The Rock Island daily Argus. [volume] (Rock Island, Ill.) 1872-1873, 1873-12-02
HOT AIR FURNACES.
The Machines that are Used in Some Cities e
Murder schnol Children.


tFrmn the New York Timesl
With the facilities at our command it
would not be easy 10 form anything like an
accurate estimate Of the number OF deaths
that have resulted in the cities and towns
Of thi. country, during the past ten years,
from the system ofheating employed in the
majority OF houses. Mr. Carl Pfeiffer, IN
his very interesting paper on SANITARY
Relations and Health Principles of Arehi-
lecture" delivered last week before the
American Health association, took particu-
lar pains to point out the effect OF furnace
heat upon the human constitution. The
hot-air furnace, in its present form, was,
according TO Mr.. Pfeiffer-"frst employed
at the end Of the last century by a MIR.
Strut of Beper, near Derby, for warming
his cotton mills, and was soon after intro
duced into general use. Its distinctive
feature is that its application OF fire heat
20 metallic surfaces is direct one, without
the Intervention of either water or steam,
and it is this feature, which, in my view,
makes IL utterly Objectionable except, per
haps, In cases where the object is merely
10 produce drying and warming effect Of
considerable intensity for specific manutact-
uring or laundry purposes. IN all other
cases IL is ~ be utterly condemned. Indeed,
there seems 20 be a general concession
that the heat produced by hot-air furnaces
is Of the most injurious character in its in
fuence upon health Dizziness, GOODNESS
and languor in the extremities, feebleness
of pulse, fainting 6ts-such are some OF
the svmptons that have everywhere been
noticed 10 accompany this mode Of heating,
undermining health in its most susceptible
departmental nervous organization
Air heated thus artiicially, without con
tact of water, acquires an aridity which
causes it rapidly 10 absorb moisture from
the skin and lungs Of persons exposed e
its influences, and the evaporation, by It's
refrigerating effect, contracts the blood
vessels at the surface, while other parts
not being exposed "a this influence, become
In consequence, surcharged with the fluid
which are repealed from the extremities.
The very best authorities agree as to tn,
injurious influence OF hot air when not mod
fled by vapor of water. The doctors hav
hitherto only very feebly protested agains
the hot air furnace Indeed, we ventur
To say that scores Of them have given tn
matter so little attention that this fruitful
agent of disease would be found doing it
deadly work in their own houses.
Many young girl has been hastened t
the grave through a tondness for SEWN
OF reading over the register. In home
where stoves are exclusively employed 10
heating purposes, the danger IRON dry a
Is BY no means incousiderable. The hei
rndiated In this way is capable of mOditici
tion. Very few modern stoves are withoI
facilities for warming water. yet il woul
be safe TO say that in fifty cases out
eyery hundred they are neglected. Il
carefully keeping the water-warmers fille'
the atmosphere may bc maintained suth
iently moist for healthy respiration.
failure 10 do 50 will cause the nervous di
orders referred 10 by Mr.. Pteiifer, just ;
surely. IL not speedily, as the bGghtir
breath of the furnace. There is anoth
noint In connection with the subject Of no
air furnaces which ought not TO be lost sig
OF IL is that in regard 70 the decompo'
ti,p Of animal and vegetable matter by Il
action Of dry heat. During the war
weather theflues which connect the furna
with the rooms up stairs draw into the
BY degrees vast quantity Of the partlcl
that emanate from human bodies. VIII
the first cold SNAP comes, the furnace
set going at full blast. Decomposition ;
gins almost immediately, and the odor pi
duced has often caused surprisein the IA
ilv. To find a reason for the dread
smell has perpexed many an hon'
house keeper When the head OF the Ia
lis returns from the city, exhausted by I
labors Of the day, he is knocked dow
by IL. The consequences very often
display of bad temper and spoiled d
nor The wife, driven to her wits ends
find a solution for the mystery, arrives
the conclusion, 6ually, that the untortr
ate man who was paid for cleaning the +
mace had given no equivalent tor the mon
Not a comforting conclusion, It is true, J
Just one, so far as the cleaner was c.
cerned, but the only one that could be co
10 by a person lacking the knowledge VIII
is supplied in the paper OF Mr. Pfeiii
There are few house keepers who have
innocently done the furnace cleaner I'M
tice oftener than once Mr. Hood, VIII
given as an authority on this question, sa
Not only Wilt the hot-air furnace, VIII
is particularly liable to these objections
powerfully in decomposiug the floating
ticles Of extfaneous matter contained
the air, resolving them into sulphurett
phosphuretted aud carburetted hydroe
with vafious compounds Of nitrogen
carbon. but IL will likewise decomposc
norton Of the vapor contained in the
absorbing the oxygen and liberating
hydrogen
Surely facts ike these ought to be SD
lent 20 convince the most stubborn fire
Of the furnace Of their error in keeping
any longer.
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