16 O' 
De Witt, in which a method is described to accomplish this 
object. The conducted heat, also, which is usually carried 
away through the hearth and walls of a fire-place, may cer¬ 
tainly be prevented from being lost. By a very simple con¬ 
trivance, on the most obvious principle, it may be conveyed 
into the room, and employed in warming it with great profit 
It is to the means of doing this that I wish particularly to 
invite your attention. 
The burning of fuel in every fire-place, by heating and 
ratifying the air around it, always produces an ascending 
current in consequence of which, much air is constantly car¬ 
ried out of the room. Whatever quantity escapes in this 
way, the same quantity must come into the room some other 
way, to supply its place. If the room is so tight that the 
external air can find no admittance into it, there will be no 
current ascending the chimney when a fire is kindled, and 
the whole apartment will be soon filled with smoke. This 
necessary quantity of air, usually enters into rooms through 
apertures in the doors, windows and floors ; by which means 
the air of such rooms, in cold weather, is cooled nearly as 
fast as it can be warmed by the fire. Now it is plain that if 
you can admit the requisite quantity of air through openings 
somewhere about the walls of your fire-places, where it will 
be heated before it is introduced into the room, and then 
make your doors and windows perfectly close, a double ad¬ 
vantage will be gained. Much heat from the fire will be 
obtained, which otherwise would be lost, and the room will 
be constantly receiving warm air instead of cold ; the con¬ 
sequence of which will be that the remotest corners of your 
apartment will be of a uniform and agreeable temperature. 
There will be a free circulation of fresh, but warm, air; and 
much less than the ordinary quantity of fuel will be suffi¬ 
cient to keep you comfortable in the coldest weather. 
With these views, my brother, Mr. Simeon De Witt, 
whom I have already mentioned, had a close stove con¬ 
structed, which he has used for two or three years past with 
