446 On the Construction of Kitchen 



cency, and mortally offends eve'ry principle of good 

 taste and elegant refinement, I am very, very far from 

 wishing to diminish the expenses of the rich. 



I well know that the free circulation of the blood is 

 not more essentially necessary to the health of a strong 

 athletic man than the free and rapid circulation of 

 money is necessary to the prosperity of a great man- 

 ufacturing and commercial country, whose power at 

 home and abroad is necessarily maintained at a great 

 expense. 



Those who would take the trouble to meditate pro- 

 foundly on the influence which taxes and luxury neces- 

 sarily have, and ever must have, in promoting that circu- 

 lation, would, I am confident, become more reconciled 

 to the present state 'of things, and less alarmed at the 

 progressive increase of public and private expense. 



It is apathy and a general corruption of taste (which 

 is inseparably connected with avarice and a corruption 

 of morals], and not the progress of elegant refinement, 

 that is a symptom of national decline. 



But to return to my subject. The boiler above rec- 

 ommended (see Fig. 78) is peculiarly well adapted for 

 being used with the small portable furnaces described 

 in the eleventh chapter of this Essay ; and, as these 

 furnaces will not be expensive, I would strongly rec- 

 ommend them for the use of poor families, to be used 

 with the utensils I have just been describing. 



A cast-iron portable furnace, with one of these boilers 

 and one of the cheap tea-kettles described in the last 

 chapter, which might all be purchased for a small sum, 

 would be a most valuable acquisition to a poor family. 

 It would not only save them a great deal in fuel and in 

 time employed in watching and keeping up the fire in 



