THE TWENTIETH CENTURY HOUSE. 673 
An ample and continuous supply of hot water is, in a 
modern house, an absolute necessity; and it will no doubt 
have been noted that the abolition of the coal fire range cuts 
off the hot water supply. It may be met by an American 
invention called the ‘‘ Vulcan water-heater,’ which consists 
of a galvanised-iron water cylinder, and a small separate 
copper coil heated by gas, much the same in principle as the 
well-known bath-heaters. A _ thirty-gallon apparatus of 
this kind can be purchased in Sydney for nine pounds, and 
it is claimed that it will heat in three-quarters of an hour, 
and can be kept going for three halfpence per hour with 
gas at 4s. per thousand feet. For a small houshold this . 
will no doubt suffice, but if a larger supply is needed I am 
inclined to think a vertical self-feeding boiler in a small 
cellar would be better, and certainly cheaper. With a 
good reservoir for coal, charging twice a day should suffice. 
Such a boiler would also afford a perfectly sanitary method 
of speedily getting rid of kitchen refuse, which if allowed 
to collect, even for 24 hours, in a hot climate is a source-of 
danger to health. 
In a servantless house every kind of work that can be 
deputed to outsiders will be, and therefore the washing of 
clothes and linen need not detain us—it must be done at a 
laundry ; but a desirable reform is the provision of a proper 
receptacle for soiled. linen which can be easily disinfected 
and cleansed. It should be kept outside, rather than inside 
the dwelling, say on a back verandah. For the drying of 
damp garments, or airing insufficiently dried linen, a drying 
chamber should be provided in connection with the hot 
water cylinder or boiler.. 
The sending out of linen to wash suggests the possibility 
of putting out the cooking as well; and one of the reforms 
of the near future in all populous centres is likely to be 
the establishment of co-operative kitchens, from which meals 
will be distributed to dwellings in the vicinity at probably 
little, if any, greater cost than those prepared at home. 
The economy in purchasing food wholesale, and in cooking 
in large quantities, is great, and would certainly pay for the 
cost of delivery. In fact, this method is already adopted 
in large institutions, such as hospitals, asylums, barracks, 
gaols, and other aggregations of humanity. The carts, 
trucks, or delivery vans are kept hot by tins of hot water. 
and in Sweden the system is actually in work for private 
dwellings, felt-lined boxes being used which conserve the 
heat of the food for a considerable length of time. With 
the supply of food might be combined the supply of 
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