Burn Kerosene the Right Way.
A correspondent of the New York Sun, calls attention of all consumers of kerosene oil to the pernicious and unhealthy practice of using lamps filled with that article with the wicks turned down. The gas which should be consumed by the flames is by this means left heavily in the air, while the cost of the oil thus saved at present prices would scarce be one dollar a year for the lamps of a household. His attention was called particularly to this custom by boarding in the country where kerosene was the only available light. A large family of children living in the same house were taken ill one night, and on going to the nursery the mother found the room nearly suffocating, with a lamp turned down, whereupon the physician forbade the use of a lamp at night, unless turned at full head. He says he could quote many cases, one of a young girl subject to fits of faintness, which if not induced, were greatly increased by sleeping in a room with the lamp almost turned out. Besides the damage to health, it spoils the paper and curtains, soils the mirrors and windows, and gives the whole house an untidy air and an unwholesome odor.