Beaufort Republican. [volume] (Beaufort, S.C.) 1871-1873, 1873-02-27
Tile Chemistry of the Boston Flre.

instructive in its chemical aspects, and
we design to briefly direct attention to
some of these. The process of COM
bustion, whether it involves immense
structures, or whether it is confined to
the narrow limits of candle or common
friction match, is strictly a chemical
process. The burning of Boston was
chemical experiment on vast scale,
and withal 80 costly that the spectators
hardly wish to see it repeated. To
burn a substance is simply to change
it's condition the matter involved is
not destroyed, but from chemical action
it is forced into new relationships, or
into new forms of matter. There was
nothing whatever actually destroyed by
fire in this city on the night of Novem-
Der 9, but an immense amount OF ma
terial was changed from valuable or
marketable condition into one having
no value The sugar, coffee, tea and
spices of the grocer +; the prints, fian-
nels, laces and silks OF the dry goods
dealer the opium, gums, oils and ex-
tracts of the druggist the salts, acids,
alkaloids and reagents of the chemist,
consumed on that night were but COM
mon and valueless elements thrown
into complex combinations by nature
or art, SO as to meet or supply human
wants. In the condition in which the
hydrogen, carbon, oxygen, nitrogen,
the metals, etc., existed, of which these
diversified substances were composed,
they were needful to feed us, keep us
warm, or relieve lis when i'll they
therefore, as related to our wants, had
value we were willing to exchange
gold for them, metal Of such noble
characteristics and so sparsely dis
seminated upon our planet that We find
it to be a convenient representative OF
value. We had toiled for months or
years to form these chemical substances
and fabrics, or we have sent our ships
to every point of the globe to gather
them up, and we had stored them safe
ly, rs we supposed, in our warehouses.
But the fire came, and in sixteen hours
the whole was resolved into carbonic
oxide, carbonic acid, water, and a few
tons of ash 1; products which We can
neither eat, wear, nor utilize IN any
way to advantage. We do not need the
forms of matter which the fire left for
us, but we did need the same elements
in the other forms, as we had them be-
fore the confagration.
Combustion is wonderful process.
It may go on rapidly, rs it did in No
vember, and lay waste city in a single
night, or it may proceed slowly, and
require centuries to effect the. same
changes. Our immense stores OF mer-
chandise, which were resolved so rapid
" into visible forms, would have pass
ed through the same changes Tin short,
would have been burnedD if no fire had
come nigh them. This result would
have been inevitable, if We had con-
sumed them as food, worn them MS
clothing, or allowed them to waste from
neglect. The burning would have been
as actual as that of which we were eye
witnesses. The same amount OF heat
would have been developed, and the re-
sultant products the same. All organ
lied bodies are constantly undergoing
process of delay, which Is slow COM
bustion, and although We do not see
the light or feel the heat, it is accom-
panied by them. The world of organ
lied matter is certainly destined to be
burned, but we prefer the slow form to
the rapid, rs we have had notable ex,
ample of the latter which will suffice
for lifetime.
1t is quite easy to understand that
wood and other organized bodies cal
burn but the combustion OF buildings
constructed of brick, stone and iror
presents problem not little puzzline
to many. 4 fire, sweeping through tht
streets of city, lays low whole blocks
of buildings, into which nothing com
bustible enters, save the wooden parti
tions, floors, aad staircases, and these
while Burning, afford combustible ma
terial enough to expand and topple owe
our thin walls, and render the ruiz
complete. Buildings considered fire
proof, that is, those constructed withou
wood, can be destroyed by fire, if igni
tible material is burned with them
The Palace of the Tuileries and tn
Hotel de Vile, in Paris, burned by tn
wretched Commune, were fire-proo
| buildings, and without the aid of on
American kerosene oil, or some simila
infammable material, they could no
have been burned MS they were. l
required nearly 300 barrels of kerosen
oil to destroy the Tuileries. Th
miscreants hoisted n barrel or NOR
into each room, and knocking out tn
heads, allowed it to flow over the build
ing, and when it was thoroughly satura
ted they set it on fire. The metal mt
stone used in the structure were rapid,
expanded by the intense heat, the wall
were pushed outward, the roof fell IN
and the destruction was complete.
The Boston fire has demonstrated tn
influence which extreme heat has upo1
granite structures. They do not with
stand it's influence so well as thos
built of brick; and therefore are not n
safe buildings in time of large confia
grations. Pearl street was lined wit
granite buildings, and after the fire tn
work of disintegration was 80 thorough
ly accomplished that fine granite SAN
covered the pavement several inche
deep. Water we recognize as the an
tagonist of fire, and it was most iber
ally supplied in our great confagratior
1t seems n little paradoxical at frs
view, the act of pouring an agent on t
fire with the design Of arresting il
when we remember that fluid itself i
composed of two elements, one of whic
is highly combustible, and the othe
the grand supporter of combustion.
has been stated in several journals thn
water thrown upon the fire in the forr