when the fuel with which they have been supplied is consumed. But although we exclude the close stove from our sitting rooms and dormitories, it is in frequent requisition in halls, picture-galleries, churches, theatres, lecture-rooms, and the like.
[199] Dr Bond has suggested coating them with soluble glass, as a remedy for this.
“Stove literature,” if such a term may be applied to the various treatises descriptive of the multitude of patterns in use, which have emanated alike from inventors and their critics, is so voluminous that it is impossible for us to attempt to give even a list of the numberless stoves in use, to say nothing of a commentary on their relative value. Of close stoves suitable for heating spaces other than dwelling or sleeping-rooms, mention may be made of Arnott’s stove, and one known as “The Belfast.” These stoves are serviceable when it is desirable to keep up a fire for some time, as in heating a lobby. They have the advantage of requiring little, if any, attention after the fuel has been placed in them and ignited.
Of late years, gas-stoves, both for heating and cooking purposes, have come largely into use. One of those for the former purpose is called the “Pyropneumatic.” The inner part of this apparatus is formed of lumps of fire-clay traversed by vertical air-passages which communicate with the external air by a special channel. The air becomes heated as it passes through the lumps of fire-clay, and rising to the top of the stove, escapes therefrom by an outlet into the room. Another so-called “ventilating” warming gas-stove is Mr George’s “Culirogen.” It consists of a stove made of thin-rolled iron, inside of which is a coil of wrought-iron tubing open at the top of the stove. The lower end of this tubing is in connection with an iron pipe which is carried through the wall of the apartment, and fed with air from without. Gas is the fuel generally used to heat the inside of the stove. The continuous current of air as it rushes into the iron pipe from without, thus becomes warmed as it ascends into the coil, which it leaves to become diffused into the surrounding apartment, whilst the products of combustion of the gas used as fuel are, by means of a pipe attached to the stove, carried into the chimney, as with coal fire.
A gas-cooking apparatus possesses many advantages over an ordinary coal fire. In the first place, it is more cleanly; in the second, it affords a much more uniform and equable temperature; in the third, it forms no smoke, and in the fourth it is more economical as well as expeditious.
Mr Eassie gives the following practical suggestions to intending purchasers of gas-stoves:—
“It is not necessary here to enter into a description of any of the numberless common patterns extant, but it might be well to record the opinion of the best engineers, that the simplest gas-stove is the best. They should not be surrounded by a non-conducting material,
as that affords no advantage, but the contrary. An Argand or fish-tail burner should also be used instead of rings pierced for so many separate jets, and where practicable, the Bunsen-burner should be employed, as the mixture of common air with the gas not only prevents the formation of soot, but also intensifies the heat.”
STRABIS′MUS. Syn. Squinting. This need not be described. When one eye only is affected, an excellent plan is to blindfold the sound eye during several hours each day, until the affection be removed. When both eyes are affected, a projecting piece of pasteboard, in the line of the nose, may be worn as much as possible with the same object. In bad cases of squinting inwards, as it is called, the division of the internal rectus muscle of the eyeball by a skilful surgeon, is said to often relieve the deformity.
STRANGULATION. See Hanging.