296 Of securing houses and their inhahitants from fire, 



pipes connected with them ; each of these reservoirs and pipes being 

 filled with warm water ; for experience has not directed us to any 

 convenient mode of conveying air thus warmed to the different apart- 

 ments and passages of a house. Nor is it needful to speak of the 

 introduction into our apartments of pipes containing water derived 

 from deep and powerful springs, or obtained (as it might be in some 

 cases) from running streams: in order to communicate to these 

 apartments an inferior, but yet an useful degree of warmth. This 

 warmth may indeed suffice for assemblages of active persons, (as in 

 manufactories,) or for large collections of persons generally ; but 

 cannot furnish that comfortable amount of warmth, satisfactory either 

 to individuals, or to small companies quietly seated in large apart- 

 ments in cold countries. 



7. It may be curious at least, if not useful, to notice some of the 

 methods used by foreigners for warming themselves by means of 

 fire. — First, there are braziers, (that isj open metallic pans,) con- 

 taining heated materials, which are in use in countries where the cold 

 is only occasional ; but these more or less contaminate the air above 

 them which is intended for respiration, at the same time that the 

 heat from them is furnished in an inconvenient manner. Yet they 

 may be of momentary use even in cold climates, when the air is 

 chilly or damp ; since they may easily be withdrawn, after having 

 furnished some warmth to an apartment before its proper fire has 

 been well kindled. Accordingly they are not unknown to some per- 

 sons in the United States ; the vessel containing the hot materials 

 being formed of thin sheets of iron, of an oblong shape, open at the 

 top, and resting upon slender iron legs ; and being consequently ea- 

 sily moved from place to place by means of long handles formed with 

 wire. — The German stoves (by the French called fours, or ovens,) 

 are large cavities generally made of pottery and brick work, which 

 advance through the side of a room, to a given distance into the 

 room ; being heated from without ; and although they admit no 

 change of air in the room, yet they seem to produce no great evil on 

 this account to those using them ; polluted air [malaria, as we may 

 call it,) in general arising more from vegetable than from animal im- 

 purities. A good judge of statistics belonging to this country, is said 

 to have discovered one advantage in the employment of these stoves 

 among the Germans in Pennsylvania ; namely, that they virtually 

 produce an economy of time among these people, which has not a 

 little contributed to their prosperity ; inasmuch, as by the aid of these 

 stoves, they are always able to continue at their work within doors. 



