Nevertheless, the domestic advantages of gas firing are very marked; and
when a properly constructed stove is properly installed, the hygienic
advantages of gas-firing are alone equally conspicuous--for the disfavor
with which gas-firing is regarded by many physicians is due to experience
gained with apparatus warming principally by convection [Footnote:
Radiant heat is high-temperature heat, like the heat emitted by a mass of
red-hot coke; convected heat is low-temperature heat, invisible to the
eye. Radiant heat heats objects first, and leaves them to warm the air;
convected heat is heat applied directly to air, and leaves the air to
warm objects afterwards. On all hygienic grounds radiant heat is better
than convected heat, but the latter is more economical. By an absurd and
confusing custom, that particular warming apparatus (gas, steam, or hot
water) which yields practically no radiant heat, and does all its work by
convection, is known to the trade as a "radiator."] instead of radiation;
or to acquaintance with intrinsically better stoves either not connected
to any flues or connected to one deficient in exhausting power. In these
circumstances, whenever an installation of acetylene has been laid down
for the illumination of a house or district, the merit of convenience may
outweigh the defect of extravagance, and the gas may be judiciously
employed in a boiling ring, or for warming a bedroom; while, if pecuniary
considerations are not paramount, the acetylene may be used for every
purpose to which the townsman would apply his cheaper coal-gas.
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