2-20 SCIENCE IN SHORT CHAPTERS. 



means they give off their heat to the large surface of iron 

 plate, and enter the chimney at a comparatively low tem- 

 perature. The heat is radiated into the apartment from 

 the large metal surface, no part of which approaches a red- 

 heat. A further economy is commonly effected by placing 

 this iron pillar in the wall separating two rooms, so that 

 one of its faces is in each room. Thus two rooms are 

 heated by one fire. One of these may be the kitchen, and 

 the same fire that prepares the food may be used to warm 

 the dining-room. The fire-worshiper is of course de- 

 prived of his "cheerful" occupation of staring at the coals, 

 and he also loses his playthings, as neither poker, tongs, 

 nor coal-scuttle are included in the furniture of an apart- 

 ment thus heated. People differently constituted consider 

 that an escape from the dust, dirt, and clatter of these is a 

 decided advantage. 



Of course these stoves of our northern neighbors are 

 costly may be very costly when highly ornamental. The 

 stove of a Norwegian "bonder," or peasant proprietor, 

 costs nearly half as much as the two-roomed wooden house 

 in which it is erected, but the saving it effects renders it 

 a good investment. It would cost 100?. or 200/. to fit up 

 an English mansion with suitable porcelain stoves of the 

 Eussian pattern, but a saving of 201. a year in fuel would 

 yield a good return as regards mere cost, while the gain in 

 comfort and healthfulness would be so great that, once en- 

 joyed and understood, such outlay would be willingly made by 

 all who could afford it, even if no money saving were effected. 



Only last week I was discussing this question in a rail- 

 way carriage, where one of my fellow-passengers was an 

 intelligent Holsteiner. He confirmed the heresy by which 

 I had shocked the others, in exulting in the high price of 

 coal, and wishing it to continue. He told us that when 

 wood was abundant in his country, fuel was used as bar- 

 barously, as wastefully, and as inefficiently as it now is 

 here, but that the diforesting of the land, and the great 

 cost of fuel, forced upon them a radical reform, the result 

 of which is that they now have their houses better warmed, 

 and at a less cost than when fuel was obtainable at one 

 fourth of its present cost. 



