6o4 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



ants of the receiver despise the ability of the progenitor which handed 

 down to them a thing they hate to keep and dare not selL 



There is a hades, moreover, for inventors and teachers, as well as 

 a paradise. Like people Avho write books, they give their enemies an 

 advantage. The detailing of their plans is like drugging a coat at Don- 

 nybrook Fair. They invite attack from every one whose interests they 

 jostle, or whose pride they w^ound ; and hurt feelings are a species of 

 cantharides to hostile criticism. Altogether, the man who steps ahead 

 of the crowd is marked out for assault. He quits a comfortable insig- 

 nificance, and, bidding for fame, usually achieves failure and gains ill- 

 will. 



Clearly comprehending the possible results, we nevertheless venture 

 to speak of a combined system of warming and ventilation which, 

 from experience, we can state has proved successful. It aims at sur- 

 charging a house with warm air, in reversal of the present custom of 

 exhaustion. Ventilation is movement of air, or draughts ; and cold 

 draughts are dangerous, and expensive. We therefore warm our 

 draughts, and, in lieu of enemies, make of them friends. By super- 

 seding the necessity for it, we put bad workmanship into its proper 

 category of things to be avoided. A house being full of warm air, 

 misfits and scamped work form outlets, not inlets, and are no longer 

 mischievous. By generating heat in the most scientific way, and 

 retaining the bulk of it in the dwelling instead of sending ninety per 

 cent, up the chimney, we enlist the sympathy of the thrifty ; and, by 

 considering the question from the house-maid's point of view, we avoid 

 irritation and bickering, and, in spite of new-fangled arrangements 



" We still have peace at home." 



Our plan is simply this : If the basement be dry and eligible, we 

 form therein a fresh-air chamber by boarding off or otherwise making 

 it, if possible, under the staircase-hall. We have it carefully cleansed, 

 whitewashed, and purified. We jealously isolate it from any illicit 

 communication with the usually damp and fusty atmosphere of ordi- 

 nary basement premises, but give to it an ample communication with 

 the outer air, being careful that the supply is drawn from untainted 

 sources. Between this chamber and the hall we also arrano-e a com- 

 munication thi'ough a large ornamental iron grid. 



Immediately under the grid in the air-chamber we have placed a 

 large slow-combustion coke or German stove, and to prevent dust, noise, 

 or effluvium during such lighting, we recommend a slide, or trap-door 

 opening downward, to cut off communication until the fire has burnt 

 up. Vbild tout! This simple arrangement, which does not merit the 

 name of apparatus, sets a system of ventilation to work for which we 

 claim the merit of efiiciency, by merely lighting and adjusting the 

 stove-fire. Of course everybody has thought of this, and we dare say 

 some persons have tried some such arrangement; but we question 

 whether it has not been hitherto too simple for enthusiasts, too prac- 



