Curiosities of Civilization Part 21

Canada has also sketched out a plan of telegraphs, which every year will see filled up. Already she has lines connecting all her princ.i.p.al towns, and extending over nearly two thousand miles of country, all of which lock in with the American system.

In India, Dr. O'Shaughnessy has for some time been engaged in carrying out a telegraphic system proposed by Lord Dalhousie, and approved by the East India Company, which has already put all the important towns of the peninsula in communication with the seat of government and with each other. The fine No. 8 galvanized iron wire, which in Europe runs along from pole to pole, like a delicate harp-string, is discarded in this country for rods of iron three-eighths of an inch in thickness. The nature of the climate, and the character of its animal life, has caused this departure from the far more economical European plan. Clouds of kites and troops of monkeys would speedily take such liberties with the fine wires as to place them _hors-de-combat_. Again, the deluges of rain which occur in the wet season would render the insulation of a small wire so imperfect that a message could not be sent through it to any distance. The larger ma.s.s of metal, on the contrary, is capable of affording pa.s.sage for the electric fluid through any amount of rain, without danger of "leakage;"

and as for the kites and other large birds of the country, they may perch on these rods by thousands without stopping the messages, which will fly harmlessly through their claws; and the weight of the heaviest monkey is not sufficient to injure them. These rods are planted, without any insulation, upon the tops of bamboo poles (coated with tar and pitch), at such a height that loaded elephants can pa.s.s beneath without displacing them; and even if by chance they should be thrown down, bullock-carts or buffaloes and elephants may trample them under foot without doing them injury. In some places the rods, if we are rightly informed, run through rice-swamps, buried in the ground, and even here the only insulating material used is a kind of cement made of rosin and sand. The telegraph, like a swift messenger, goes forward and prepares the way for the railroad, which is planned to follow in its footsteps. When these two systems are completed, the real consolidation of England's power in the East will have commenced, and the countless resources of the Indian peninsula will be called forth for the benefit of the conquered as well as of the conquering race.

The restless spirit of English engineers, having provided for the internal telegraphic communication of Great Britain and her princ.i.p.al dependencies, seems bent upon stretching out her lines to the East and to the West, so as ultimately to clasp the entire globe. The project of connecting, telegraphically, England with America is at the present moment seriously engaging the attention of scientific and commercial men. The more daring engineers are still sanguine of the practicability of laying a submarine cable directly across the Atlantic, from Galway to Cape Race in Newfoundland. Now that we have Lieutenant Maury's authentic determination of the existence of a shelf across the North Atlantic, the soundings on which are nowhere more than 1,500 fathoms, the feasibility of the project is tolerably certain. The princ.i.p.al question is, whether if a line were laid an electric current can be worked to commercial advantage through 3,000 miles of cable. No doubt, by the expenditure of enormous battery power, this might be accomplished through wires suspended in the air, but it is a question whether it can be done along a vast length of gutta-percha coated wire, pa.s.sing through salt-water. There is such a thing as _too great an insulation_. Professor Faraday has shown that in such circ.u.mstances the wire becomes a Leyden jar, and may be so charged with electricity that a current cannot, without the greatest difficulty, move through it. This is the objection to a direct cable between the two continents: if, however, it can be overcome, doubtless the ocean path would in all possible cases be adopted where communications had to be made between civilized countries having intermediate, barbarous, or ungenial lands. To escape this at present dubious ocean path, it is proposed to carry the cable from the northernmost point of the Highlands of Scotland to Iceland, by way of the Orkney, Shetland, and Ferroe islands--to lay it from Iceland across to the nearest point in Greenland, thence down the coast to Cape Farewell, where the cable would again take to the water, span Davis's Straits, and make right away across Labrador and Upper Canada to Quebec. Here it would lock in with the North American meshwork of wires, which hold themselves out like an open hand for the European grasp. This plan seems quite feasible, for in no part of the journey would the cable require to be more than 900 miles long; and as it seems pretty certain that a sandbank ex-tends, with good soundings, all the way to Cape Farewell, there would be little difficulty in mooring the cable to a level and soft bottom. The only obstacle that we see is the strong partiality of the Esquimaux for old iron, and it would perhaps be tempting them too much to hang their coasts with this material, just ready to their hands. The want of settlements along this inhospitable arctic coast to protect the wire is, we confess, a great drawback to the scheme; but, we fancy, posts might be organized at comparatively a small cost, considering the magnitude and importance of the undertaking. The mere expense of making and laying the cable would not be much more than double that of building the new Westminster-bridge across the Thames.

