6 Of the Management of Fire 



From the result of all my inquiries upon this subject, 

 I have been led to conclude that not less than seven 

 eighths of the heat generated, or which with proper 

 management might be generated, from the fuel actually 

 consumed, is carried up into the atmosphere with the 

 smoke, and totally lost. And this opinion has not been 

 formed hastily; on the contrary, it is the result of much 

 attentive observation, and of many experiments. But 

 in a matter of so much importance I feel it to be my 

 duty not merely to give the public my opinions, but to 

 lay before them the grounds upon which those opinions 

 have been founded, in order that every one may judge 

 for himself of the certainty or probability of my deduc- 

 tions. 



It would not be difficult, merely from a consideration 

 of the nature of heat, of the manner in which it is 

 generated in the combustion of fuel, and the manner 

 in which it exists when generated, to show that, as 

 the process of boiling is commonly performed, there 

 must of necessity be a very great loss of heat ; for when 

 the vessel, in which the fluid to be boiled is contained, 

 is placed over an open or naked fire, not only by far the 

 greater part of the radiant heat is totally lost, but also 

 of that which exists in the flame, smoke, and hot vapour, 

 a very small proportion only enters the vessel ; the rest 

 going off with great rapidity, by the chimney, into the 

 higher regions of the atmosphere. But, without insist- 

 ing upon these reasonings (though they are certainly 

 incontrovertible), I shall endeavour to establish the facts 

 in question upon still more solid ground, that of actual 

 experiment. 



In the prosecution of the experiments necessary in 

 this investigation, I proceeded in the following man- 



