CHEMISTKY. 229 



sometimes brings with it a feeling of disappointment, if not of dissatisfaction. 

 The low price at which gas is sold, leaves a wide margin for practising 

 economy. It is impossible for any one, in the transition from candles to gas, 

 to be satisfied with the same quantity of light they had formerly used. This 

 is a practical result ; and so long as the excess is kept within reasonable 

 limits, every statement here made about the cheapness of gas, hi comparison 

 with candles and lamps, will be fully verified. 



There is no burner better adapted for private houses than the union-jet, 

 commonly called the fish-tail. It is made of various sizes, and is cheap and 

 durable. The smallest sizes answer the purpose of single-jet burners for bed- 

 rooms and passages ; whilst the larger are so easily adjusted as circumstances 

 require, that the combustion of the gas is perfect when the quantity of light 

 is small. 



In choosing fittings no special directions are necessary. So great is the 

 variety, and so easy is it to obtain whatever is suitable, both in price and 

 appearance, that every one's wants can be supplied. As a matter of taste, it 

 is desirable to think of the height and area of the rooms, the color of the walls, 

 the style of the furniture, and the uses to which the rooms are applied. 

 Light and elegant fittings, tasteful hi design and beautifully got up as respects 

 workmanship, have taken the place of the unmeaning masses of metal which 

 formerly disfigured, and assisted in over-heating, the best rooms hi a house. 

 This is an important change, and in the right direction ; due, in a great mea- 

 sure, to the cheapness of gas, and the increased demand consequent thereon. 

 The cost of fittings was formerly an obstacle to the use of gas. There is no 

 longer any cause for complaint in this department. Cheapness, usefulness, 

 durability, and embellishment are easily found so to harmonize that the pocket 

 need take no exception to what is most approved by the eye. 



It deserves notice that the use of ground (roughed) glasses is attended by 

 loss of light, and, as a consequence, more gas is required, and, therefore, an 

 additional quantity of heat produced. Under the most favorable conditions, 

 at least one-fourth of the light is absorbed ; and when the glasses lose their 

 color a still greater quantity, varying from a third to one-half. Everything 

 need not be given up to utility, nor must too much be yielded to appearances. 

 A middle course is the easiest and the wisest. All kinds of gas glasses, espe- 

 cially those used with fish-tail burners, may be made sufficiently ornamental, 

 if the lower parts were left perfectly bright. The light would, in that case, 

 be most abundantly diffused, exactly where it is most needed ; whilst comfort 

 and economy would be easily and pleasantly combined. 



Ventilation is a subject much too difficult to be discussed hi a few pages. 

 Some general directions are all that can be promised, and it is hoped they will 

 prove sufficient. 



Taking any number of houses hi a given locality, it is not to be denied that 

 those well lighted with gas are more easily and^ efficiently ventilated than the 

 others. Spontaneous ventilation, that which most closely imitates natural 

 processes, is greatly promoted, and indeed is always hi operation, in a house 

 whose walls, and ceilings, and furniture are dry and warm. In such circum- 

 stances it is impossible that air can remain at rest. A constant interchange 