Whilst England would thus grasp the West with one hand, her active children have plotted the seizure of the East with the other. A cable runs from Genoa to Corsica, and from thence to Sardinia. From the southernmost point of the latter island, Cape Spartivento, to the gulf of Tunis, another cable can easily be carried. The direction thence (after giving off a coast branch to Algeria) will be along the African sh.o.r.e, by Tripoli to Alexandria, and eventually across Arabia, along the coasts of Persia and Beloochistan until it enters Scinde, and finally joins the wire at Hydrabad, which in all probability by that time will have advanced from Burmah, across the Indian peninsula, to welcome it. America will shortly carry her line of telegraph to the Pacific sh.o.r.e, and run it up the coast as far as San Francisco. Can there be any reasonable doubt that, before the end of the century, the one line advancing towards the West and the other towards the East--through China and Siberia--will gradually approach each other so closely that a short cable stretched across Behring Straits will bring the four quarters of the globe within speaking distance of each other, and enable the electric fire to "put a girdle round the world in forty minutes?"

FIRES AND FIRE INSURANCE.

Among the more salient features of the metropolis which instantly strike the attention of the stranger are the stations of the Fire Brigade.

Whenever he happens to pa.s.s them, he finds the sentinel on duty, he sees the "red artillery" of the force; and the polished axle, the gleaming branch, and the s.h.i.+ning chain, testify to the beautiful condition of the instrument, ready for active service at a moment's notice. Ensconced in the shadow of the station, the liveried watchmen look like hunters waiting for their prey--nor does the hunter move quicker to his quarry at the rustle of a leaf, than the Firemen dash for the first ruddy glow in the sky. No sooner comes the alarm, than one sees with a shudder the rush of one of these engines through the crowded streets, the tearing horses covered with foam, the heavy vehicle swerving from side to side, and the black helmeted attendants swaying to and fro. The wonder is that horses or men ever get safely to their destination: the wonder is still greater that no one is ridden over in their furious drive.

Arrived at the place of action, the hunter's spirit which animates the fireman, and makes him attack an element as determinedly as he would a wild beast, becomes evident to the spectator. The scene which a London fire presents can never be forgotten: the shouts of the crowd as it opens to let the engines dart through it, the foaming head of water springing out of the ground, and spreading over the road until it becomes a broad mirror reflecting the glowing blaze--the black, snake-like coils of the leather hose rising and falling like things of life, whilst a hundred arms work at the pump, their central heart, the applause that rings out clear above the roaring flame as the adventurous band throw the first hissing jet; cheer following cheer, as stream after stream shoots against the burning ma.s.s, now flying into the socket-holes of fire, set in the black face of the house-front, now das.h.i.+ng with a loud s.h.i.+r-r against the window-frame and wall, and falling off in broken showers. Suddenly there is a loud shrill cry, and the bank of human faces is upturned to where a shrieking wretch hangs frantically to an upper window-sill. A deafening shout goes forth, as the huge fire-escape comes full swing upon the scene: a moment's pause, and all is still, save the beat, beat, of the great water pulses, whilst every eye is strained towards the fluttering garments flapping against the wall. Will the ladder reach, and not dislodge those weary hands clutching so convulsively to the hot stone! Will the nimble figure gain the topmost rung ere nature fails? The blood in a thousand hearts runs cold, and then again break forth a thousand cheers to celebrate a daring rescue. Such scenes as this are of almost nightly occurrence in the great metropolis. A still more imposing yet dreadful sight is often exhibited in the conflagrations of those vast piles of buildings in the City filled with inflammable merchandise. Here the most powerful engines seem reduced to mere squirts; and the efforts of the adventurous brigade men are confined to keeping the mischief within its own bounds.

When we recollect that London presents an area of thirty-six square miles, covered with 21,600 square acres of bricks and mortar, and numbers more than 380,600 houses; that all the riches it contains are nightly threatened in every direction by an ever-present enemy; that the secret match, the spontaneous fire, and the hand of the drunkard, are busily at work; it is evident that nothing but a force the most disciplined, and implements the most effective, can be competent to cope with so sudden and persevering a foe.

As late as twenty-two years ago there was no proper fire police to protect the metropolis against what is commonly called the "all-devouring element." There was, it is true, a force of 300 parochial engines set on foot by acts which were pa.s.sed between the years 1768-74, acts which are still in existence; but these engines are under the superintendence of the beadles and parish engineers, who are not the most active of men or nimble of risers. It may easily be imagined, therefore, that the machines arrived a little too late; and, when brought into service, were often found to be out of working order. Hence their employment did not supersede the private engines kept by some of the insurance offices long prior to their existence. On the contrary, owing to the increase of business which took place about this time, the different companies thought it worth their while to strengthen their former establishments, and this process continued while the parochial engines, with a few honourable exceptions, were dropping into disuse.

About the year 1833 it became evident that much was lost, both to the public and to the insurance companies, by every engine acting on its own responsibility--a folly which is the cause of such jealousy among the firemen at Boston (United States), that rival engines have been known to stop on their way to a fire to exchange shots from revolvers. It was, therefore, determined to incorporate the divided force, and place it under the management of one superintendent, each office contributing towards its support, according to the amount of its business. All the old-established companies, with one exception,[41] shortly came into the arrangement, and Mr. Braidwood, the master of the fire-engines of Edinburgh, being invited to take the command, organized the now celebrated _London Fire Brigade_.

