76 Economy of Fuel. (January, 
any attempt at economy, the reverse has been the case, and 
this increasing extravagance has only been temporarily 
checked by recent high prices. 
The common praétice in house building is to put the fire- 
grate immediately below and within a chimney; and, as 
this chimney is formed of brickwork, by no possibility can 
more than the most minute amount of heat be communicated 
from the chimney to the room. The main part of the 
conducted heat of the fire inevitably goes up the chimney, 
and is wasted, leaving the room to be warmed principally, if 
not entirely, by the radiated heat. Besides this, it must be 
remembered that, ordinarily speaking, no provision is made 
by architeéts or builders for the proper supply of air to the 
fire-places, and hence arise smoky chimneys and other evils 
of the present system. Here, then, is room for much 
improvement, and we are glad to perceive that the Society 
of Arts is giving its attention seriously to the matter, and it 
is to be hoped that some beneficial effects may be the result. 
As an evidence of how improved efficiency may be combined 
with economy, in this respect we may refer to Captain 
Douglas Galton’s fire-grate, on which a paper was read 
before the British Association at Norwich, in 1868. ‘This 
consists in putting a flue to the upper part of the fire-grate, 
which flue passes through a brick chamber formed in the 
ordinary chimney ; this chamber being supplied with air from 
the exterior of the room by a proper channel, and then the 
air, after being heated in conta¢t with the flue in the 
chamber, escapes into the room by openings near the ceiling, 
so that the room is supplied with a copious volume of warm 
fresh air, thus doing away with all tendency to draughts 
from the doors and windows, and furnishing an ample supply 
for the purposes of ventilation and combustion. 
