64 On Df, p€arso7i*s Proposal for an Insttiulion 



boiler a tin pipe mighl be conducted, being wrapped with 

 wool, or some non-conducting substance, until its en- 

 trance into the apartment to be warmed, and then unco- 

 vered to give out its beat. If sufficiently long or wide, 

 and made always to incline towards the ooiler, I should 

 conceive that the greater part of the steam would condcn^fe 

 and run back into the boiler; but of course there ought to 

 be some outlet or valve to prevent the pipers bursting* The 

 chief data wanting are the size of the boiler and quantity 

 of water necessary to heat a given space; the proper dia- 

 meter of the pipe, the length to which it ought to extend 

 in the room to be warmed, and its situation, whether near 

 the floor or the cielins:, Sec. &c. It is clear, that as little 

 of the steam o:ight to escape uncomli-nsed as possible ; and 

 for this purpose, the tube in the room should be either ver^ 

 long or very wide, but which I know not. If the appa- 

 ratus could be so contrived that the condensed water would 

 return to the boiler, it u-ould be a material point; for the 

 great difficulty in adopting such plans is the impossibility 

 of gettmg servants to attend to any directions which re- 

 quire frequent and precise observance. It is on this ac- 

 count that the steam-boiler should be immovcably fixed, 

 and constantly heated without any particular care. 



A steam apparatus, something on the plan above de- 

 tcribedy would, 1 conceive, be far more effectual, as well as 

 less troublesome, than the pots of hot water temporarily 

 .used by Dr. Pearson ; and a simple and cheap mode of 

 applying it is highly desirable, not merely as a mode of 

 heatinu: the apartments of consumptive patients, but for 

 General adoption in many other cases ; in particular, for 

 heating rooms where collections of plants, 8cc. are to bo 

 kept dry, but free from the dust and dirt which an open 

 fire never fails to make. In concluding this part of the 

 subject, I \N ish to inquire whether the Pcnjisylvanian stove, 

 invented by Dr. Franklin, and which, from his discoveries^ 

 seems to conibme the warmth and cleanliness of a stove 

 with a sight of the fire, so essential to an Englishman's 

 comfort, has ever been adopted in this country, or had a 

 lair trial given to it ? 



Though there can be little doubt tluit a suite of rooms 

 warmed \\\ the manner indicated above would be a very 

 good succedaneum during an Eniiiish winter for an ex- 

 pensive voyage to Madeira or Lisbon, and though they who 

 are in:pressed with a proj)er sense of the honors pf con- 

 ' siJinpiion would deem the consequent eonllnement as a 

 trilling price for the advantage derived; it is kiot to be de- 

 nied 



