The Republican journal., 1869-11-25
WARMING HOUSES.


tat the best method of consuming it, 50 as to Weld
Inc greatest profit
This word profit Is complex term, including
several things; the money cost, the amount of
health and comfort resulting from ii, &c Yet, in
cstilnatng the comparative cost OF different kinds
vi fires which includes fuel and the various fix
lures for burning IT, most people Judge by the
money rv-t Of those things merely; Int nothing
riu bc more erroneous; tol the health and comfort
aonsidelaton, in money point of view, may he
ts much--perhaps more--as the cost OF fuel and
hXturrs, Thus the winters fire Of family with
good health the result may be cheap at 500, or
Hear At $50 with much sickness in consequence.
Hence IN deciding how Il dwelling shall be warm
~ these four ideas must always come into account:
to, colspalatiye cost of fuel and Of the apparatus
for burning il, and the amount Of health and Of
comfort the different methods will afford.
From our own experience for many years, with
some reading the subject ana quite large obscr-
WALTON among the people, we Judge that regarding
simply the first of these ideaS-the money cost
-oal compared to wood, when easily obtained, is
much the cheapest. Peat of which we spoke iast
week has not been enough tried ~ come into the
comparison. Kut when the health ami oomiort eic-
ments Are taken into account, much doubt
whether even in the matter 0t money cost any adj
Aalce has been made in heating dwellings over the
good wood fires of the times ot yore. So impress
sd are we with this idea, arising from seeing so
much discomfort and I-heath from the present
stove ana furnace methods, that il constructing
dwelling the open fireplace for wood should be
tbe ono.
FOKHAcEs These IN large dwellings and among
The wealthy are now the chiet warming machinery
bat a. usually conducted and run hardly ANYTHING
SO protilless, because harmful to health. Never
did we one thai did not throw large amount
ai the products of carbon and of sulphur, in the
gaseous orins into the room to poison the air and
the people which nhale it; usually killing them by
such slow degrees as to skulk away under some
other nalne--iebihty, diptheria, consumption, &C.;
sometimes 50 suddenly as to have TO bear the odium
Df being the murderer Recently we read of Il
gentleman and his wife having been found dead in
bed one morning, the poisonous gases from the fur
n1ee in the cellar having entered their sleeping
apartment, causing stupetactOn, asphyXia IN
death. And few days since, the wife and son of
capt. hartman, OF this city, had "A narrow escape
nom similar death. For, r'mcmber, that while this
'drDonc acid gas-the one that does the most killing
is of itself heavier than air. would sink to the bot
tom ANA dc no hatin elsewhere yet or higher pur-
pose il oheys a higher law for minglmg with
mediums lighter than itself like the air it is borne
upward by them lis on wings, and floats whittier
these lighter airs may wait il: SO that :. leakv ,,r
htne IN the basement may, and does diftuse these
poisonous gases All through to tha very attic.
Nausea, gddlncss, headache and sore throat are
usual effects Of inhaling small quantities of those
gases, and are the symptoms declaring the poison
ing is going on; and seldom 40 we remain an hour
iu buildings so warmed without experiencing a of
Them. MANY complain they cannot keen nlants in
buildings heated hv furnaces: the reason is thpse
gases poison and Kin the plants and if plants v,l,v
oot people5 No fact i, better established and
Nlieu ought 40 he widely known, lnil tniu an IN
winch plants Wi not thrive Is entirely mhealthtui
''AN uhht iot alAA' NE. II Inc pt'htS iook SICK
T. "UA' hoNVi' ""1 give oUJ generally uOh
"'i"ti why you NHi' 'old an the Time, sore
tu"~ q cough tnd feel uiscJabll all over and
through
STOVES The numbers and kinds of these are
legion, but may be reduced TO about four rasSes :
The Franklin and ar-tigbt Ton wood; the open
elHie and ga9-burncr for coal.
A. 70 the relative merits OF Jheae, we believe the
cid Franklin which is only an iron fireplace, Civ
S S"ou Nthllltioh anu passing ille hoA"tIS gases
uH hto lie ar the very pest thal ever HAS BEEN
"f perhaps ever VIII Dc invented; causing indeed
some loss of heat, bul amply making it up in the
greater comfort and the saving of nurses and doe
Tors biliS.
Next 10 this both a, ii saving of fuel and as the
best promoting health Is The sheet iron air-tight
now rustlng and forgotten III the garrets II con
suIned but little wood, was cheap, heat up well,
and leaving the dmnper open to let the evil gases
off into the chimney, il was the most healthful of
ali close stove contrivanees. And Of all the things
10 use ior warming sick rooms we greatly prefer 1t
10 al others except the open wood lire. Like many
people 1t has gone ou OF favor to give place to a far
worse Set OF fellows, having been crowded out by
ht iron artisht, still much III use but it has
been amply demonstrated both in this country and
IN Europe that all cast iron, being very porous
permits those poisonous gases to weep through in
to the room, just as air can be blown through Dor
ouS WootS which malleable iron VIII not do This
explains one source OF the leakage of gas in east
ron furnaces.
The worst OF all stoves, we believe, is the open
coal stove pr gratei becauSe while Wastcful Of fuel
Ihe draft Is seldom sufficient to carry the noxious
gases ny chimney, which flow into the room and
make tho air totally unfit for respiration. We
never enter such room Without feeling the nausea
and gitldiness which the certain proof that car
Neuc aCld ana It's ln0rc deadly oxide are present IN