preceding instance. In the course of these experiments I remarked, "1. That hot cast iron may be sawed as easily, and in the same space of time, as dry wood. "2. That to diminish the resistance, the saw should be set fine. "3. That iron heated in a furnace saws more easily than if heated in a forge: and the reason is simple ;—in a furnace it is heated equally throughout; while in a forge the part near the tewel is almost in a state of fusion, while that opposite to it is scarcely red-hot. 4. That the iron must not be made too hot; for, if its surface be too near a state of fusion, the saw will be clogged, and the process will not go on well. “5. That the saw should be moved very quickly; because then it will be less heated, make its way better, and the cut will be more clean and exact. "6. Lastly, that the iron should be so placed as to have a firm bearing every where, except where the saw is to pass, otherwise it is liable to break before the cutting is finished.” M. d'Arcet, in a note, among other observations, says, that "M. Molard used a common saw, and succeeded perfectly in cutting various pieces of cast iron, without injuring its teeth. He observed that the iron should be heated only to a cherry red; and that it should be cut briskly, using the whole length of the saw. M. Molard found that this process was known to a workman of M. Voyenne, who practised it in fitting the cast-iron plates used in making stoves. "It is probable that this simple operation may be known in other workshops; but it is lost, as it were, since eminent persons in the arts are generally ignorant of it." That cast or wrought iron may be sawn when at a red heat, need not be doubted by those who are aware how easily and commonly it is filed at a similar temperature. Nobody, however, who knows any thing about such matters, will be credulous enough to suppose 66 66 that hot cast iron may be sawn as easily, and in the same space of time, as dry wood;" and still less, that after such an operation the saw would be found unhurt." The practice of stove-grate makers is opposed to this principle; for instead of reducing large plates by sawing, either hot or cold, they generally break them on the edge of the anvil, in a manner similar to that by which a mason sizes the slates which he is about to use, -the fractured edge being afterwards levelled on the grindstone. Another experiment in cutting steel is still more curious. Mr. Barnes, of Cornwall, in America, having occasion to repair a cross-cut saw, recollected having heard that the religious sect called Shakers sometimes made use of what he called a buzz to cut iron. He therefore made a circular plate of soft sheet iron, fixed an axis to it, and put it in his lathe, which gave it a very rapid rotatory motion. He then applied to it, when in motion, a common file, to make it perfectly round and smooth, but the file was cut in two by it, while it received itself no impression. He then applied a piece of smoky quartz, which produced the desired effect. He then brought under it the saw-plate, which in a few minutes was neatly and completely cut through longitudinally. When he stopped the buzz, he found it had not been worn by the operation, and that he could immediately apply his finger to it without perceiving much heat. During the operation, there appeared a band of intense fire around the buzz, which continually emitted sparks of fire with great violence. He afterwards marked the saw for the teeth, and in a short time cut them out by the same means. The foregoing narrative of what had been done in America having appeared in Silliman's Journal, Mr. Perkins met with it, and tried the experiment with success in London. The writer of this paragraph too, willing to satisfy himself by ocular demonstration of so curious a fact, attached to the spindle of a common lathe a disc of soft sheet iron, not thicker than that of which tin utensils are commonly made, and only about three inches in diameter on applying the sharp edge of a hardened steel chisel, the iron was cut by it; but on causing the disc to revolve very rapidly, it presently overcame the tool, evidently by tempering it at the point of contact: when the cutting had once commenced, it was easily continued until a deep slit was produced in the steel. The theory of this phenomenon has been considered of difficult solution- —some persons even referring it to magnetism. To the present writer it appears to be simply an effect of attrition, upon the principle of which we frequently see a soft body wear away a harder, when the impetus of motion is given almost entirely to the former. A familiar illustration may often be witnessed in the works of an old clock,—the click, although of steel or casehardened iron, will often be worn completely through by its operation on the teeth of the ratchet wheel, the latter being merely made of brass, and hardly worn at all. It was clear, however, in the experiment alluded to, that no operation of the iron upon the steel took place until the latter had become softened by the friction of the disc, as an intense bluing accompanied the line of section. It appears that cast iron does not, in the same manner, yield to the action of soft iron. An ironworker, in a communication to the editor of the New York Journal above named, says,—“ Having occasion, a short time since, to cut a plate of cast iron three eighths of an inch thick, it was thought that the plan recommended for cutting steel by iron might succeed in this case. Accordingly a disc of sheet iron was placed on an axis, and adapted to a water lathe in such a manner as to revolve with great rapidity. This disc would cut hardened or soft steel, or wrought iron, with much facility, but produced not the slightest effect on the cast iron. I confess I am quite at a loss to explain this difference in the action of the disc." CHAP. VII. STOVES AND FIRE-GRATES. EARLIEST DOMESTIC FIRE-PLACES. -- CHIMNEYS. -DOGS OR -- MODERN STOVES. ANDIRONS FOR BURNING WOOD FUEL.-OLD FASHIONED GRATES ASH-RECEIVERS. FIRE-IRONS. FENDERS, THE word stove, as used in the title of this article, is not intended to be taken in its strict acceptation, as signifying a close and generally detached receptacle for a fire, but in the loose, sense of the trade, as implying almost any description of manufactured fire-place beyond a mere grate. Of the manner in which the ancients warmed their habitations few and but indistinct traces remain. The very earliest buildings, of which the ruins or accurate descriptions have come down to our times, certainly exhibit no traces of chimneys; and hence it has been imagined that the occupants must have lighted a fire in the middle of a room, the roof of which was formed with an opening for the escape of the smoke, as, indeed, is the case in some countries at this day. The first remove from this unpleasant and inartificial arrangement seems to have been the adoption of the portable brazier, or fire-pan, which might be used in any apartment requiring to be warmed. This mode of diffusing artificial heat became very general in most of the cities of southern Europe, where it still continues common. The fuel, of course, is chiefly charcoal, or at least wood; and it can be no wonder, considering the pernicious effluvia which must be emitted, and the occasional closeness of the rooms, that instances of suffocation should be far from uncommon: indeed, in England, hardly a winter elapses without the newspapers containing accounts of fatal accidents occasioned by the incautious introduction of a chafing-dish of coals into ill-ventilated sleeping-rooms. It appears that, in Seneca's time, the better sort of people began to construct tubes in the walls to convey the heat into the upper apartments, the fire-places being still placed below: as not only the heat, but likewise the smoke, would ascend these vents, they suggested the idea not only of flues, but even of stoves themselves, the situations and proportions of which successively underwent an infinity of changes, according to the localities, the wants of the inhabitants, or the style of the decorations. A history of the various contrivances for producing artificial warmth in this country might be considered, to a certain extent, a record of the progress of domestic comfort, or, as some might contend, of the national effeminacy through successive periods. Nothing is more certain, than that the temperature of our habitable apartments generally is maintained and considered comfortable, if not healthful, at an elevation unknown to our forefathers in their sitting-rooms. In the affair of cooking, the contrast between former and modern times seems to be less striking. Certainly, if we may believe various published descriptions of the baking, and roasting, and boiling operations daily carried on in the ancient baronial kitchen,—and the massive ranges still extant in some places seem to corroborate such descriptions,— the temperature of a first-rate cookery establishment, in days of yore, must have been pretty high. This state of things, however, belongs to a period hardly earlier than the fourteenth century. Before that era, except for culinary and smithery purposes, our robust forefathers appear to have cared but little about the introduction of artificial heat into their dwellings, and not to have cared at all about it during the warmer months of the variable year of our variable climate. Even so late as the reign of Henry VIII., it seems no fire was |