Evening star., 1932-07-01

Some one wants to know what has
become of the annual article here on
the fireplace.
The wood burning fireplace has done
extra duty this peculiar Summer.
No one who owns such a pleasant
feature has been at all inclined to for
get it.
Most home owners rather resent run
ming their furnaces in June!
There have been any number Of days,
however. when a little heat came In
very nicely. to take the chill oil a
house. especially to drive away slight
dampneSs.
The curious thing about those tenn
peratlIres in which the human body is
comfortable is that moisture has so
much to do with them.
In the Winter the average home IS
too dry, owing TO the very walls which
keep the cold out.
These also keep the dryness in
In Summer, when doors and windows
are open. the relative humidity of the
indoors is greater than that outside,
once again owing to the house walls.
These tend to keep extremes, once
set up. pent in at what may be called
a house normal.
Thus in Winter It often is necessary
TO add moisture to the air, in order 70
even approximate the theoretical 90
or 55 degrees Of relative humidity Whlch
Is desirable.
In Summer, just the opposite is true.
The humidity in house in the not
months often rises TO IS or 80 degrees,
and stays there.
The fluctuation outside in the sun
shine may be as much as between 81
g.xI M
possible, owing to the efficiency o1 the
walls.
A cheap hair hygrometer, which
works because a hair possesses proper
ties of absorption will reveal to any one
the difference between indoor humidity
and outdoor humidity.
"It's the humidity" people say, and
they are right.
THE moisture content in the air has
everything to do with whether we are
comfortable or not, on hot days as wen
as cold days. , IL.
a bit on a hot Summer nlght we
would be a great deal more comIorta-
HE inst as we are warmer in WINTER
when we can add moisture TO our
house sir. ~. ,,d
fireplace comes In, on one OF Inese
cool. usually called "unseasonaole;
summer days when the humidity Is
high and the air outside Is cool as
A result Of change in the weather.
Few people will have the courage 10
build hearth fire when 1t Is warm
in order to test out the adVlsaolllty Oh
drying out the air.
Nor would we advise them TO-
t.n
nent. and these should be reserved loI
the laboratory. 80, s.,..
strikes in Summer. no matter Wnethef
in .Iune or July or August, the hre-
nlace NAV be put in operation with
complete success.
THE best time Of day, of course, IS
early morning, the earlier the better.
Then. If ever, come those perfect
hours. when the leaping flames oil the
logs will charm, not repel, In the
Summertime.
Happily one may forget the claims
Of Temperature and humidity on the
human mind and skin. But before We
relinouish them to the charm OF the
fireplace, let us say q word III con-
clusion. Those who somehow have
been brought to believe that 70 degrees
is the perfect temperature, and that
heaven itself will be regulated accord
ing to that divine plan, should be IN
terested to know that the temperature
of that recent perfect day" which so
many people appreciated, and of which
they spoke to each other so enthusi-
asticaliy, was nearer rs than 70, and
that the relative humidity was about 50.
This tends to bolster our claim, made
here for many years, that the real
perfect temperature" is rs degrees,
or, at least, between IA and 30 degrees,
and that a relative humidity OF SIS with
it simply makes the perfect more per-
feet
If you happen to experience a day, in