324 Economy of Fuel. 



cient dwellings are perhaps contented, that they can by closing the 

 fire-place with aboard, and conveying through this the pipe of a 

 small stove, escape the dreariness incident to their former mode of 

 consuming fuel. They do not appear to imagine that as the gas is 

 red hot at the moment of entering the chimney, it would, if conduct- 

 ed a considerable distance within the apartments, be capable of im- 

 parting to the air of the room, several hundred degrees of its heat. 

 The admixture of unburnt air is the evil of open grates and fire 

 places ; the escape of hot gas without discharging hs proper office, 

 is that of close stoves as now generally arranged. 



The culinary operations of almost every family involve an im- 

 mense waste of heat, and of heat too which might be turned to 

 valuable account, were but a small portion of the ingenuity bestowed 

 on less important subjects turned towards that much neglected branch 

 of domestic operations. Philosophy is slow in descending to the 

 kitchen. Nineteen centuries of time, and twelve hundred leagues 

 of space, have not impaired the truth of the remark, 



" CoQTjus piaeter jus fervens, nihil novi potest imitari." 



Indeed, a new process or a new fashioned utensil is often regarded 

 by that important dignitary, as a signal for open hostility, or for a sul- 

 len retirement from the " place^^ which it has invaded. Hence from 

 ten to twenty cords of wood are annually consumed in many a family 

 for the sole purpose of cooking, while every other part of the estab- 

 lishment is supplied with anthracite. In economizing culinary heat, 

 it seems probable that at least one half of all the fuel usually consum- 

 ed in families may be saved. 



The method proposed to be substituted for that which has been 

 described, is one which has, under some modifications, been employ- 

 ed, to a limited extent, for heating public edifices, and on a still 

 more limited scale, for the warming of private buildings. It consists 

 in placing in the basement story, or in the cellar, (as the case may 

 be,) a single furnace capable of effecting the combustion of as much 

 fuel as will be required to heat all parts of the house. Where an- 

 thracite is employed, this arrangement is perhaps more desirable 

 than where any other fuel is used, because the labor of attendance 

 is then reduced to an amount utterly insignificant, compared with 

 the expense of fuel and is extremely small compared with what it 

 would be with some other kinds of combustibles. 



The furnace may be either of cast or rolled iron, the latter being 

 preferable on account of. its lightness and pliability ; the former, for 



