Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1873-11-26
HOt-Air Furnaces.

The question how to heat the house most
economically is now varied to mbrace the fur
Their enquiry how it can be heated to avoid doc
tors and undertAkeTs' bills. A good deal is
being said in this connection in medical and
scientific journals in denunciatiOn of the air
killing furnace and close stove; and some Of the
newspapers have taken the matter up. Dr.
Carl PfeIfier, in an interesting paper on "San-
itary Relations and Health Principles of Archi-
lecture" delivered last week before the Amer
lcan Health Association, took particular pains
20 point out the effect of furnace heat upon the
human constitution. The hOt-air furnace in
It's present form. was, according to DR. Pfeif-
ier-''hrSt employed at the end of the last CEN
fury BY Mr. Strut, of Beper, near Derby, for
warming his cotton mills, and was soon after in
tIoduced into general use. Its distinctive
feature Is that its application of fire heat to
metalhc surfaces Is "a direct one, without the
intervention Of either water or steam and il is
tlls feature which, in my view, makes II ut
terry Objectionable, except, perhaps, in cases
where the object is merely to produce a driving
ana warming effect of considerable intensity
LOT sltSlhc manufacturing or laundry pur-
roses In all other cases il Is TO be utterly con
demned. Indeed, there seems TO be a general
concession that the heat produced by hOt-air
furnaces Is OF the most injurious character in
lls influence upon health. Dizziness. cOItuesS
and languOr in the eNtremitieS. Ce5bicnesS of
pulse, taluting hts-suCh are some Of the svmn-
toms mat have everywhere been noticed to
hSNotIINAiN ALts 1Iutt OF NeAtlny, undermine
health III its most susceptible teparrmprt-tNe
nervous organization. Air heated thus arti-
hclaIly' without contact OF water, acquires an
arldlty which causes 10 rapidly to abs srb moist
ure IRON the skin and lungs OF persons exposef
TO Its influence. and the evaporation by it,
reiIlgeratlng effect, contracts the blOod-vessels
az me surface, while other parts not being ex-
posed 70 this influence become, in conseq uence,
surchaTged with the fluids which are reDeIIed
IRON the eNtremities.''
The New York Times referring TO the stat
ments of Prot. Pfeifier. saws the best authorities
agree as TO the injurious influence of hot air
when not modified by vapOr OF water. Many a
young girl has been FASTENED to the grave
through fondness for sewing or reading s'oyer
the register" In houses where stoves are OK
clusively employed for heating purposes. the
danger from dry air is by no means inconsider-
able The heat radiated in this way is capable
OF modification. Very few modern stoves are
without facilities for warming water, vet il
would De safe to say that in fifty cases out o.
every hundred they are neglected. By care
iully keeping the wster-warmers filed, the at
mosphere may be maintained sufficiently moist
for healthy respiration. A failure to do 80 will
cause the nervous disorders referred to bv
Nr. pfeifier. just as surely, if not as speedily.
az the bliyn1,. breath OF the furnace
There is another point In connection VIII the
subject OF ot-air furnaces which ought not to
be lost sight Of. 1t is that in regard to the de-
composition Of animal and vegetable matter by
the action Of dry heat. During the warm
weather the fues which connect the furnace
with the rooms up stairs draw into them by de-
grees vast quantity OF the particles that ema-
nate from human bodies. When the first cold
SNAP comes, the furnace is set going at full
blast Decomposition begins almost immedi-
ateiy, and the OdOr produced has often caused
surprise in the family. Mr.. Hood, who is given
as an authority on this question, SAYS:
" Not on;y will the hot air furnace, which is
particularly liable to these objections, act pow
erfully IN deeomposing the floating particles of
eAtraneous matter contained in the air, resolv-
ng them into suphuretted, phosphuretted and
esrburetted hydrogen, with various compounds
OF nitrogen and carbon, but it will likewise de-
compose a portion of the vapor cont aimed in
the air, absorbing the oxygen and nberating
the hydrogen"