| OCR Text |
Show Soman House Heaters. Methods used by the Romans for warming their houses were clever. In Rome itself artificial warmth may have been brought rarely into use, though the Italian winter requires fires at times, but when the Roman took up his abode abroad as the conqueror he certainly lived in chilly climates. In the country houses he built in England he had care-fullv care-fullv devised heating arrangements, which are called hypocausts. These are flues running underthe tessellated floors. Fires were lit outside of the house, and the hot air passed nnder the floors. To do thus much required a knowledge of the builder's art, with the necessary precautions against fire. Remnants of these hypocausts are found today in England, built during the Reman occupation. occu-pation. New York Times. |
