According to Wikipedia, a furnace is a device used for heating. In American English and Canadian English, the term furnace on its own is generally used to describe household heating systems based on a central furnace known either as a boiler or a heater in British English, and sometimes as a synonym for a kiln, a device used in the production of ceramics. In British English, the term furnace is used exclusively to mean industrial furnaces.

To go back a little in history, central heating with a furnace is an idea that is centuries old. This idea was invented by the Romans and called a hypocaust. It was a form of under-floor heating using a fire in one corner of a basement with the exhaust vented through flues in the walls to chimneys. This form of heating could only be used in stone or brick homes. It was also very dangerous because of the possibility of fire and suffocation.

Early furnaces burned wood. In the seventeenth century, coal began to replace wood as a primary fuel. Coal was used until the early 1940s when gas became the primary fuel.In the 1970s, electric furnaces started to replace gas furnaces because of the energy crisis. Wood and coal burning furnaces required constant feeding to maintain warmth in the home. From early morning to late at night, usually three to five times a day, fuel needed to be put in the furnace. In addition, the waste from the ashes from the burnt wood or coal had to be removed and disposed of. Today, the gas furnace is still the most popular form of home heating equipment.

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According to the author Marc McCutcheon in his book, ‘Everyday Life in the 1800s’, most medical students were learning the doctoring ‘trade’ through the apprentice system. That would mean that young men fifteen years of age or older would move in and live with established physicians and trade labor for education. The arrangement lasted anywhere from two to six years with some students then continuing on to a formal medical school for at least two to four more years of education and to obtain a degree. The majority of physicians at the beginning of the century, however, opened their practices without having obtained a degree. Five medical schools were in operation by 1810.

Another author, Michael Varhola, in his book, ‘Everyday Life during the Civil War’, makes the following interesting statements:

• That medical schools were common during the Civil War, but unfortunately, many of them provided little training.

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