, 1866-07-10

MI" Va Univ 49, o.
living together. Mr.. Young recommends
that no pains should be spared to pre-
vent mischief arising from this cause, and
that call waste vegetable matters of any
and every description, should be removed
TO such place as shall prevent any danger
arising if they should become spontane-
ously ignited." Upon this subject We
are supplied with the following further
information -
There have been many we'll authentl-
Gated cases of serious fires arising from
this cause; and it would seem that they
are rather on the increase than other
wise. One great reason for this is the
increasing tendency to store large mass,
es of material together in a lump, instead
of separating them as much as possible;
consequently it is difficult, nay, almost
impossible, to have that easy means OF
inspection from time TO time throughout
the whole mass, which is the only means
of detecting and preventing the progress
and outbreak of this silent and lnsldlous
destroyer.
Count Mosozzo has written at considera-
BILE length on spontaneous combustion; and
in the Memoirs of the Academy OF Sclen-
ces at Turin, and also in the Memories
de PAcad6mie de Paris, 1860, and in the
volume of the 'Repertory of Arts some
interesting facts on this subject will be
found.
In 1864 the fires stated to have been
caused by spontaneous combustion IN
London are set down at Is.
Reference is naturally made to the
difficulty of dealing with fires which there
may be ground for supposing belong to
the class awilful;' - and it is observed
that sit is highly probable that by main
tanning the practice Of eotting on foot u
strict investigation into the causes of all
fires a considerable damper may be put
on fires of this sort" Further, that I'M
der the new system which came into
operation in the Metropolis on the LIST
January last, it may be taken for q GER
tainty that "when the public come TO
pay for attendance at fires and the main
tenance of the fire extinguishing machi-
merry, they will require to know the
causes of such fires as those at South
wark-strect, Gresham-street, &C., with
the expectation Of finding that such data
may be obtained as will enable the now
gradually increasing number to be dimin-
ished or averted altogether"
Mr.. Young sees no reason why the same
system ofenquiryby aduIy appointed Co
vernment officer chat is adopted in respect
of railway accidents should not be fol-
lowed in the case of accidents by fire
The authors attention seems to have
been drawn to the point by q letter from
Mr.. Lewis M. Becker, dated July 81,
1865; in which the writer urges upon
Fire Insurance Companies and the Me-
tropolitan Board Of Works "the desira-
bility of conjointly appointing a gentle
man practically used to the devastation
of fires, to survey the dangers of the pre-
sent buildings, and watch the eonstrue-
ton of future ones" 1t would no doubt
be a capital berth; and it is to be under
stood that Mr.. Becker has had the means
of witnessing devastating fires"
Having pointed out the causes of fires
classified as "Accidental' Mr.. Youny pro-
ceeds to lay down the precautions re-
quisite to avoid them. He says
Never leave l%ucifers, vesuvians, or any
other of the numerous descriptions of
chemical matches, in such positions that
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