FAEMEPwS' HOUSES. 327 



centre of each side, so that it can be turned, the upper end outward, the lower 

 end inward, or vice versa ; or, to prevent breakage, a thin board painted white, 

 or a piece of tin or zinc, may be made to replace the glass. A similar arrange- 

 ment in new houses Avill have its conveniences. But in every room this device 

 ghould be near the ceiling, above the fireplace. For ordinary rooms the ori- 

 fice should be a foot long and five or ten inches broad, arranged so that a cord 

 shall open or close it, without the necessity of getting on a chair or step-ladder. 

 There should be a door opposite every fireplace. This dimmi.-^hcs the chanci-s 

 of having a smoky chimney, for in fire-time of year the cold air will be always 

 entering the room at the crevices of the door, and in the direction of the fire- 

 place, and upward through the chimney. The draught of a chimney may be 

 increased by the simple expedient of cutting out a small part of the floor with 

 a saw, so that it may be easily replaced after the fire is kindled. No chimney 

 will "draw" well if there is any wall or other thing near which is higher than 

 the chimney itself. 



In building a house in the country it will save expense and trouble, besides 

 preparing the way for a great deal of comfort on emergencies, to have a neat 

 opening left for a stove-pipe near the ceiling in every room in the house, so 

 that, in case of excessive cold weather, a common stove for burning Avood (or 

 coal) may be put up, and thus have the facilities of making at least each room 

 in the house comfortably warm during any "spell" of bitter cold weather, and 

 warmed, too, at a comparatively small expense ; for let it be remembered that 

 with a common fireplace or grate more than one-half the heat goes up the 

 chimney, and is an utter waste. The longer a stove-pipe the more heat id 

 saved in a room ; hence the advantage of having the arrangement for receiving 

 the stove-pipe near the ceiling. Many persons, for the sake of appearance, or 

 a mistaken notion of economy as to the cost of pipe, have the pipu adjusted so 

 as to open into the fireplace, by which a very large amount of heat is lost. 



Much has been said of the injurious efiects of a dry stove air, and to obviate 

 this it has been recommended that a vessel of water be kept standing on the stovu. 

 If this is left to be attended to by the servants it is far better to have nothing 

 of the kind, because, unless the pan is of white stone-ware, and is emptied, 

 washed, and filled with pure fresh water every three or four hours, it collects 

 dust, dirt, gases, and emanations which, by being kept warm, generate a most 

 pernicious malaria, which is much more likely to produce disease than a simple 

 dry air. It should be remembered that a room is very little ventilated, and 

 even that very slowly, by simply opening a folding door. Many persons igno- 

 rantly, and to their own injury, rely upon this method of ventilation when they 

 Bleep in the same room in which a fire has been kept all day ; and for this rea- 

 son, also, every chamber should have a ventilation arranged in the original 

 construction of the house. 



The coolest part of a room in warm weather for sleeping is the floor ; but, by 

 the operation of the same law of nature, that cool air is heavy and falls to the 

 surface. The healthiest part of a chamber in very cold weather is the higher. 

 A sleeping person consumes two hogsheads of air an hour — that is, deprives it 

 of all its oxygen, and replaces it with carbonic acid gas, which is a negative 

 poison, leaving it so destitute of any life-giving property that the person breath- 

 ing it will die in a short time. This is the operation going on in a close room 

 where charcoal is burning in an open vessel. The oxygen is consumed in 

 burning the coal, and its place is supplied by carbonic acid. 



Cold condenses this carbonic acid, makes it heavy, and causes it to settle on 

 the floor. It has been so condensed by cold as to be made visible in the shape 

 of a snow-white substance, just as the invisible warm moist air by the application 

 of cold is reduced to mist, to dew, to rain-drops, and to solid hail-stones. 



There are some localities in Italy and elscAvhere into Avhich, if a man and 

 bis dog come, the dog Avill die in a minute or two, while his master will remain 



