April 21, 1870 | 
NATURE 
625 
After a somewhat diffuse essay on the hearth of the 
ancients—in which, by the way, the theory is too easily 
adopted that the Romans were entirely ignorant of the 
chimney—we come to the methods of our ancestors. Why 
the cosy folding screen must henceforth be given up, and 
why, in speaking of the introduction of the smoke-jack, 
the past services of the turnspit dog are entirely ignored, 
may be asked in passing. 
Page 17 introduces some interesting particulars of the 
first use of coal, and page 30 a well-merited eulogium on 
the labours of Count Rumford in the improvement of fire- 
grates, and we now approach the pith of the whole matter, 
namely—how to burn our coal so as to get the maximum of 
heat with the minimum of smoke and soot. (pp. 44 e¢. seg.) 
Here the author, having one excellent contrivance to re- 
commend (namely, Dr. Arnott’s smoke-consuming grate), 
has allowed himself to be unfair to other inventors whose 
grates for certain purposes are preferable. Of this class 
perhaps the most conspicuous example is the manner in 
which Taylor’s stove, manufactured by the Coalbrook- 
dale Co., is treated in the work before us. It is indeed 
mentioned (page 51) as an ingenious contrivance but full 
of deficiencies in practice, and as one which “ now appears 
to have become forgotten.” As respects its deficiencies, 
several instances are well known to us in which this grate 
of Mr. Taylor’s has given the greatest satisfaction. No 
unsightly contrivances—no troublesome machinery—a 
bright fire—the whole apartment pervaded by the fresh 
warm air brought from an external source to the back of 
the stove, and emitted from the radiating tiles—the chim- 
ney-sweeper’s visits for years dispensed with—such are 
some of its characteristics ; and as to its “having become 
forgotten,” assurance has been received from good autho- 
rity that the demand for these grates is well kept up. 
There are also several stoves which in a work like the 
present should have been noticed, e.g. Wright’s, Wood- 
cock’s, Rosser’s, and especially Galton’s. 
At page 54 the author discusses the recommendations 
of the committee appointed by the Board of Health, and 
gives some valuable comments upon them, and then pro- 
ceeds to consider the question of the Stove of the Future, 
in its materials and management. Nothing has been 
more clearly established than the superiority of fire-brick 
over iron for the “ fire-pot,” or actual inclosure of the fuel. 
But the benefit of this discovery has, as yet, only reached 
the upper and middle classes of society, “ but,” says the 
author, p. 66, “in small houses and in the apartments 
occupied by skilled and unskilled workmen, the use of 
fire-brick is unknown, so that those who most require to 
use economical grates are those who are most ill pro- 
vided. The working classes have either the most trumpery 
contrivances that Thames-street can furnish, and which 
are put into the fire-place at the smallest possible 
expense for labour and materials ; or they use, in streets 
which have become gradually deserted by the classes 
which once lived in them, the badly arranged fire-places 
of thirty or fifty years ago.” 
We hope that these valuable observations will not be 
lost. Such fire-places as Pierce’s Cottage Grate, de- 
scribed p. 39, are scarcely more expensive than the cheap 
and trumpery contrivances referred to, and if the proper 
arrangement of the chimney throat could also be se- 
cured in all newly constructed houses for the working- 
classes, the effect would be soon apparent both in favour 
of their health and of their pockets. 
This improvement of the chimney throat is described 
by the author p. 73, and consists in contracting the flue 
to its ordinary capacity at once at the top of the fire-place 
opening, instead of the more common practice of gather- 
ing it in by degrees. 
In p. 85, the plan of having a single main chimney- 
shaft for all fire-places which are situated in the same 
part of the house is advocated. It is not evident, from 
the text, whether the author is aware that this plan has 
been carried out, in several instances, in different parts 
of the country. It is a subject, certainly, which deserves 
more attention than it has yet received. 
In the last chapter (p. 90), the general warming of 
halls, corridors, &c., is considered. It may be mentioned 
in connection with the Russian and Swedish method 
referred to, that the Germans, who have hitherto adopted 
generally the same plan, are beginning to place the fire- 
front of the stove in the apartment that is to be warmed 
by it, instead of in the corridor, with the stove surface 
only in the apartment, and, as may be supposed, with a 
manifest improvement in the ventilation. 
This chapter is well worth attention: exception must, 
however, be taken to the way in which Gurney’s stove 
is mentioned, p. 108. “The prestige attaching to the 
name of its producer,” may, indeed, have not been with- 
out its use in obtaining for these stoves their first trial, 
but would hardly have been sufficient, apart from their 
intrinsic good qualities, to have obtained for them the 
wide reception both at home and abroad which they 
have had; or to have created the almost invariable satis- 
faction with which their use has been attended. 
The book is a useful contribution to the literature of the 
subject, and well illustrated by engravings. EGP 
OUR BOOK SHELF 
The Mammalia of Massachusetts. By J. A. Allen. 
(Trubner & Co.) 
FROM this carefully drawn-up report we learn that there 
are sixty-five mammals at present indigenous to this 
American State. The common ones, with a few excep- 
tions—as the mink (Pxforius lutreolus), weazel (P. ermz- 
neus), and skunk (JZeflutis mephitica), among the carni- 
vores ; Vespertilio subulatus and Lasiurus noveboracensis 
among the bats—belong to the families of the rodents, the 
squirrels, mice, and hares, and to the Balenide and Del- 
phinide, which latter are of course marine. The panther, 
moose, reindeer, elk, and beaver have comparatively 
recently become extinct. A notice is appended to 
the work by Prof. Agassiz, earnestly requesting friends to 
forward to him males, females, and young of almost any 
of the European mammals. Books on mammalia would 
be equally valued, and in exchange he offers on the part 
of the museum at Cambridge, U.S., representatives of the 
North American fauna and American books. 
Effects of Climate and Soil upon Plants.—Dze Abhangig- 
keit der Pflanzengestalt von Klima und Boden. Von 
A. Kerner. Pp. 48. (Innsbruck, 1869. London : 
Williams and Norgate.) 
THIS pamphlet is of greater importance than would be 
indicated by its mere size, as a contribution towards an 
investigation of the causes which lead to the diversities of 
floras, and hence towards a knowledge of the laws on 
which depends the great problem of the origin of species. 
M, Kerner has made a special study of the flora of the 
