m a hygienic
standpoint that the rooms of dwellings should be sufficiently large. The
height should never be less than eight feet, and the living-room should
be made as large as circumstances will permit. Bed-chambers should
contain at least 1,000 cubic feet of air space for each adult, with
somewhat less for children, though it should never be forgotten that the
more the better; this means that each person should have the equivalent
of a room which is at least 10 x 12 x 9 feet.

_Heating._--Americans are extravagant in the matter of heating to a
degree that astonishes the average foreigner, and it is by no means sure
that we do not go to unhygienic extremes in this direction. It is not,
perhaps, true that the excessive heat itself could be considered as
especially hurtful, but it is too often the case that the conditions
required to secure the degree of heat preferred by us are incompatible
with proper ventilation, and hence are to be condemned. It is generally
considered that the temperature of living-rooms should be somewhere about
70 deg.F.; for many persons this is lower than would be entirely comfortable,
and as a consequence our houses in the winter are frequently kept nearer
80 deg.F. than the figure just given. The reader should be urged to see to it
that, at whatever temperature his habitation is kept, a sufficient amount
of ventilation be secured.

There are many different methods of heating, the most satisfactory of
which are by means of hot water or steam; a modified form of the latter
is the so-called vapor method, which in recent years has proven extremely
satisfactory. Hot air, supplied by a furnace is also extensively used,
and for the reason that by this method fresh air from the outside is
constantly brought into the house, it is theoretically to be commended;
practically, however, a considerable difficulty is experienced in
securing an equable distribution of this heat throughout the various
parts of the house, and as a consequence it has not achieved the
popularity that it would otherwise have done.

Inasmuch as the installation of plants for heating by the methods just
referred to entails quite an expense, and for the further reason that
they require coal for satisfactory operating, they have not been employed
in the rural districts of America to any considerable extent. The farmer,
for the most part, depends on the old open fireplace where wood is
plentiful and the weather does not become excess