that the world was from
eternity.... You have said that you hoped to see Christianity greatly
weakened, and that you are confident it will in a short time be utterly
extirpat.’
Aikenhead, though impenitent at first, no sooner received this
indictment in prison, than he endeavoured to stop proceedings by
addressing to the Lords of Justiciary a ‘petition and retraction,’ in
which he professed the utmost abhorrence of the expressions
attributed to him, saying he trembled even to repeat them to himself,
and further avowing his firm faith in the gospel, in the immortality of
the soul, in the doctrine of the Trinity, and in the divine authority of
Scripture. He alleged, like Fraser, that the objectionable expressions
had only been repeated by him, as sentiments of certain atheistical
writers whose works had been put into his hands by a person now
cited as a witness against him, and ‘who constantly made it his work
to interrogate me anent my reading of the said atheistical principles
and arguments.’ ‘May it therefore please your Lordships,’ said the
petitioner in conclusion, ‘to have compassion on my young and
tender years (not being yet major), and that I have been so
innocently betrayed and induced to the reading of such atheistical
books ... that I do truly own the Protestant religion ... and am
resolved, by the assistance of Almighty God, to make my abhorrence
of what is contained in the libel appear to the world in my
subsequent life and conversation ... to desert the diet against me.’
This appeal, however, was in vain.
The case was conducted by Sir James Steuart, the king’s advocate,
and Sir Patrick Hume, the king’s solicitor.
The witnesses were three students, and a ‘writer,’ all of them about
twenty years of age, being the companions of the culprit, and one of
them (named Mungo Craig) known to be the person who had lent
Aikenhead the books from which he derived the expressions charged
in the indictment. It was proved by the ample depositions of these
young men, that Aikenhead had been accustomed to speak
opprobriously of the Scriptures and their 1696.
authors, as well as of the doctrines of
Christianity; by Mungo Craig alone it was averred that he had cursed