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landlords, on account of the expense, continue to evade the 

 necessary alterations to allow the flues to be easily swept. In 

 towns it is generally the oldest and often the loftiest houses 

 which constitute the dwellings of the lower classes, and in 

 these the evil mostly prevails. Truly, the poor are described 

 as " cribbed, cabined, and confined," and it might be added, 

 "smoked" also. 



Much then of sanitary reform remains to be accomplished 

 in this department, and, in many cases, the remedy is 

 both simple, and unexpensive. Some of the means that 

 occur to me I shall briefly mention, but from not being 

 practically interested, I may be wrong in some of the premises 

 or effects, and I therefore only offer them to elicit the atten- 

 tion and opinions of others. 



One great cause of the nuisance is the chimney-place 

 admitting too much cold air around, and especially above 

 the grate, for the proper draught, unless a rousing fire be 

 kept up. We all know that until the chimney gets heated, 

 all fires are apt to smoke, and the working classes, either from 

 poverty or economy, allow their fires to go out so as to require 

 frequent lighting; and at all times being small, the heat is 

 seldom sufficient for the ventilation. The making up of the 

 fire has much to do with smoke and unnecessary waste of time 

 and chips ; for the coals at first should be few, and in small 

 cobs, loosely arranged, so as not to cake close, and it is only 

 when well lighted that the full quantity of the larger coal and 

 slack should be added. The custom of placing a poker 

 through the centre of the fire, and the tongs or shovel across 

 it, I merely allude to from being connected with some super- 

 stitious notions, probably from forming the sign of the 

 cross; yet it certainly aids the kindling up of a weak fire, 

 more than the mechanical separation of the coals for draught 

 would seem to explain, and I should not be surprised to find 

 electrical phenomena attached to the arrangement. 



The desideratum with the chiinney-place, therefore, is its 



