materials and such apparatus as can be obtained; nevertheless, it is his
duty carefully to test the value of such materials and apparatus as
may be obtainable, and by his experience and scientific knowledge to
determine which are best to be used under varying circumstances.

But to pass on to other matters which mar the sweetness of home. With
many, I hold that the method usually employed for warming our dwellings
is wasteful, dirty, and often injurious to health. The open fire,
although cheerful in appearance, is justly condemned. It is wasteful,
because so small a percentage of the value of the fuel employed is
utilized. It is dirty, because of the dust and soot which result
therefrom. It is unhealthy, because of the cold draughts which in its
simplest form are produced, and the stifling atmosphere which pervades
the house when the products of imperfect combustion insist, as they
often do, in not ascending the flues constructed for the express purpose
of carrying them off; and even when they take the desired course, they
blacken and poison the external atmosphere with their presence. Some of
the grates known as ventilating grates dispose of one of the evils of
the ordinary open fire, by reducing the amount of cold draught caused by
the rush of air up the flues. This is effected, as you probably know, by
admitting air direct from the outside of the house to the back of the
grate, where it is warmed, and then flows into the rooms to supply the
place of that which is drawn up the chimneys. Provided such grates act
properly and are well put together, so that there is no possibility of
smoke being drawn into the fresh air channels, and that the air to
be warmed is drawn from a pure source, they may be used with much
advantage; although by them we must not suppose perfection has been
attained. The utilization of a far greater percentage of heat and the
consumption of all smoke must be aimed at. It is a question if such can
be accomplished by means of an open fire, and it is a difficult matter