The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1871-11-17
say. 1t is much to be regretted that so
many valuable franchises must be given
up."
The Philosophy OF Our Great Fires.
From the New York Herald

Buckles theory OF moral and crlmi-
nal epidemics seems TO find a new illus
tration in the large series of startling
disasters which have occurred in this
country within the present year. The
same calamities have revived the great
question of the Middle Ages, as to
whether fire or pestience was the des-
troying angel of the ancient Hebrews.
But as this is not the time for abstract
discussion we need make no further no
tice of those points than to remark that
with us fire, in one form or another, has
been the chief destroyer; but much
mischief as it has done, it is not so bad
as an epidemic pestilence. This it were
easy to show by referring to the devas-
tations Of the plague, as described by
the most reliable historians. ancient and
modern. The ruin produced even at
Chicago would seem very slight if com
pared with the scourgings inflicted on
Athens, Rome, Marseilles, Florence and
London, without either fire or steam,
battering ram, or cannon.
None will deny, on reflection, that it
is better that one hundred and fifty
millions worth of property, or three
hundred millions worth, should be des-
troyed, than that two-thirds, one half,
onethird, or even one.tenth of the in
habitants OF populous city should be
put to death in such manner as to
render them loathsome TO those TO
whom they are most dear. That so
large proportion as two-thirds of the
population of great city should be
destroyed may seem incredible but we
need not go 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
scourges on the survivors, all the great
fires of the world have not produced so
much decentralization. 1t was in order
to illustrate this, and not to make any
exhibition of his courage or contempt
of death, that Archimedes uttered his
famous apothegm. 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 be consumed if he did not
Immediately seek refuge in flight, the
only reply of the philosopher was,
" That is true, for it is the nature of fire
to act in a circle"
There is much more science and phi
losophy IN this brief remark of Archi-
medes than is apparent at first view it
is also more applicable to existing cir
cumstances. 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 thousand years ago as they are to-
day in the United States. If there
were not insurance companies then to
be defrauded by means of the incen-
diary torch, a certain class of people
coveted their neighbors' share quite as
much as the same class do now and
nothing-except perhaps high official
position-atfords a more favorable OPP
portunity for peculation than great
fire in a wealthy city.
If it be denied that incendiaries, like
other malefactors, act in a circle, on the
Archimedean principle; if the progress
OF science In our time requires that we
60 beyond the surface of things to dis
cover the causes of so many great igne-
Gus catastrophies, is there MT fire
enough in the earth still to destroy
dozens of cities? Precisely because we
claim TO be a scientific and thoughtful
people we ought to remember that ex-
tensive forests, and even mountains, in
state OF contiagration are 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 be-
yond dispute that the slightest accident
has set them on fire. Upon the other
hand, the intense cold and almost per-
petual snow Of Iceland cannot cool its
boiling springs.
1t may be asked why should either
the solar heat or the terrestrial heat be-
come so much more intense and destruc.
tive this year III certain parts of this
country than it has ever been known to
be 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 con.
stantly advancing in one part and re-
ceding in the other exactly as the ex.
ternal ocean does. This may account
for the increased or diminished tenn
perature in any locality, without assum-
ing that the solar heat has undergone
any change. 1t was in accordance with
this law that Sir Charles Lyell found the
temperature of the northern shore of
Lake Superior considerably higher than
that of the southern shore at mid
winter Then it seems the tendency of
the igneous sea was towards the Cana
dian shore. If it now evinces more
Partially for our western country, there
is nothing in the fact that ought to
overwhelm us with establishment. True,
this theory does not account for disas-
tiers like the explosion of the Staten
Island ferry boat but having explained
that phenomenon on former occasion,
we need not allude to it any further
now than to observe that the Westfeld
catastrophe also was the result of
natural causes, those causes assuming
in this case the forms of avarice, greed,
ignorance, dilapidation, iust, etc.
Since it is at least possible, according
to the best scientific authorities, that
the great fires in our Western country
have thus been produced without NAL
ice or any human agency, it is as well
to regard them in that light as to at
! tribute them to the love of plumber If