FIRE AS AN AGENT IN HUMAN CULTURE 29 



hypocaust, which consisted of a furnace with flues running beneath 

 the floors and in the walls of rooms and furnishing heated air for 

 warmth. The indirect heat of the hypocaust was also taken into 

 account by the Roman engineers in heating baths and houses, as in 

 the brick stoves of Northern Asia and Europe. 



Asiatic references give us what appears to be a primitive heating 

 apparatus in use in North China and various parts of northern Asia. 

 Ravenstein refers to this stove in the Amur region at the junction of 

 Usuri, stating that the Tchang is a diwan or inclosed bench warmed by 

 the smoke of the fire passing beneath it. The old-fashioned flues for 

 warming greenhouses are on the same order.^^ 



The k'ang is an economical device for warming. It consists of a 

 horizontal subterranean flue forming a box in a room, in which fuel 

 is burnt with a minimum of draft. "They sleep on kangs, rectangular 

 mounds of earth and brick surmounted with a layer of cemented 

 brick deep enough for a person to lie at full length. They are heated 

 by a charcoal fire. The Chinese sleep on them without mattress, 

 rolled in a thin quilt, and consider them vastly superior to our 

 beds."" 



Rockhill says that in the inns of Hsi-ning "the rooms are frequently 

 without k'angs, having only copper fire pans in which they burn 

 bricks made of coal and chopped straw. On the broad, flat rim of 

 the fire pan stands usually a pot of tea and milk. When there i§ a 

 k'ang it is often only a wooden box without any chimney or 

 firing hole; the planks on top are removed when it is necessary to 

 light it, and, dry powdered manure having been spread under it, a 

 few live coals are put in and the planks replaced. The fire smoulders 

 till all the manure is consumed, and the heat thus created is con- 

 siderable." ^^ In this case the slow combustibiHty of certain materials 

 is utilized, as in the Japanese pocket stove and even in the cold 

 frame for rearing plants. 



The Russian, Scandinavian, and North German iron and brick and 

 tile flue stoves are in the class with the kang as permanent instaUa- 

 tions for the slow radiation of heat. Their characteristic is the use 

 of the flue. 



The Russian stove is divided internally by thick fire-clay walls 

 into several upright chambers or flues, usually six. Some dry fire- 

 wood is lighted in a suitable fireplace and is supplied with only sufll- 

 cient air to effect combustion, all of which enters below and passes fairly 

 through the fuel. The heat passes through the flues and is absorbed 

 by the 24 surfaces. When there is sufficient heat the chimney opening 

 is closed and the fire put out, having done its day's work. The heat 

 is radiated and produces a delightful temperature. The outside of the 



" Ravenstein. Russians on the Amur, London, 1861, p. 100. 



" Women's Work for Women, May, 1888, p. 136. 



» W. W. Roekhlll. The Land of the Lamas, New York, 1891, p. 55. 



