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Gas and Oil Stoves.— These are largely used in workshops for warming
the rooms and for heating irons, cooking, and in printers' rooms for
melting lead in connection with certain machines. In eighty-seven
instances, means of ventilation have been provided for such stoves.
These stoves, as well as gas jets, give off gases which are injurious
to health, especially in rooms in which the ventilation is not well
maintained. Breathing these products leads to headache, giddiness
and anaemia. It is claimed for some stoves that a flue is not necessary,
as the products of combustion are in great measure consumed or
condensed. Experiments made in the Government Laboratory show
that each of the five varieties tested (three gas and two oil stoves)
gave off a certain proportion of carbon monoxide (C.O.), a very poisonous
gas as well as a larger quantity of carbonic acid gas (carbon di-oxide,
C.O2). It is, therefore, of importance that special attention be given
to the use of such stoves. It not infrequently happens also that gas
burners are relied upon to afford warmth to rooms, and when such is
the case it is almost always found that doors, windows and other
means of ventilation have been closed, thereby infringing the Act in
two particulars.
Temperature of Workrooms.—Although this question in intimately
associated with that of ventilation, it is under the supervision of the
Home Office, while ventilation is under that of the Sanitary Authority.
It is not laid down in the Act as to what is to be considered a reasonable