The Somerset press. [volume] (Somerset, Ohio) 1873-1977, 1880-10-14
THE MYSTERY OF FIRES.
spon.aneou. Combustion the ChiefCau.e


Many hundred fires yearly remain
unexplained, even after the most pains
taking and exhaustive investigation.
Z" Among all the wonderful phenomena
which chemistry presents to us" writes
more remarkable than those of spontan-
eous combustion of bodies, animate and
inanimate, which emit flames, and are
sometime entirely consumed by internal
fire." Among the substances subject to
spontaneous combustion pulverized char
coal is one of the most remarkable. GA
load of charcoal was delivered in an out
house of clergyman in LEIPZIG, and
showed no signs of taking fire until the
door by accident was left open, when the
wind blew sprinklings of. snow ON the
charcoal. The rapid absorption of oxygen
from the melting SNOW caused the char
coal to ignite, and as the day was windy
the whole range of buildings was burnedto
ashes" In this connection fruitful and
unsupported source of fire suggests it
self to those of our American house
keepers who burn wood as fuel and who
store the ashes in boxes and barrels The
accidental disturbing Of such ashes. even
after years, will cause them to ignite,
provided the air is damp or foggy. The
phosphuret of potash from decayed wood
renders wood ashes highly infammable,
and mysterious cellar fires in the rural
districts are, no doubt, in some cases
caused by this extraordinary form of
spontaneous combustion.
Professor Weissman himself had the
unfortunate experience Of being burned
out of house and home on wild winter
n1nh nd 10
since diligently collected facts about
spontaneous combustion. It appears
that he had been having his house
painted, and one night the painters, as
their manner is, left their working pants,
their pots and their brushes ON the as
phaltum ficor of the cellar. They had
previously with bunch of rags removed
from their hands with spirits of turpen-
tine the paint with which they were
soiled The ball of rags took fire, the
pants and paint pots followed suit, and
the house was burned to the ground.
In the carriage factory Of Messrs.
Eaton & Gilbert, Troy, New York, drop
of linseed oil fell into an open paper Of
lampblack, set it on fire and came within
an ace Of burning the whole great fac
tory.
In several instances oilcloth in large
rolls has taken fire in damp, muggy
weather. An instance of this also occurs
in American fire experience. A planter
in Virginia sent his servant to F'redericks-
burg for a roll of oilcloth. It was a warm
day and the wagon was open. During
the journey home it began to rain, and
the roll of oilcloth took fire on the road.
| Another instance of the kind is supplied
| by Philadelphia during the war. An Or
| der from the War Department in Wash
| ington for knapsacks for a regiment was
| filed in the City of Brotherly Love. The
| sacks were all finished and collected, and
counted over and left in pile in the
| paint shop about ten o'clock on Saturday
night, SO as to be sent to Washington by
cars early on Monday morning. On en-
tering the paint shop before daylight on
| Monday morning no knapsacks were to
be found. In their place was nothing
but heap of smoldering ashes !
| Newly pressed hay frequently ignites,
| as do also oatmeal and cornmeal in bar
rels. During the famine in Ireland in
1847-48 vessel was dispatched from
New York with cargo of cornmeal for
the relief of the sufferers. In discharg-
ing the bags from the vessel the last
three were found to be on fire.
| The american Journal of Science
! gives remarkable instance of the spon-
taneous combustion of wood. A Mr..
Adam Reigart, two years previous to the
occurrence, received piece OF wood,
supposed to be cedar, detached from a
large piece dug up thirty-nine feet below
the surface, near Lancaster, Penn. The
piece weighed few ounces, and it was
| broken in two and laid upon white pine
the fire he had occasion to wipe the dust
from the shelf and from the piece of ce
dar with wet cloth. Three days after
ward it was discovered that the piece o
wood had ignited and combustion wa
proceeding so rapidly that in few mip-
utes the shelf would have been on fire.