So it is with the electric current.  In fine wires the resistance to the current is large and the energy of the battery is expended in heat rather than in current.  If the heat thus produced is very great, serious consequences may arise; for example, the contact of a hot wire with wall paper or dry beams may cause fire.  Insurance companies demand that the wires used in wiring a building for electric lights be of a size suitable to the current to be carried, otherwise they will not take the risk of insurance.  The greater the current to be carried, the coarser is the wire required for safety.

289.  Electric Stoves.  It is often desirable to utilize the electric current for the production of heat.  For example, trolley cars are heated by coils of wire under the seats.  The coils offer so much resistance to the passage of a strong current through them that they become heated and warm the cars.

[Illustration:  FIG. 201.—­An electric iron on a metal stand.]

Some modern houses are so built that electricity is received into them from the great plants where it is generated, and by merely turning a switch or inserting a plug, electricity is constantly available.  In consequence, many practical applications of electricity are possible, among which are flatiron and toaster.

[Illustration:  FIG. 202.—­The fine wires are strongly heated by the current which flows through them.]

Within the flatiron (Fig. 201), is a mass of fine wire coiled as shown in Figure 202; as soon as the iron is connected with the house supply of electricity, current flows through the fine wire which thus becomes strongly heated and gives off heat to the iron.  The iron, when once heated, retains an even temperature as long as the current flows, and the laundress is, in consequence, free from the disadvantages of a slowly cooling iron, and of frequent substitution of a warm iron for a cold one.  Electric irons are particularly valuable in summer, because they eliminate the necessity for a strong fire, and spare the housewife intense heat.  In addition, the user is not confined to the laundry, but is free to seek the coolest part of the house, the only requisite being an electrical connection.

[Illustration:  FIG. 203.—­Bread can be toasted by electricity.]

The toaster (Fig. 203) is another useful electrical device, since by means of it toast may be made on a dining table or at a bedside.  The small electrical stove, shown in Figure 204, is similar in principle to the flatiron, but in it the heating coil is arranged as shown in Figure 205.  To the physician electric stoves are valuable, since his instruments can be sterilized in water heated by the stove; and that without fuel or odor of gas.

A convenient device is seen in the heating pad (Fig. 206), a substitute for a hot water bag.  Embedded in some soft thick substance are the insulated wires in which heat is to be developed, and over this is placed a covering of felt.