vetail. The hot-air
registers should always be in the partitions if possible. It saves
sweeping dust into the pipes; it saves cutting the carpets; it lessens
the risk of a debilitating warm bath to people addicted to standing
over them; it diffuses the heat more evenly through the room; and,
owing to this better diffusion, there is less waste through the
ventilating outlet at the top of the room, if it should be there.

The foregoing refers to rooms heated on the furnace principle, where
all that seems needful for complete ventilation is a sufficient
outgoing of the air to cause a constant change. In theory, too, the
warm air must cross the room to make its exit. Indeed, the plan of
admitting it at the top and drawing the cold air from the base has
been strongly urged by one of the most earnest and thoughtful
advocates of thorough ventilation. In practice, this fresh air is apt
to come from the region of the coal-bin and potato-barrels, especially
in very cold weather, and I doubt whether it will find the door of
escape sooner at one side than another, unless immediately over the
entrance. As to your next inquiry, I do not think our winter quarters
can be warmed so safely and healthfully in any other way as by steam
or hot-water radiators; but the first cost of the modes now in use
puts them beyond the reach of common people, the very ones who need
them most. Whether it's the tariff on pig-iron, the patent royalties,
the skilled labor, the artistic designs, the steam joints and high
pressure, or all combined, that make the cost, I cannot say, but I
have faith that some one of the noble army of inventors will,
erelong, give us a system more economical in manufacture and simple in
use than any at present known. It will hardly bring him a fortune,
however. The real benefit to humanity will be too great for a temporal
reward. Not only will this coming system be available for cheap and
isolated houses, but when they stand compactly, one boiler will send
its portable caloric to the dwellers on one entire square, as gas and
water are now distributed.

If stoves or other local radiators are used, you must of course
provide for the entrance of pure air as well as the exit of the
impure. With two openings in the ceiling, the air will commonly ascend
one and descend the other. Open fireplaces, whether for wood or coal,
are in favor with those who have learned to love fresh air, besides
being, for their cheerfulness, an unfailing