At the present moment, then, the protection against fire in London consists, firstly, in the three hundred and odd parish-engines (two to each parish), which are paid for out of the rates. The majority of these are very inefficient, not having any persons appointed to work them who possess a competent knowledge of the service. Even women used now and then to fill the arduous post of director; and it is not long since a certain Mrs. Smith, a widow, might be seen at conflagrations, hurrying about in her pattens, directing the firemen of her engine, which belonged to the united parishes of St. Michael Royal and St. Martin Vintry, in the city.

We question, indeed, if at the present moment any of the parish-engines are much better officered than in the days of widow Smith, with the exception of those of Hackney, Whitechapel, Islington, and perhaps two or three others. Secondly, there are an unknown number of private engines kept in public buildings and large manufactories, which sometimes do good service when they arrive early at small fires in their neighbourhood, although, singularly enough, when called upon to extinguish a conflagration in their own establishments, they generally "lose their heads," as the brigade men express it; and very many instances have occurred where even the parish-engines have arrived and set to work before the one on the premises could be brought to bear upon the fire. The cause is clear. The requisite coolness and method which every one can exercise so philosophically in other people's misfortunes utterly fail them when in trouble themselves. The doctor is wiser in his generation, and is never so foolish as to prescribe for himself or to attend his own family.

Thirdly, we have, in contrast to the immense rabble of b.u.mble engines and the Bas.h.i.+-Bazouks of private establishments, the small complement of men and material of the fire brigade. It consists of twenty-seven large horse-engines, capable of throwing eighty-eight gallons a minute to the height of from fifty to seventy feet, and nine smaller ones drawn by hand.

To work them there are twelve engineers, seven sub-engineers, thirty-two senior firemen, thirty-nine junior firemen, and fourteen drivers, or 104 men and 31 horses. In addition to these persons, who form the main establishment, and live at the different stations, there is an extra staff of four firemen, four drivers, and eight horses. The members of this supplementary force are also lodged at the stations,[42] as well as clothed, but are only paid when their services are required, and pursue in the daytime their ordinary occupations. This not very formidable army of 104 men and 31 horses, with its reserve of eight men and eight horses, is distributed throughout the metropolis, which is divided into four districts as follows:--On the north side of the river--1st, From the eastward to Paul's Chain, St. Paul's Churchyard, Aldersgate Street, and Goswell Street Road; 2nd, From St. Paul's, &c., to Tottenham Court Road, Crown Street, and St. Martin's Lane; 3rd, From Tottenham Court Road, &c., westward; 4th, The entire south side of the river. At the head of each district is a foreman, who never leaves it unless acting under the superior orders of Mr. Braidwood, the superintendent or general-in-chief, whose head-quarters are in Watling Street.

In comparison with the great continental cities, such a force seems truly insignificant. Paris, which does not cover a fifth part of the ground of London, and is not much more than a third as populous, boasts 800 _sapeurs-pompiers_: we make up, however, for want of numbers by activity.

Again, our look-out is admirable: the 6,000 police of the metropolis, patrolling every alley and lane throughout its length and breadth, watch for a fire as terriers watch at rat-holes, and every man is stimulated by the knowledge, that if he is the first to give notice of it at any of the stations it is half a sovereign in his pocket. In addition to the police, there are the thousand eager eyes of the night cabmen, and the houseless poor. It is not at all uncommon for a cabman to earn four or five s.h.i.+llings of a night by driving fast to the different stations and giving the alarm, receiving a s.h.i.+lling from each for the "call."

In most continental cities a watchman takes his stand during the night on the topmost point of some high building, and gives notice by either blowing a horn, firing a gun, or ringing a bell. In Germany the quarter is indicated by holding out towards it a flag by day, and a lantern at night.

It immediately suggests itself that a sentinel placed in the upper gallery of St. Paul's would have under his eye the whole metropolis, and could make known instantly, by means of an electric wire, the position of a fire, to the head-station at Watling Street, in the same manner as the Americans do in Boston. This plan is, however, open to the objection, that London is intersected by a sinuous river, which renders it difficult to tell on which bank the conflagration is raging. Nevertheless, we imagine that the northern part of the town could be advantageously superintended from such a height, whilst the southern half might rest under the surveillance of one of the tall shot-towers on that bank of the Thames.

The bridges themselves have long been posts of observation, from which a large portion of the river-side property is watched. Not long ago there was a pieman on London Bridge, who eked out a precarious existence by keeping a good look-out up and down the stream.

