It is impossible for the architect to attempt to solve all the problems which surround this question. He must in many cases employ such materials and such apparatus as can be obtained; nevertheless, it is his duty carefully to test the value of such materials and apparatus as may be obtainable, and by his experience and scientific knowledge to determine which are best to be used under varying circumstances. But to pass on to other matters which mar the sweetness of home. With many, I hold that the method usually employed for warming our dwellings is wasteful, dirty, and often injurious to health. The open fire, although cheerful in appearance, is justly condemned. It is wasteful, because so small a percentage of the value of the fuel employed is utilized. It is dirty, because of the dust and soot which result therefrom. It is unhealthy, because of the cold draughts which in its simplest form are produced, and the stifling atmosphere which pervades the house when the products of imperfect combustion insist, as they often do, in not ascending the flues constructed for the express purpose of carrying them off; and even when they take the desired course, they blacken and poison the external atmosphere with their presence. Some of the grates known as ventilating grates dispose of one of the evils of the ordinary open fire, by reducing the amount of cold draught caused by the rush of air up the flues. This is effected, as you probably know, by admitting air direct from the outside of the house to the back of the grate, where it is warmed, and then flows into the rooms to supply the place of that which is drawn up the chimneys. Provided such grates act properly and are well put together, so that there is no possibility of smoke being drawn into the fresh air channels, and that the air to be warmed is drawn from a pure source, they may be used with much advantage; although by them we must not suppose perfection has been attained. The utilization of a far greater percentage of heat and the consumption of all smoke must be aimed at. It is a question if such can be accomplished by means of an open fire, and it is a difficult matter to devise a method suited in every respect to the warming of our dwellings, which at the same time is equally cheering in appearance. So long as we are obliged to employ coal in its crude form for heating purposes, and are content with the waste and dirt of the open fire, we must be thankful for the cheer it gives in many a home where there are well constructed grates and flues, and make the best use we can of the undoubted ventilating power it possesses.