i 9 4 TIIE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



The inventors of apparatus for warming and cooking are so nu- 

 merous, and the merits of a large number of inventions which have 

 come into common use are of so negative a value, that it would not 

 be fair to single out some individual instance for condemnation, and 

 leave unnoticed other apparatus which possess equal defects and may- 

 be in equally extensive use. Mr. Edwards's very interesting and in- 

 structive treatise on domestic fireplaces clearly shows with what per- 

 sistent perverseness the inventions which possess real merit have been 

 almost invariably passed by. This result, I fear, is due mainly to the 

 fact that architects and builders have not been penetrated with sound 

 principles on the warming of our dwellings, and have encouraged the 

 adoption of showy grates, based on false principles, instead of taking 

 the trouble to make new designs of pretty grates based on sound prin- 

 ciples of warming. 



The question of the consumption of coal for domestic purposes 

 divides itself into two branches : 



1. The quantity required for warmth. 



2. The quantity required for cooking. 



The former is required only for the winter months, the latter is a 

 permanent quantity during the year. 



The waste of coal in domestic fireplaces is, however, no new ques- 

 tion. It is quite eighty years since the subject was most fully treated 

 of by Count Rumford, and afterward by Mr. Sylvester. They showed 

 conclusively what enormous savings in fuel, for heating, cooking, and 

 drying, were possible. Count Rumford' s principles have never been 

 generally applied, because the price of coals has ruled so low that 

 householders have not much cared for economy. "We hear Count 

 Rumford's axioms now and then quoted by rival manufacturers in sup- 

 port of their newly-devised grates or kitchen-ranges ; but, in many 

 cases, the manufacturer, in the article he supplies, seems to be endeav- 

 oring to violate, rather than to follow, every axiom which Count Rum- 

 ford ever laid down. 



I do not mean to say that improvements have not taken place since 

 Count Rumford's time, but the progress in the direction of economy 

 has been very small, when we consider the great ingenuity displayed 

 in devising new forms of apparatus. In respect of our fireplaces, our 

 chief talent has been expended in providing a means of warming the 

 outside air, and of polluting it by the smoke and soot we project 

 into it. 



The methods which have been adopted for warming houses fall 

 under the several heads of 



1. Open fireplaces. 



2. Close stoves (the German plan). 



3. The Roman hypocaust, or floors warmed by direct action of fire. 



4. Hot-water pipes, without ventilation. 



5. Hot air warmed by a cockle, or by hot-water pipes. 



