The book is dedicated to Strutt, and Sylvester is careful to assign many of the inventions to Strutt, and to note that the heating designs installed in the new infirmary had already been tried on Strutt and his friends' houses. Sylvester documented the new ways of heating hospitals that were included in the design, and the healthier features such as self-cleaning and air-refreshing toilets. The toilets had a carefully designed door that would exchange the air for fresh as each user exited. The same door action also washed the basin. Sylvester described the infirmary's features including its fireproof construction, laundry and novel heating that allowed the patients to breathe fresh heated air whilst old air was channeled up to a glass and iron dome at the centre. Sylvester described the advances that Strutt had made and this was successful in three ways. Sylvester was able to take the new ideas for heating and apply them in numerous other building projects. The Derby Infirmary was seen as a leader in European architecture and architects and visiting royalty were brought to see its features. Strutt was proposed to become a member of the Royal Society by five distinguished proposers which included Marc Isambard Brunel and James Watt. Sylvester with Strutt was a member of Erasmus Darwin's Derby Philosophical Society. Sylvester was commissioned by the Chairman of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway to advise them on the subject of the railroad and he wrote a "Report on rail-roads and locomotive engines". Sylvester included a comparison between canals and railways. He observed that greater power will deliver more speed on a railroad, but on the canal the power required to increase speed varies by the square of the velocity.