Watling Street was chosen as the head-quarters of the Fire Brigade for a double reason: it is very nearly the centre of the City, being close to the far-famed London Stone, and it is in the very midst of what may be termed, speaking igneously, the most dangerous part of the metropolis--the Manchester warehouses. As the Fire Brigade is only a portion of a vast commercial operation--Fire Insurance--its actions are regulated by strictly commercial considerations. Where the largest amount of _insured_ property lies, there its chief force is planted. It will, it is true, go any reasonable distance to put out a fire; but of course it pays most attention to property which its proprietors have guaranteed. The central station receives the greatest number of "calls;" but as a commander-in-chief does not turn out for a skirmish of outposts, so Mr.

Braidwood keeps himself ready for affairs of a more serious nature. When the summons is at night--there are sometimes as many as half a dozen--the fireman on duty below apprises the superintendent by means of a gutta percha speaking-tube, which comes up to his bedside. By the light of the ever-burning gas, he rapidly consults the "London Directory," and if the call should be to what is called "a greengrocer's street," or any of the small thoroughfares in by-parts of the town, he leaves the matter to the foreman in whose district it is, and goes to sleep again. If, however, the fire should be in the City, or in any of the great west-end thoroughfares, he hurries off on the first engine. Five minutes is considered a fair time for an engine "to horse and away," but it is often done in three. Celerity in bringing up aid is the great essential, as the first half hour generally determines the extent to which a conflagration will proceed.

Hence the rewards of thirty s.h.i.+llings for the first, twenty for the second, and ten for the third engine that arrives, which premiums are paid by the parish. All the engines travel with as few hands as possible: the larger ones having an engineer, four firemen and a driver, and the following furniture:--

"Several lengths of scaling-ladder, each 6-1/2 feet long, all of which may be readily connected, forming in a short s.p.a.ce of time a ladder of any required length; a canvas sheet, with ten or twelve handles of rope round the edge of it for the purpose of a fire-escape; one 10-fathom and one 14-fathom piece of 2-1/2-inch rope; six lengths of hose, each 40 feet long; two branch-pipes, one 2-1/2 feet, and the other from 4 to 6 feet long, with one spare nose-pipe; two 6-feet lengths of suction-pipe, a flat rose, stand-c.o.c.k, goose-neck, dam-board, boat-hook, saw, shovel, mattock, pole-axe, screw-wrench, crow-bar, portable cistern, two dog-tails, two b.a.l.l.s of strips of sheepskin, two b.a.l.l.s of small cord, instruments for opening the fire-plugs, and keys for turning the stop-c.o.c.ks of the water-mains."

The weight of the whole, with the men, is not less than from 27 to 30 cwt., a load which in the excitement of the ride is carried by a couple of horses at the gallop.

The hands to work the pumps are always forthcoming on the spot at any hour of the night, not alone for goodwill, as every man--and there have been as many as five hundred employed at a time--receives one s.h.i.+lling for the first hour and sixpence for every succeeding one, together with refreshments. In France the law empowers the firemen to seize upon the bystanders, and compel them to give their services, without fee or reward.

An Englishman at Bordeaux, whilst looking on, some few years since, was forced, in spite of his remonstrances, to roll wine-casks for seven hours out of the vicinity of a conflagration. We need not say which plan answers best. A Frenchman runs away, as soon as the _sapeurs-pompiers_ make their appearance upon the scene, to avoid being impressed. Still such is the excitement, that there are some gentlemen with us who pursue the occupation of firemen as amateurs; providing themselves with the regulation-dress of dark-green turned up with red, and with the accoutrements of the Brigade, and working, under the orders of Mr.

Braidwood, as energetically as if they were earning their daily bread.

The fascination of fires even extends to the brute creation. Who has not heard of the dog "Chance," who first formed his acquaintance with the Brigade by following a fireman from a conflagration in Sh.o.r.editch to the central station at Watling Street? Here, after he had been petted for some little time by the men, his master came for him, and took him home; but he escaped on the first opportunity, and returned to the station. After he had been carried back for the third time, his master--like a mother whose son _will_ go to sea--allowed him to have his own way, and for years he invariably accompanied the engine, now upon the machine, now under the horses' legs, and always, when going up-hill, running in advance, and announcing the welcome advent of the extinguisher by his bark. At the fire he used to amuse himself with pulling burning logs of wood out of the flames with his mouth. Although he had his legs broken half a dozen times, he remained faithful to his pursuit; till at last, having received a severer hurt than usual, he was being nursed by the fireman beside the hearth, when a "call" came, and at the well-known sound of the engine turning out, the poor brute made a last effort to climb upon it, and fell back dead in the attempt. He was stuffed and preserved at the station, and was doomed, even in death, to prove the fireman's friend: for one of the engineers having committed suicide, the Brigade determined to raffle him for the benefit of the widow, _and such was his renown, that he realized_ 123_l._ 10_s._ 9_d._

The most interesting and practical part of our subject is the inquiry into the various causes of fires. Mr. Braidwood comes here to our aid with his invaluable yearly reports--the only materials we have, in fact, on which fire insurance can be built up into a science, a feat which we have not accomplished to nearly the same extent as with life a.s.surance, although the Hand-in-Hand office was founded so far back as 1696. Thus we have the experience of upwards of 150 years, if we could only get at it, to enable the actuary to ascertain the doctrine of chances in this momentous subject, which at present is little better than a speculation. An a.n.a.lysis of the reports, from the organization of the Fire Brigade in 1833 to the close of 1853, a period extending over 21 years, affords the following result:

Abstract of List of Fires and Alarms for Twenty Years, ending 1853.

