338 Analysis of Scientific Books, 



ventilation. This is very well effected by a common open fire, 

 which is desirable in all private houses, not merely on account of 

 its comfort, but also for the above purpose ; we by no means re- 

 commend the exclusion of common fires, but merely not to depend 

 upon them exclusively for the heat of our apartments. In general 

 we are obliged to rest content with warming the great mass of 

 air in the hall and staircase, and trusting to its diffusion through 

 the rooms, but if architects and builders (a very irritable race, by 

 the way, and monstrously unwilling to be set right) would merely 

 leave in every house a provision, in the form of a spare flue or 

 two, for the conveyance of heated air, (it might be used or not) all 

 the clumsy adaptations and dangerous make-shifts, to which we 

 are now compelled to resort, when desirous of warming a house by 

 a hot-air stove, would be effectually avoided. 



In speaking of Mr. Silvester's stove, we should rather have 

 called it Mr. Silvester's improvement of Mr. Strutt's stove, for it 

 has been in use upwards of thirty years at Messrs. Strutt's cotton- 

 mills at Belper, near Derby. Mr. Silvester himself observes, that 

 it was there open to the inspection of any inquirer, and yet, until 

 he brought it into notice and improved it, was scarcely in any 

 other case adopted, notwithstanding the most convincing proofs of 

 its excellence and economy ; in this stove, however, the brick- 

 wall which surrounds the cockle, and which we have described as 

 perforated by tubes for the entrance of the cold and egress of the 

 heated air, was without tubes, and merely had square holes in it 

 for the same purpose ; the mere addition of the tubes was found 

 to produce double the effect with the same fuel. 



We had intended to have said something upon the subject of 

 heating by steam, but its want of economy, and the great compara- 

 tive difficulty of carrying it into execution, except in reference to par- 

 ticular situations, prevents our recommending it for private dwel- 

 ling-houses : to these our observations are now intended chiefly to 

 apply, and if they shall be the means of inducing those who are con- 

 cerned to take the matter into their consideration in building new 

 houses, and in erecting public edifices, the object of this article 

 will be attained. If our readers wish for an example of a well- 

 warmed and ventilated building upon a large scale, we are sorry 

 that we have none nearer at hand than the Derby Infirmary ; if 

 they wish for a sample of an ineffective attempt, dangerous, dusty, 

 and in every respect dissatisfactory, let them visit the British Mu- 

 seum on a cold December day. INlay things may be mended in the 

 new building: 1 



