CHIMNEY

(Fr. chemince.) The place in a room where the fire is burnt, and from which the smoke is carried away by means of a conduit called a flue. Chimneys are usually made by projection from a wall, and rece in the same from the floor, ascending within the limits of the projection and rece . That part of the opening which faces the room is properly the fire-place, the stone or marble under which is called the hearth. That on a level with, and in front of it, is called the slab. The vertical sides of the opening are c jambs. The head of the fore plate resting on the jambs is called the mantle; and the cavity or hollow from the fire-place to the top of the room is called Xha funnel. The part of the funnel which contracts hs it ascends is termed the gathering, or by some the gathering of the wings. The tube or cavity of a parallelogrammatic form on the plan, from where the gathering ceases up to the top of the chimney, is called the flue. The part between the gathering and the flue is called the throat. The part of the wall facing the room and forming one side of the funnel parallel thereto, or the part of the wall forming the sides of the funnels, where there are more than one, is the breast. In external walls that side of the funnel opposite the breast is called the back. When there is more than one chimney in the same wall, the solid parts that divide them are called witks. And when several chimneys are collected into one ma , it is called a stack of chimneys. The part which rises above the roof for discharging the smoke into the air is called a chimney shqft, whose horizontal upper surface is termed the chimney top. The covings were formerly placed at right angles to the face of the wall, and the chimney was finished in that manner; but Count Rumford showed that more heat is obtained from the fire by reflexion when the covings are placed in an oblique position. He likewise directed that the fire itself should be kept as near to the hearth as po ible, and that the throat of the chimney should be constructed much narrower than had been practised, with a view to prevent the escape of so mucli heated air as happened with wide throats. If the throat be too near the fire, the draught will be too strong, and the fuel will be wasted; and if it be too high up, the draught will be too languid, aud there will be a danger of the smoke being occasionally beat back into the room. Before Count Rumford directed his attention to this subject, smoky chimneys were very common; but by studying his principles, these at present seldom occur. See Fireplace, Grate, Stove. CHIMPANZEE, CHIMPANSE, or QUIMPESE'. Native names of the African orang (Simia troglodytes, Blum.). It is of a black colour, and attains the height of between four and five feet, measured in a straight line from the. vertex to the heel. This species, which of all the brute creation approaches nearest, to man, has been hitherto, brought alive to this country only in a young state, and a knowledge of the ostcological structure of the adult has been but very recently acquired. It differs from the Asiatic ' or red Orang -not only in colour, but in the greater size of the external ears, the [s. 236]