------------------------------------------------------------------------- Year. Totally Considerably Slightly Total Alarms. Total of Destroyed Damaged. Damaged. of ------------------- Fires & Fires. False Chimn'y Total Alarms.

----- --------- ------------ -------- ------ ----- ------- ----- -------- 1833 31 135 292 458 59 75 134 592 1834 28 116 338 482 57 112 169 651 1835 31 125 315 471 66 106 172 643 1836 33 134 397 564 66 126 192 756 1837 22 122 357 501 82 134 216 717 1838 33 152 383 568 79 108 187 755 1839 17 165 402 584 70 101 171 755 1840 26 204 451 681 84 98 182 863 1841 24 234 438 696 67 92 159 855 1842 24 224 521 769 61 82 143 912 1843 29 231 489 749 79 83 162 911 1844 23 237 502 762 70 94 164 926 1845 23 253 431 707 82 87 168 875 1846 25 233 576 834 119 69 188 1,022 1847 27 273 536 836 88 66 154 990 1848 27 269 509 805 120 86 206 1,011 1849 28 228 582 838 76 89 165 1,003 1850 18 229 621 868 91 79 170 1,038 1851 21 255 652 928 115 116 231 1,159 1852 25 238 660 923 93 89 182 1,105 1853 20 241 629 900 72 90 162 1,062 ----- --------- ------------ -------- ------ ----- ------- ----- -------- Total 535 4,298 10,091 14,924 1,695 1,982 3,677 18,601 -------------------------------------------------------------------------

If we examine this table, we find ample evidence that the organization of the Fire Brigade has resulted in an abatement of loss and labour. Taking the average of the last twenty-one years, there has been a decrease of 57 in the last year under the head of "totally destroyed." This is the best test of the activity of the Brigade, and really means much more than is obvious at first sight. Within these twenty-one years many tens of thousands of houses have been added to the metropolis; our periphery has been continually enlarging; like a tree, we grow year by year by adding a fresh ring of bricks and mortar. Whilst this increase is going on externally, the central part is growing too. We can afford no dead wood in our very heart: if it cannot expand one way it must another. Accordingly, we find the crowded city extending towards the sky; and if we take into account the immense ma.s.s of material added to that which existed, all of which is equally liable to the inroads of fire, we can understand why the total number of conflagrations has increased from 458 in 1833 to 900 in 1853. With such an augmentation of conflagrations, the _decrease_ of houses totally destroyed in 1853 is the highest testimony to the ability and zeal of Mr. Braidwood.

The item "totally destroyed" is mainly made up of houses and factories in which are stored very combustible materials, such as carpenters' and cabinet-makers' shops, oilmen's warehouses, sawmills, &c., where the fire gains such a hold in a few minutes as to preclude the possibility of putting it out. The number is also swelled by houses which are situated many miles from the nearest station; for there are no stations in the outskirts of the town, and very few in the crowded suburbs. We have seen complaints of this want of help in thickly-populated localities; but the companies only plant an establishment where the insurances are sufficient to cover the expense, and people who do not contribute have no more right to expect private individuals to take care of their property than tradesmen in the Strand would have to expect the private watchman outside Messrs. Coutts' bank to look after their shutters. Indeed, it seems to us that the Brigade act very liberally. The firemen never stop to ask whether the house is insured or not; nor are they deterred by distance; and in many cases they have gone as far as Brentford, Putney, Croydon, Barnet, Uxbridge, Cranfordbridge, Windsor Castle, and once to Dover by an express engine. The only difference made by the Brigade between insured and uninsured property is, that after putting out a fire they take charge of the salvage of the former, and leave that of the latter to its owner.

The force is, however, very careful to repair immediately any damage they may have done to adjoining property--damage which they commit in the most deliberate manner, regardless of pains and penalties. For instance, _housebreaking_ is almost a nightly crime with the firemen whilst in search of water, who never let a wall or a door stand between them and a supply of this element. It is a proof of the good feeling which prevails on such occasions that, although they are technically guilty of an offence which renders them liable to punishment, no one murmurs, much less threatens proceedings. If the authorities in the great fire of London had acted in a similar manner for the public good, they would have saved the half of the Inner Temple, which was destroyed because, according to Clarendon's account, all the lawyers were absent on circuit, and the constables did not dare to take the responsibility of breaking open their chamber doors!

