On Heating by Hot Water. 



tiful, but much neglected tribe of stove-aquatics. The culture of 

 these plants has become almost extinct, solely, I believe, on account 

 of an almost universal failure in managing them, and this failure has 

 entirely resulted from the improper construction and position of the 

 cisterns in which they are grown. In the few houses where cisterns 

 are introduced, they are generally provided more for use than orna- 

 ment, the position in which they are placed, and the materials of which 

 they are constructed, forbid their being warmed, and in fact the tem- 

 perature of the water contained in them is always some degrees below 

 that of the house. Under these circumstances no tender aquatics will 

 flourish : but if the cisterns be placed above the pipes, as here re- 

 commended, and formed of slate, their temperature will always by a 

 few degrees exceed the mean temperature of the house, and if their 

 situation be light enough stove-aquatics will flourish in them in 

 great perfection. 



It may be observed that this arrangement meets the necessity of 

 the case with exceeding accuracy, for condensation is greatest, and 

 consequently the atmosphere is most rapidly dried when external 

 air is coldest, and a great artificial heat is maintained ; and at this 

 very time the increased heat of the pipes increases the evaporation 

 from the cisterns. But to ensure this result the cisterns employed 

 must be above the level of the heating pipes, and, if possible, directly 

 over them. 



The foregoing suggestions are intended to convey a few brief and 

 practical hints to those who possess or may be about to erect hot 

 water apparatus. For more minute details the work of Mr. C. Hood, 

 above referred to, may be most advantageously consulted. Ample 

 information will there be found on a subject, which is far more 

 extensive, and which involves much more of scientific research and 

 calculation, than is generally supposed, and to those who may take 

 the trouble to consult it, it will be no longer a matter of surprise, 

 that the earlier essays in heating by hot-water were frequently 

 unsuccessful. 



