DOMESTIC ECONOMY OF FUEL. lg7 



as will enable it to flow most easily into the currents prevailing in the 

 room. These considerations led to the construction of the ventilating 

 fireplace, which has been so extensively used in barracks. This fireplace 

 will keep a room at a given temperature with one-third of the quantity 

 of fuel usually required in most ordinary fireplaces, and with less than 

 one-half the quantity required in the very best-constructed radiating 

 fireplaces. , 



The open ventilating fireplace, if properly constructed, is the sim- 

 plest and most effectual means of warming and ventilating a single 

 room, because it absorbs all spare heat from the chimney beyond what 

 is necessary to create a draught ; and, while it admits warmed air into 

 the upper part of the room in an imperceptible current, the action of 

 the fire draws air from the lower part of the room, and thus provides 

 for a circulation of the warmed air toward the floor of the room. 



The ventilating fireplaces invented by me, and now called by my 

 name, but which have never been the subject of a patent, were a con- 

 sequence of the efforts made by the late Lord Herbert and Miss Night- 

 ingale to improve the health of the army. The death-rate of the sol- 

 diers, when this question was taken up, was found to be larger than 

 that of many unhealthy civil populations. Soldiers are, however, a 

 body of men picked out as the healthiest members of the nation ; they 

 should, therefore, have had an exceptionally low death-rate in peace- 

 time. A main element in the improvement of their health lay in im- 

 proving the ventilation of their barrack-rooms. But soldiers, when- 

 ever they became aware of the existence of any fresh-air currents, in- 

 sisted on closing the inlets. It was also made a sine qua non by the 

 Government that the barrack-rooms should be warmed by open fire- 

 places ; and, moreover, the Government required that the increased 

 amount of ventilation declared to be necessary on medical grounds 

 should be provided without any increase in the amount of fuel allowed. 

 By the adoption of these fireplaces, and by the introduction of simple 

 and improved arrangements for cooking the soldiers' food, the Govern- 

 ment were enabled to effect a saving on the fuel supplied, instead of 

 being obliged to incur a large increased expenditure on account of the 

 additional ventilation introduced into the barrack-rooms. The manu- 

 facturer of these fireplaces informs me that he has supplied between 

 9,000 and 10,000 to the military departments up to this time. 



The principle of warming by means of an open fireplace, or by 

 means of a German stove or a Gill stove, is applicable to single rooms, 

 that is to say, each room must have its own appliance, and each room 

 may be self-contained as far as regards its heating and ventilation. 



The close stoves employed in Germany use less fuel in warming 

 the room than any open fireplace, but they are economical because the 

 heat generated is not removed by the frequent renewal of the air. 

 This element of their efficiency in warming, however, makes them 

 most unhealthy. 