It is a question whether government ought not to relieve the parish authorities from a duty which they cannot separately perform, and combine their engines into a metropolitan brigade; thus guarding the town from fire as they do from robbery by the police. If people will not protect themselves by insuring, the state should protect them, and make them pay for it. An excellent system prevails in most parts of Germany of levying a rate at the close of the year upon all the inhabitants, sufficient to cover the loss from fires during the past twelvemonth. As every householder has a pecuniary interest in the result, he keeps a bucket and belt, and sallies out to extinguish the conflagration in his neighbour's premises. If the rate were adopted in London, and the present enormous duty on insurances reduced, the cost to each person would be hardly more pence than it is pounds at present to the provident few.

Mr. Samuel Brown, of the Inst.i.tute of Actuaries, after a.n.a.lyzing the returns of Mr. Braidwood, as well as the reports in the _Mechanics'

Magazine_ by Mr. Baddeley, who has devoted much attention to the subject, drew up some tables of the times of the year and hours of the day at which fires are most frequent. It would naturally be supposed that the winter would show a vast preponderance over the summer months; but the difference is not so great as might be expected. December and January are very prolific of fires, as in these months large public buildings are heated by flues, stoves, and boilers; but the other months share mishaps of the kind pretty equally, with the exception that the hot and dry periods of summer and autumn are marked by the most destructive cla.s.s of conflagrations, owing to the greater inflammability of the materials, than in the damper portions of the year. This, from the desiccating nature of the climate, is especially the case in Canada and the United States, and, coupled with the extensive use of wood in building, has a large influence in many parts of the continent. The following list of all the great fires which have taken place for the last hundred years will bear out our statement:--

------------------------------------------------------------------------- Month. Description of Property, Place. Value of Property Year.

&c. Destroyed. --------------------------------- -------------- ----------------- ------ {Webb's Sugar-house Liverpool 4,600 1829 {Lancelot's-hey " 198,000 1833 {Town-hall and Exchange " 45,000 1795 Jan. {Caxton Printing Office " 1821 {Dublin & Co. Warehouse " 1834 {Suffolk Street " 40,000 1818 {Mile End London 200,000 1834 {Royal Exchange " 1838 {York Minster York 1829 {3 West-India Warehouses London 300,000 1829 {House of Commons Dublin 1792 Feb. {Argyle Rooms London 1830 {Camberwell Church " 1841 {Custom House " 1814 {Hop Warehouse Southwark 1851 {J. F. Pawson & Co.'s } St. Paul's } 40,000 1853 { Warehouses } Churchyard } {Pickford's Wharf London 1824 {Goree Warehouses Liverpool 50,000 1846 {New Orleans United States dr. 650,000 1853 {15,000 houses at Canton China 1820 {13,000 houses Peru 1799 {Manchester England 1792 March {Fawcett's Foundry Liverpool 41,000 1843 {Oil Street " 12,000 1844 {Apothecaries' Hall " 7,000 1844 {Sugar House, Harrington} " 30,000 1830 { Street } {1,000 Buildings Pittsburg dr. 1,400,000 1845 {Savannah United States dr. 300,000 1852 {Parkshead, Bacon Street Liverpool 36,000 1851 {Windsor Forest England 1785 April {Margetson's Tan Yard, } London 36,000 1852 { Bermondsey } {1,158 Buildings, } United States 1838 { Charleston } {Horsleydown London 1780 {Dockhead London 1785 {Great Fire, 1,749 houses Hamburgh 1842 {23 Steamboats at } United States dr. 600,000 1849 { St. Louis } {15,000 Houses Quebec 1845 {York Minster York 1840 May {Duke's Warehouses Liverpool 1843 {Okell's Sugar-house " 1799 {Gibraltar Row " 1838 {Liver Mills " 8,700 1841 {Billinsgate London 1809 {Rotherhithe London 1765 {Copenhagen Denmark 1759 {Montreal Canada dr. 1,000,000 1852 {St. John Newfoundland 1846 {Louisville United States dr. 100,000 1853 June {47 persons, Quebec } Canada 1846 { Theatre } {1,300 houses, Quebec " 1845 {Gutta Percha Co., Wharf} London 23,000 1853 { Road } {Humphreys' Warehouse, } " 100,000 1851 { Southwark } {Hindon Wilts.h.i.+re 1754 {15,000 Houses Constantinople 1756 {12,000 Houses Montreal 1852 {300 Houses Philadelphia 1850 {300 Buildings North America dr. 160,000 1846 July {302 Stores New York dr. 1,200,000 1846 {Apothecaries' Hall Liverpool 1845 {Glover's Warehouses " 17,000 1851 {Dockyard Portsmouth 1770 {Wapping London 1,000,000 1794 {Ratcliffe Cross " 1794 {Varna Turkey 1854 {Dublin Ireland 1833 {Gravesend England 60,000 1847 {Walker's Oil Mill Dover 30,000 1853 {Falmouth Theatre Falmouth 1792 Aug. {Buildings, Albany United States dr. 600,000 1849 {10,000 Houses Constantinople 1782 {Smithfield London 100,000 1822 {East Smithfield " 1840 {Bankside " 1814 {Gateshead England 1854 {46 Buildings New York dr. 500,000 1839 {200 Houses, Brooklyn " 150,000 1848 {Scott, Russell, & Co., } London 80,000 1853 { s.h.i.+p Builders, Mill } { Wall } {St. Paul's Church, } " { Covent Garden } 1795 {60 Houses Rotherhithe " 1791 Sept. {Astley's Amphitheatre " 1794 {Mark Lane " 150,000 1850 {Covent Garden Theatre " 1808 {Store Street and } " { Tottenham Court Road } 1802 {Macfee's Liverpool 40,000 1846 {Gorees " 400,000 1802 {Formby Street " 380,000 1842 {Cowdray House Suss.e.x 1793 {52 Buildings Philadelphia dr. 100,000 1839 {Grimsdell's Builders' } Spitalfields 1852 { Yard } {Withwith's Mills Halifax 35,000 1853 {Robert Street North Liverp'l 150,000 1838 {Lancelot's-hey Liverpool 80,000 1854 {Memel Great Fire Prussia 1854 Oct. {London Wall London 84,000 1849 {20 Houses, Rotherhithe " 1790 {Lancelot's-hey Liverpool 30,000 1834 {Wapping London 100,000 1823 {Houses of Parliament " 1834 {Pimlico " 1839 {Royal Palace Lisbon 1794 {New York United States 1835 {20 Houses, Shadwell London 1796 {Aldersgate Street " 100,000 1783 Nov. {Cornhill " 1765 {Liver Street Liverpool 6,000 1829 {Wright & Aspinall, } London 50,000 1826 { Oxford Street } {Hill's Rice Mills " 5,000 1848 {Dock Yard Portsmouth 1776 {Patent Office and Post } Was.h.i.+ngton 1836 { Office } Dec. {600 Warehouses New York dr. 4,000,000 1835 {Fenwick Street Liverpool 36,000 1831 {Brancker's Sugar-house " 34,000 1843 -------------------------------------------------------------------------

