Heating might now be accomplished without dust and ashes, without the
destructive effects of steam, if enough houses would take electricity to
enable a company to supply it in the form of a sort of dado carrying wires
safely embedded in a non-conducting substance, or in the form of a carpet
threaded with conducting wire. Both heating and cooling apparatus could be
installed in the shape of a motor to replace the punkah man and the
present buzz-wheel fan, and to give fresh air without the opening of
windows which leads to half our housekeeping miseries. O woman, how can
you resist the thought of a clean, cool house, sans dust, sans flies and
mosquitoes, sans the intolerable street-noise, with abundance of fresh
filtered air at the desired temperature! It is all ready at your hand. A
windmill on the roof can store power, or a solar motor can save the sun's
rays, or capsules of compressed air may be had to run the machine, if only
you were not so afraid of the very word machine that no man dares propose
it to you. Of what use is all the invention of the time if it cannot save
the lives of the children, half of whom fall victims to house diseases, if
it cannot sweep away consumption and influenza and all the kindred
diseases arising from over-shelter and under-cleanliness of that shelter
(lack of air).
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