Fig. 2.

For the domestic use of gas in heating we believe there is no contrivance so useful as the following:- A circular hole, from two to four or more inches in diameter, is cut in the dresser, through which is passed a sheet-iron tube, supported by three little elbows; this tube projects a few inches above the table, and about a foot and a half below; its lower end is open, and into it projects a gas-pipe, furnished with a stop-cock; the upper extremity is covered with a sheet of wire gauze, similar to that used for blinds, on which, as shown in Fig. 4, may be placed some pieces of pumice-stone, surrounded and kept together by a broad ring; - neither the pumice-stone nor the ring, however, are essential parts of the contrivance. The action of this arrangement is as follows:- When the gas is turned on it escapes from the pipe, rising through the tube, and mixing with the air contained within it; this mixture then escapes through the wire gauze, and may be lighted on its upper side, without passing through it to the gas below; the flame should be perfectly free from smoke, which indicates too much gas -should be pale, colorless, and not soil any-bright metal placed in it; if the flame is in the slightest degree yellow it will do this, and then the gas should be partly turned off - on the contrary, if there is not enough gas, the flame will be extinguished. When lighted, the pumice becomes red-hot. and throws out a great heat; when used in boiling, the vessel should be supported a short distance over the flame by a trivet; if it is made to rest on the top of the ring, and is sufficiently large to close it entirely, the current is stopped and the flame extinguished, whilst the unburned gas still escapes below. This contrivance is most useful; it is lighted in an instant, is perfectly free from smoke, no unburned gas escapes, it throws out great heat, and may be employed to heat bright tools with much more convenience than a charcoal fire. The objections to its use are, that in burning it produces, as all gas does, a quantity of carbonic acid gas, deteriorating the air, and that the flame cannot be very much enlarged or diminished, so that if fires of different power are required, two or more of the contrivances must be put in order. Otherwise, the instantaneous action, small cost, great heating power, and cleanliness of the plan, strongly recommend it. In summer weather, in many small families, it can be made to dispense altogether with the use of a fire. By a little variation, the whole contrivance may be made to stand on the table, like Fig. 2; in this and other cases, vulcanized India-rubber will be found to form by far the best kind of flexible tube, being quite impervious, very durable, and excessively pliant. Those who wish to try the experiment of heating on this plan; may readily do so by covering the top of the glass chimney of any common burner with a piece of wire gauze, folding it over the sides; the gas may then be turned on, and lighted above the gauze, after it has mingled with the air in the chimney: a small burner, however, does not afford sufficient gas for the purpose, and there is consequently too much air, and the flame is weak and liable to go out.

Fig. 3.

Fig. 4.

We cannot conclude this chapter without entering our most earnest protest against all those injurious contrivances for burning charcoal without a flue. The use of charcoal-braziers in a large kitchen is not to be recommended, but a charcoal stove in a dwelling-room is most objectionable. Charcoal, in burning, produces carbonic acid gas, an invisible and therefore insidious poison, which is so deadly in its effects, that if the air of a room contains but one-tenth of its bulk, the breathing of it for any time is fatal. Every pound of charcoal, in burning, produces more than three pounds and a half of this deadly gas.

In Paris, in the years 1834 and 1835, there were 360 cases resulting from the fumes of charcoal, of which more than 260 were fatal. In order to test the effects of these stoves, Mr. Coathupe, of Wraxall, shut himself up in a close room containing eighty cubic yards of air, with one of them in action. In four hours he was seized with giddiness, which, in an hour's time, became most intense; he then had the desire to vomit, but not the power; this was followed by an utter loss of strength, throbbing at the temples, and agonizing headache, but no sense of suffocation; finding that the experiment was becoming dangerous, he essayed to open the window, but had the greatest difficulty in so doing; and when his wife came into the room, he was found in a speechless state, in which he remained for some time.

In a fatal case, which happened in St John's Wood, where two girls were killed by the use of these stoves, it was found, that the quantity of carbonic acid produced was capable of rendering poisonous the air of a room ten times the size of the one in which it was used. Men who, knowing the poisonous effects of these stoves, still sell them, recommending them as wholesome, with the deliberate assertion that their prepared fuel, which is merely charcoal disguised, is not deleterious, evince a much more lively interest in the state of their own pockets, than in the lives of their customers.

Let it not be imagined that the case of Mr. Coathupe is but a solitary one; the action of burning charcoal is of the same deleterious nature on all persons. In January 1836, seventy people suffered the same symptoms, though in a milder degree, in the church at Downham, in Norfolk, England, where two of these dangerous contrivances had been introduced: and in the Annales d 'Hygeine, torn, xi., will be found an account of the suicides in the department of the Seine in ten years; these were 4595 in number, of which 1426 deaths were produced by burning charcoal. We would again recommend our readers under no circumstances, however much they may be recommended by false assertions, to admit stoves without flues into their houses.