(_Extracted from the Royal Insurance Company's Almanack, 1854._)

One reason, perhaps, why there is such a general average in the number of conflagrations throughout the year is, that the vast majority occur in factories and workshops where fire is used in summer as well as winter.

This supposition appears at first sight to be contradicted by the fact that nearly as many fires occur on Sunday as on any other day of the week.

But when it is remembered that in numerous establishments it is necessary to keep in the fires throughout that day, and as in the majority of cases a very inadequate watch is kept, it is at once apparent why there is no immunity from the scourge. Indeed, some of the most destructive fires have broken out on a Sunday night or on a Sunday morning; no doubt because a large body of fire had formed before it was detected. A certain number of accidents occur in summer in private houses from persons on hot nights opening the window behind the toilet-gla.s.s in their bedrooms, when the draught blows the blind against the candle. Swallows do not more certainly appear in June, than such mishaps are found reported at the sultry season.

If we watch still more narrowly the habits of fires, we find that they are active or dormant according to the time of day. Thus, during a period of nine years, the per-centage regularly increased from 196 at 9 o'clock A.M., the hour at which all households might be considered to be about, to 334 at 1 P.M., 355 at 5 P.M., and 815 per cent. at 10 P.M., which is just the time at which a fire left to itself by the departure of the workmen would have had swing enough to become visible.

The origin of fires is now so narrowly inquired into by the officers of the Brigade, and by means of inquests, that we have been made acquainted with a vast number of curious causes which would never have been suspected. From an a.n.a.lysis of fires which have occurred since the establishment of the Brigade we have constructed the following tables:--

Curtains 2,511 Candle 1,178 Flues 1,555 Stoves 494 Gas 932 Light dropped down Area 13 Lighted Tobacco falling down ditt 7 Dust falling on horizontal Flue 1 Doubtful 76 Incendiarism 89 Carelessness 100 Intoxication 80 Dog 6 Cat 19 Hunting Bugs 15 Clothes-horse upset by Monkey 1 Lucifers 80 Children playing with ditto 45 Rat gnawing ditto 1 Jackdaw playing with ditto 1 Rat gnawing Gaspipe 1 Boys letting off Fireworks 14 Fireworks going off 63 Children playing with Fire 45 Spark from ditto 243 Spark from Railway 4 Smoking Tobacco 166 Smoking Ants 1 Smoking in Bed 2 Reading in ditto 22 Sewing in ditto 4 Sewing by Candle 1 Lime overheating 44 Waste ditto 43 Cargo of Lime ditto 2 Rain slacking ditto 5 High Tide 1 Explosion 16 Spontaneous Combustion 43 Heat from Sun 8 Lightning 8 Carboy of Acid bursting 2 Drying Linen 1 s.h.i.+rts falling into Fire 6 Lighting and Upsetting Naphtha Lamp 58 Fire from Iron Kettle 1 Sealing Letter 1 Charcoal fire of a Suicide 1 Insanity 5 Bleaching Nuts 7 Unknown 1,323

