200 KEPORTS ON THE STATE OP SCIENCE. — 1916. 



is burnt daily throughout the whole year. Hence it would appear that 

 the kitchen is responsible for the greater part of our annual domestic 

 fuel bill, and, therefore, the question of the relative efficiencies of 

 kitchen ranges, gas and electric cookers, and hot-water supply apparatus 

 assumes considerable importance. 



Again, the selection or recommendation of particular means or 

 apparatus for domestic heating cannot always be based simply upon the 

 question of thermal efficiency, because it also involves considerations 

 of a physiological and even of a psychological character. Thus, for 

 example, systems of central heating which have been recommended on 

 grounds chiefly of thermal efficiency, and which are so universally used 

 in America and on the Continent, are not usually acceptable to the 

 average Englishman, who undoubtedly prefers to be warmed by the 

 radiation from a bright fire. 



This being so, the Sub-Committee feels that it will be wise to 

 recognise at the outset that there is probably no single solution of the 

 domestic heating problem which is likely to be universally adopted 

 within any measurable period of time; and that, therefore, it should 

 preferably concentrate its efforts upon questions of more immediat-e 

 practical importance. 



It will be generally agreed that any reform in domestic fuel con- 

 Bumption should aim at achieving one or more of the following objects, 

 namely : — 



(1) Actual reduction in cost of domestic heating, either in the 



form of direct saving of fuel or labour, or both ; 



(2) Mitigation or abolition of the domestic smoke nuisance ; and 



(3) Better hygienic conditions in living-apartments generally. 



The Sub-Committee can perhaps best discharge its duties by con- 

 sidering how far the various systems now available for domestic heat- 

 ing fulfil such requirements, and how they may severally be installed 

 and operated to the best advantage. 



In order to do this the Sub-Committee has arranged for experiments 

 to be carried out with the object of determining how to produce in a 

 given room suitably warm and healthy conditions at a minimum cost 

 and with a minimum production of smoke, and how such conditions 

 may be defined for any particular room. Also, experimental work is 

 being carried out upon the relative efficiencies of coal fires, gas fires, 

 electric heaters, and the like. 



Inasmuch, however, as in this country the use of the open coal fire 

 will probably continue for some time to come, and as there are un- 

 doubtedly great economies to be immediately realised by the wider adop- 

 tion of improved fire-grates, the Sub-Committee will pay special atten- 

 tion to the question of improvements in the construction and installa- 

 tion of such grates, to which the attention of architects, builders, and 

 the public generally ought to be drawn. 



Arising out of the present extensive use of solid fuel in domestic 

 fires, the Sub-Committee will also consider the important question of 

 the prospects of substituting for raw coal some form of carbonised fuel 



