392 TRANSACTIONS OF THE AMERICAN INSTITUTE. 



large quantities of meat than gas or alcohol. But for a small 

 family, requiring a small fire for a few minutes only, the saving 

 of the fuel employed in kindling the fire, and left to burn away 

 after the fire had been used, together with the saving of time, 

 will make alcohol cheaper than coal. Gas would be cheaper 

 than alcohol, but it is objectionable on account of its quality, 



Mr. Rowell said that the reason for the difficulty in browning 

 meat in the oven was that the upper part of the oven was filled 

 with steam. If a hole is made in one corner to let off this 

 steam, there will be no difficulty. 



Mr. Simpson had used a gas stove resembling this, having a 

 partition near the back, and a ventilation in the back, taking the 

 steam from the top of the oven. There was no difficulty in 

 browning, excepting when the ventilator was accidentally closed. 



Mr. Babcock remarked that gas would more readily brown 

 than alcohol, in consequence of the water mixed Avith the latter. 



Mr. Johnson said that the gas stoves had been put in many 

 houses, and had generally been discarded in consequence of the 

 perfectly' villainous odor when in use. It ought never to be used 

 in the house. 



Mr. Seely considered that an unnecessary nuisance. If a 

 brimstone match is lighted in a room, it is at. once perceptible ; 

 but the gas ma}^ be burning all the evening, and there is not 

 enough sulphur burned to attract anybody's attention. Portable 

 apparatus for cooking on a small scale is not adapted for the use 

 of the army ; for then the cooking should be done for the com- 

 pany or the regiment, and not for individuals. Wood and coal 

 can be obtained in the locality; so that they need apparatus 

 which will be adapted to wood and coal, rather than to gas or 

 alcohol. 



Mr. Johnson. — When gas forms light there is no objection to 

 it; but when it is used to form heat, and the products of com- 

 bustion are not taken directly into the chimney, they are so 

 offensive that this use of gas is abandoned by those who have 

 tried it. 



Mr. Seely. — The reason is that the flame is brought in contact 

 with tlie article to be heated too soon. Hold a cold plate over 

 a gas flame and it will be covered with lamp black, and there 

 will be an odor from it, because the compound is only partially 

 burned. A Bunsen burner, I think, can always be burned so as 

 not to produce this odor. 