Among the more common causes of fire (such as gas, candle, curtains taking fire, children playing with stoves, &c.) it is remarkable how uniformly the same numbers occur under each head from year to year. General laws obtain as much in small as in great events. We are informed by the Post Office authorities that about eight persons daily drop their letters into the post without directing them; we know that there is an unvarying percentage of broken heads and limbs received into the hospitals; and here we see that a regular number of houses take fire, year by year, from the leaping out of a spark or the dropping of a smouldering pipe of tobacco.

It may indeed be a long time before another conflagration will arise from "a monkey upsetting a clothes-horse," but we have no doubt such an accident will recur in its appointed cycle.

Although gas figures so largely as a cause of fire, it does not appear that its rapid introduction of late years into private houses has been attended with danger. There is another kind of light, however, which the insurance offices look upon with terror, especially those who make it their business to insure farm property. The a.s.sistant-secretary of one of the largest fire-offices, speaking broadly, informed us that the introduction of the lucifer-match _caused them an annual loss of ten thousand pounds_! In the foregoing list we see in how many ways they have given rise to fires.

Lucifers going off probably from heat 80 Children playing with lucifers 45 Rat gnawing lucifers 1 Jackdaw playing with lucifers 1 ---- 127

One hundred and twenty-seven known fires thus arise from this single cause; and no doubt many of the twenty-five fires ascribed to the agency of cats and dogs were owing to their having thrown down boxes of matches at night, which they frequently do, and which is almost certain to produce combustion. The item "rat gnawing lucifer," reminds us to give a warning against leaving about wax lucifers where there are either rats or mice, for these vermin constantly run away with them to their holes behind the inflammable canvas, and eat the wax until they reach the phosphorus, which is ignited by the friction of their teeth. Many fires are believed to have been produced by this singular circ.u.mstance. How much, again, must lucifers have contributed to swell the large cla.s.s of conflagrations whose causes are unknown! Another cause of fire, which is of recent date, is the use of naphtha in lamps,--a most ignitible fluid when mixed in certain proportions with common air. "A delightful novel" figures as a proximate, if not an immediate, cause of twenty-two fires. This might be expected; but what can be the meaning of a fire caused by a high tide? When we asked Mr. Braidwood the question, he answered, "Oh, we always look out for fires when there is a high tide. They arise from the heating of lime upon the addition of water." Thus rain, we see, has caused four conflagrations, and simple over-heating forty-four. The lime does no harm so long as it is merely in contact with wood; but if iron happens to be in juxtaposition with the two, it speedily becomes red-hot, and barges on the river have been sunk, by reason of their bolts and iron knees burning holes in their bottoms. Of the singular entry, "rat gnawing a gaspipe," the firemen state that it is common for rats to gnaw leaden service-pipes, for the purpose, it is supposed, of getting at the water, and in this instance the grey rodent laboured under a mistake, and let out the raw material of the opposite element. Intoxication is a fruitful cause of fires, especially in public-houses and inns.

It is commonly imagined that the introduction of hot water, hot air, and steam-pipes, as a means of heating buildings, cuts off one avenue of danger from fire. This is an error. Iron pipes, often heated up to 400, are placed in close contact with floors and skirting-boards, supported by slight diagonal props of wood, which a much lower degree of heat will suffice to ignite. The circular rim supporting a still at the Apothecaries' Hall, which was used in the preparation of some medicament that required a temperature of only 300, was found, not long ago, to have charred a circle, at least a quarter of an inch deep, in the wood beneath it, in less than six months. Mr. Braidwood, in his evidence before a Committee of the House of Lords, in 1846, stated that it was his belief that by long exposure to heat, not much exceeding that of boiling water, or 212, timber is brought into such a condition that it will fire without the application of a light. The time during which this process of desiccation goes on, until it ends in spontaneous combustion, is, he thinks, from eight to ten years; _so that a fire might be hatching in a man's premises during the whole of his lease, without making any sign_!

Mr. Hosking, in his very useful and sensible little "Guide to the proper Regulation of Buildings in Towns," quotes the following case, which completely confirms Mr. Braidwood's opinion, and explodes the idea that heat applied through the medium of pipes must be safe.

"Day and Martin's well-known blacking manufactory in High Holborn was heated by means of hot water pa.s.sing through iron tubes into the various parts of the building. In December, 1848, the wooden casing and other woodwork about the upright main pipes were found to be on fire, and from no other cause that could be discovered than the constant exposure for a long time of the wood to heat from the pipes.