Never Knew That

Scottscoaled · Post by **Scottscoaled** » Wed. Dec. 19, 2012 7:49 pm

On Jeopardy tonight, one of the questions was what disease was formed by the Greek meaning for coal. Anthrax. Anthra. Go figure.

blrman07 · Post by **blrman07** » Thu. Dec. 20, 2012 10:57 pm

Anthratube? Yikes. That explains everything!!!

Post by **Richard S.** » Fri. Dec. 21, 2012 7:03 am

Maybe someday you'll be in the company of some microbiologists and you can impress them with this knowledge. LOL

It's amazing some of the things you'll pick up through life, you know you're not going to forget that.

NoSmoke · Post by **NoSmoke** » Fri. Dec. 21, 2012 7:15 am

That is interesting. Not to change the subject, but I wonder how prolific coal was in the Roman Empire?

blrman07 · Post by **blrman07** » Fri. Dec. 21, 2012 8:35 am

That comment got me wondering so I went to wikepedia and found the following:

Room heating was normally better done by charcoal braziers than hypocausts. But hypocausts did allow them to exploit any poor-quality smoky fuels like straw, vine prunings and small wood locally available. Hypocausts also allowed them to generate a humid heat for their baths.

The Romans worked almost all the coalfields of England that outcropped on the surface, by the end of the 2nd century (Smith 1997; 323). But there is no evidence that this exploitation was on any scale. After c.200 AD the commercial heart of the Empire was in Africa and the East where the climate severely limited timber growth. There was no large coalfield on the edge of the Mediterranean.

A hypocaust was the original slab heating system. They built a fire in the basement and the hollow walls of the building became one huge chimney. The original biomass furnace.

Who woulda thunk it?

Rev. Larry

NoSmoke · Post by **NoSmoke** » Fri. Dec. 21, 2012 2:08 pm

When I was over in Ireland they burned peat. It was not very good for heating as it smelled pretty bad and did not kick off a lot of heat, but over there you could buy it at the local store, kind of like how we buy anthracite in bags here.

Interesting about the Roman Empire. I would have thought they would have used it in their steel for better armor (higher carbon content), but that might have been later.

lsayre · Post by **lsayre** » Fri. Dec. 21, 2012 2:16 pm

As my dad used to say regarding knowledge such as this: "That and quarter will get you a cup of coffee." If my dad was alive today he would have to modify his saying a bit. He would be shocked to see prices like $3.50 (plus knowledge such as this) for a cup of coffee.

That aside, it is quite interesting knowledge.

SteveZee · Post by **SteveZee** » Fri. Dec. 21, 2012 2:28 pm

blrman07 wrote:That comment got me wondering so I went to wikepedia and found the following:

Room heating was normally better done by charcoal braziers than hypocausts. But hypocausts did allow them to exploit any poor-quality smoky fuels like straw, vine prunings and small wood locally available. Hypocausts also allowed them to generate a humid heat for their baths.

The Romans worked almost all the coalfields of England that outcropped on the surface, by the end of the 2nd century (Smith 1997; 323). But there is no evidence that this exploitation was on any scale. After c.200 AD the commercial heart of the Empire was in Africa and the East where the climate severely limited timber growth. There was no large coalfield on the edge of the Mediterranean.

A hypocaust was the original slab heating system. They built a fire in the basement and the hollow walls of the building became one huge chimney. The original biomass furnace.

Who woulda thunk it?
Rev. Larry

Our place in the UK is in Wiltshire county and the town of Bath is just a few towns away from us. They have Roman baths there from 2000 years ago that operate just as Larry described. Beautiful town.