A Military Workhouse was opened for the beggars, and a House of Industry for the poor. A Military Academy was formed with a view to the free education of young people of talent for the public service. He became absorbed in the one aim of helping the poor. So thorough was his devotion to the people, and so deeply did he win their affection, that when he was dangerously ill a multitude of hundreds went in procession to the church to make public prayers for his recovery. He saw that the poor may be helped by teaching them to save, and in nothing is there greater need of saving than in fuel and heat. In the kitchens of the Military Academy and the House of Industry he carried out a series of experiments on the economy of fuel, and succeeded in greatly reducing the amount of fuel needed for cooking the food. He did this by using a "closed fireplace," the forerunner of the stove. The closed fireplace was in reality a brick stove, and was a great improvement over the open chimney fireplaces then in common use. He made the covers of the cooking utensils double, to save the heat, for he had found that heat cannot escape through confined air. Benjamin Thompson was knighted by George III., and in 1791 he was made a Count of the Holy Roman Empire, and is known to the world of science as Count Rumford. Count Rumford's Experiment with the Cannon While in the service of the Duke of Bavaria, it became his duty to organize the field artillery. To provide cannon for this purpose, he erected a foundry and machine-shops. Being alert for any unusual fact relating to heat, he observed the very high temperature produced by the boring of the cannon. He was eager to learn how so much heat could be produced. For this purpose he took a cannon in the rough, as it came from the foundry, fixed it in the machine used for boring, and caused the cannon to be turned by horses while a blunt borer was forced against the end of the cannon. He first tested the temperature of the metal itself as it turned. Then he surrounded the end of the cannon with water in an oblong box fitted water-tight (Fig. 20). [Illustration: FIG. 20--COUNT RUMFORD'S EXPERIMENT WITH THE CANNON, MAKING WATER BOIL WITHOUT FIRE The horses make the water boil by walking around the track; the work the horses do is changed into heat by the friction of the drill.] The cannon had been turning but a short time when he found by putting his hand in the water that heat had been produced. In two hours and thirty minutes the water actually boiled. Astonishment was expressed in the faces of the bystanders on seeing so large a quantity of water heated and actually made to boil without any fire.