Sacramento Daily Union, Volume 94, Number 156, 25 January 1898 — Fondness for Warm Houses. [ARTICLE]

Fondness for Warm Houses.

House-heating practice in Great Britain, when compared with that current in America, exhibits great differences in style of apparatus employed, in the systems in favor, and in the extent to which the development itself has proceeded. Some of the reasons, at least, are very apparent. In a large portion of the United States, and throughout Canada, the winter climate is such that some artificial heat, over and above that obtainable from an open fire, is absolutely necessary; in Great Britain, however, the old-fashioned open fireplace is, as a rule, sufficient, or, at least, has been so considered until very recently. Within the last few years there has been a growing appreciation, among the British people, of the comfort and advantage of maintaining an even temperature throughout an entire building, whether this be a dwelling or a school, church, office building, or other quasipublic edifice. Indeed, even In private dwellings, where it is most attractive and most nearly adequate, the open fire, if depended on entirely, too often gives one the choice between being partly roasted, if he sits near, or shivering, if he moves to the corners of the room or passes to the halls and stairWhile the severity of the American climate has been of itself sufficient to cause the great demand for heating apparatus, there is at least a general belief that the climatic effect on the human system creates a greater dependence on artificial warmth among Americans than among Englishmen. The blood seems to become thinner. It was my own experience that, when I first went to America, I could well endure the cold, and the temperature of 70 degrees usually maintained in buildings there was far too warm for me. As years went by. I grew more and more sensitive to the cold, and, on returning to England, I felt the temperatrue of 60 degrees maintained in English houses quite too low: but in a short time T became reacclimated. —J. L. Saunders, in the Engineering Magazine.