Evening star., 1926-03-24
The Fireside Fancy.

Old Mr.. Gilchrist made few remarks
throughout the Winter, though
should like to know what he thought
about the coal conspiracy, the coke
combine, the gas grab ana so on
When the worst of it was over, and
the grounding had seen his shadow,
and the hired man the error or his
wa,y. we installed one of these new
tangled radiant heaters, and, sir,
admit it frankly, Mr.. Gilchrist purred
the song of contentment for the first
time this Winter. He Just stretched.
and suuinted his cruel eyes, and tried
his wicked claws in the rug, and bask-
ed in the radiance Of that exorbitant
contraption as a negro basks in the
dog-day sun.
4 cat is a better criterion of this
radiant heat than a thermometer Is.
The cat will tell you the room is nice
and warm or at least the fire is salts
factory, when the thermometer tells
YOU that the room temperature is
only 60.
II is q. familiar saying that the oc
cupants of a room which depends on
a fireplace for heat roast on one side
and freeze on the other. This char
, acteristic American exaggeration con-
tains q grain Of truth. The truth is
/ that radiant heat, from a blazing fire,
glowing Goals or incandescent surface.
acts like the. rays Of the sun on cold
day: that is, it warns objects and the
bodies of animals or persons without
warming the air very much. Mr.
Cilchrist basks in the radiant heat
hath and worries little about the un-
radiated and comparatively unwarmed
surface Of his body that happens to be
in the shade. so to speak.
Another common saying about a
fireplace is that most of the heat goes
up the chimney and is wasted. This
is scarcely a half truth. Perhaps most
Of the fuel value Is lost in the fireplace
method of heating, but we must re-
member that a very large proportion
of the potential heat in fuel is lost In
any kind Of heating equipment, and
the open fireplace has certain impor-
tant advantages which easily offset
this apparent lack Of economy.
One of the main hygienic advan-
taees in the open fireplace is that 1t
greatly improves ventilation. The or
binary fireplace completely changes
the air in the room every hour.
Another distinct advantage which
the open fire has over any other con-
trivance for the combustion of fuel
for heating purposes Is tldI II keepS
the air of the room fairly well con-
ditioned That is to say, it dries out
the air less than stoves or furnaces or
radiators do.
In colonial days. when the open fire
place was the only method of heat
ing employed, a room temperature. or
| 55 degrees F. was considered comfort
able even in hospitals, sick rooms or
nurseries. And it was actually as
comfortable as the modern furnace
heated room at 20, because the old
fashioned heating kept the air con.
| ditioned, whereas the modern method
converts it into something a peg drier
than the driest desert air. People
| who have to depend on radiators alone
for heat vaguely realize the desir-
| ability of evaporating moisture in the
rooms, but they seldom understand
that the average room requires the
! evaporation of at least two gallons
of water each day to bring the humid
ity up to a fair degree. if the tempera-
| ture is as high as 20; half as much
| water will give better humidity If
the temperature is kept around IS.