and the Economy of Fuel. 21 



this kind, or something similar to it, might, in many 

 cases, be applied to useful purposes. No contrivance 

 can possibly be invented by which heat can be com- 

 municated to fluids with so little loss ; and as wood is 

 not only an excellent non-conductor of heat itself, but 

 may easily be surrounded by confined air, by furs, and 

 other like bodies which are known to be useful in con- 

 fining heat, the loss of heat, by the sides of a contain- 

 ing vessel composed of wood, might be almost entirely 

 prevented. 



Why should not the boilers for large salt-works and 

 breweries, and those destined for other similar processes, 

 in which great quantities of water are heated or evap- 

 orated, be constructed of wood, with horizontal tubes 

 of iron or of copper, communicating with the fire-place, 

 and running through them, for the circulation of the 

 smoke ? But this is not the place to enlarge upon this 

 subject: I shall therefore leave it for the present, and 

 return to my kitchens. 



To prepare the soup furnished to the poor from the 

 kitchen of the House of Industry, it was found neces- 

 sary to keep up the fire near five hours ; the soup, in 

 order to its being good, requiring to be kept actually 

 boiling above three hours. 



The fuel made use of in this kitchen was dry beech- 

 wood; a cord of which (or klafter, as it is called), 5 

 English feet 8 T 9 - inches long, 5 feet 8^ inches high, 

 and 3 feet ij inches wide, and which weighed at an 

 average about 2200 Bavarian pounds (= 2724 Ibs. 

 avoirdupois), cost at an average about 5^ florins 

 (= 9.9. 6W. sterling) in the market. 



Of this wood the daily consumption, when soup was 

 provided for 1000 persons, was about 300 Ibs. Bavarian 



