Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1871-11-17
The Philosophy Of Our Great Fires.

IN tnc present year. ne same calamllcS
have revived the great question of the
Middle Ages, as to whether fire or pesti-
! lence was the destroying angel of the an
/ clients Hebrews. But as this is not the
time for abstract discussion we need make
no further notice Of these points than to
remark that, with us, fire in one form or
other, has been the chief destroyer but
much mischief rs it has done, il is not so
bad as an epidemic pestilcnce. This it
were easy to show by referring to the de-
vastations of the plague as described by
the most reliable historians ancient and
modern. The ruin produced even at Chi
cago would seem very slight if compared
with the scourgings inflicted ON Athens,
Rome, Marseilles, Florence and London,
without either fire or steam, battcring ram,
or cannon.
/ None will deny, on reflection, that it is
better that one hundred and fifty millions
worth of property, or three hundred mill
ions worth should be destroyed, than
that two-thirds. one-half, ,one-third, or even
one-tenth of the inhabitants of popu-
lous city should he put to death in such Il
manner rs to render them loathsOme to
those tn whom they are most dear That
SO large 1t proportion as two-thirds of the
population of Il great city should be de-
stroyed may well seem incredible; but we
need not 60 beyond Florence for an eX-
ample and Florence was thus stricken
down in the days of her greatest glory
Then, as to the moral effect of those
scOurgcs on the survivors all the great
fires of the world have not produces so
much decentralization. II was in order TO
Illustrate this, and not to make any eXhi-
hition OF his courage or contempt of death,
that Archimedes uttered his famous apo
thegm. When informed that Syracuse,
the beloved city he had saved more than
once by his learning and genius, was in
flames, and that he would soon he CON
sumed if he did not Immediately seek
refuge in flight, the only reply of the phi
losopher was, That is true, for it is the
nature Of fire To act in Il circle"
There is much more science and phi
losophy in this brief remark of Archim-
edes than is apparent at first view it is
also more applicable TO existing circum-
stances. Whatever may have been the
immediate causes of our great fires
and great explosions both the latter have
occurred in accordance with laws which
were as much in force in Sicily two thous-
and years ago as they are to-day in the
United States. If there were not insur-
ance companies then to be defrauded by
means of the incendiary torch, certain
class of people coveted their neighbors'
share quite as much as the same class do
now and nothing-eNcept, perhaps, high
official pOsition-aifords more favor
able opportunity for peculation than a
great fire in a wealthy city.
If it be denied that incendiaries, like
other indicators, act in circle, on the
Archimedean principle if the progress
OF science in our time requires that we 20
beyond the surface of things to discover
the causes of so many great igneous ca
taStropheS, is there not fire enough in
the earth still to destroy dozens of cities ?
Precisely because we claim to be Il sCien-
titic and thoughtful people we ought to
remember that extensive forests and even
mountains, in Il state of contlagration arc
no new phenomena. If it is not proved
that forests have taken fire spontaneously
during unusually hot summers in Russia
and other parts of the world, it is beyond
dispute that the slightest accident has
set them ON fire. Upon the other hand,
the intense cold and almost perpetual
snow of Iceland cannot cool lis boiling
springs.
1t may be asked why should either the
solar Eeat or the terrestrial heat become
so much more intense ard destructive
this year in certain parts of this country
than it has ever been known to he before?
But the simplest treatise on geology will
answer the question. 1t is only necessary
TO bear in mind that the internal sea of
liquid fire is constantly advancing in one
part and reCeding in the other exactly as
the external ocean does. This may ac-
count for the increased or diminished
temperature in any locality, without as
suming that the solar heat has undergone
any change. Ii was in accordance with
this last that Sir Charles LyCl found the
temperature of the northern shore of Lake
Superior considerably higher than that of
the southern shore, If it now evinces
more partiality for our Western country,
there is nothing in the fact that ought 10
overwhelm us with astonishment True,
this theory does not account for disasters
like the explosion of the Staten Island
ferryboat; but, having explained that
phenomena on former occasion, We need
allude to it any further than to observe
that the Westtield catastrophe was also
the result of natural causes, those causes
assuming in this case the forms of avarice,
greed, ignorance, dilapidation, rust, etc.
Since il is at least possible, according to
the best scientific authorities, that the
great fires in our Western country have
thus been produced without malice or any
human agency, il is as well to regard them
IN that light rs to attribute them to the
love of plunder. If men have been hung
from lamp posts as inCcndiaTics at Chica-
go, that is no proof that they were such.
In times of great public suffering and ex-
citement the most innocent are liable to be
made victims. Hundreds have been exc
cuted for poisoning wells in ancient and
modern times, when the only poison used
was that of the pestilence. Accordingly,
while the conflagration was raging in Chi
cago, "a man who was poor and unknown
was in as much danger, if placed in cir
cumstances that excited suspicious against
him, as IA poor, old, wrinlSled woman was
in Salem in witch-burning times. AS it
does not follow that, because certain per
sons were burned for witchcraft, they
were witches, so it docs not follow that
because certain persons have been hanged
or otherwise maltreated at Chicago for in
cendlarism, they were really incendiaries.
Nor is It fair to accuse the Jews merely
because they entertain certain views as to
the proprlety of Christians, or because
they are supposed to have a stronger lust
OF gam and less principle than other sects
or nationalities The race, which has
numbered its years by its captivities, has
suffered so much in other parts of the
world without any adequate cause that
even their misfortunes should shield them
from mdiscriminate accusations in
country at once SO enlightened and so
fond of " fair play " as ours. If individ-
uals belonging to any sect or nationality
are found To have taken any voluntary
part in producing so much ruin and de-
vastation, let them receive the most severe
punishment which the law prescribes for
so base and fiendish crime. But the
dogma of visiting the sins of the fathers
upon the children, or those of the chill
dren upon the fathers, does not belong to