96 THE ADDRESSES, LECTURES, ETC., OF 



feel stuffy. These are, in my opinion, very weighty objections, 

 and economy would not be worth having if it could only be 

 obtained at the expense of health and comfort. But there is at 

 least one grate that combines an increased amount of comfort 

 with reasonable economy, and which, although accessible to all, 

 is yet very little used. I .refer to Captain Galton's " Ventilating 

 Fireplace," of which you observe a diagram upon the wall. This 

 fireplace does not differ in external appearance from an ordinary 

 grate, except that it has a higher brick back, which is perforated 

 at about midheight to admit warmed air into the fire so as to burn 

 a large proportion of the smoke which is usually sent up the 

 chimney unburnt, for no better purpose than to poison the atmo- 

 sphere which we have to breathe. 



The chief novelty and merit of Captain Galton's fireplace con- 

 sists, however, in providing a chamber at the back of the grate, 

 into which air passes directly from without, becomes moderately 

 heated (to 84 Fahr.), and, rising in a separate flue, is injected 

 into the room under the ceiling with a force due to the heated 

 ascending flue. A plenum of pressure is thus established within 

 the room whereby indraughts through doors and windows are 

 avoided, and the air is continually renewed by passing away 

 through the fireplace chimney as usual. Thus the cheerfulness of 

 an open fire, the comfort of a room filled with fresh but moderately 

 warmed air, and great'economy of fuel, are happily combined with 

 unquestionable efficiency and simplicity ; and yet this grate is 

 little used, although it has been fully described in papers com- 

 municated by Captain Galton, and in an elaborate report made by 

 General Morin, le Directeur du Conservatoire des Arts et Metiers 

 of Paris, which has also appeared in the English language. 



The slowness with which this unquestionable improvement finds 

 practical application is due, in my opinion, to two circumstances, 

 the one is, that Captain Galton did not patent his improvement, 

 which makes it nobody's business to force it into use, and the other 

 may be found in the circumstance that houses are, to a great 

 extent, built only to le sold and not to le lived in. A builder 

 thinks it a good speculation to construct a score of houses after a 

 cheap design, in order to sell them, if possible, before completion, 

 and the purchaser immediately puts up the standard bill of 

 " Desirable Residences to Let." You naturally would think that 



