Orange County observer., 1891-05-09
COMPLICATIONS.
THE GREATEST FIRES OF AN.
-CIEST AND MODERN TIMES.
Destruction of Big Libraries in Ale>
andria-How ConstantinopIe and
Ancient Rome Suffered Amer
ica's Noted Burnings

Among the great fires of history. un-
ioubtedly the burning of the Serapeum
library at Alexandria, in the year GAO, by
the Caliph Omar l., is mos, widely.
mourned, as the destruction of sou, 900 |
volumes cut off much of the record of |
human knowledge at that time The |
general impression of the Importance and
significance of this fire is, no doubt. |
augmented in great measure by the |
alleged answer of this Saraceu conqueror,
who applied to the protest against the
burning with 'If these books are
against the Koran, they are pernicious
and must be DESTROYED If thev agree
with the Koran, they are redundant and
need not be preserved and it IS not
generally remembered that julius Cesar
burned\ "a larger library of 700, 900
volumes at Alexandria, known as the
Brucian library, B. G. 48, nearly 700 be-
fore the burning Of the Serappum
library by Omar |.
At times of sack and pllage Jerusalem
has oeen burned time and again; ,nc
most noted instance being at the 81 re
by the Romans under Titus, during the
wear 70, when 4 faction called the
Sicarii set the city On fire in many places,
and eventually LOO, 900 OF the in
habltants perished by fire and the
| sword
Constantinople has, like all Oriental
cities, suffered severely from fires, a large
part Of such losses being undoubtedly
| due to the fatalism of the Mohammedans,
who bow to their kismet Said Sultan:
eff it be the will of Allah that my favor
| ite city burn, it is the will Of Allah.
| A great fire at Rome, IL b c., caused
| the Emperor Augustus to take measures
for increasing the defense against fire,
which had been hitherto in the hands of
bodies of police, numbering twenty or
thirty, stationed III various parts of the
| city, and re-enforced at times of fires by
companies of volunteers. He appointed
new officers with the rank of magistrates,
| who were entitled to wear magisterial
robes Each was attended by two lie
tors, and provided with fire organiza-
ton of 600 slaves. 1t is probable that
this was not entirely satisfactory in its
operation, because six years later another
fire caused him to undertake further re-
forms on a scale fully characteristic Of
him who ''found the city built OF brick
and left it with palaces OF marble. He
increased the fire department to scale
commensurate with the needs Of the city
Seven thousand lrccmen were organized
into seven battalion, and one battalion
was auartered in every alternate ward OF
the city. These men made careful in
spectiOns Of the kitchens, Of the heating
apparatus and Of the water supply in tho
houses, aud every ire was the subject oi
judicial examination The cost OF th.
organization was maintained by a tax oi
twenty-five per cent. on the sale o
slaves.
Two notable examples oI contagion
stopped by contiagrations are the burn
ing of Moscow by the hesiegng Tartars
|
in July. 1870, when the plague wa
stopped, and secondly the fire III Lon
don, September =, 1866. which ais
stopped the plague, and It has been un
known there since This London fir
is properly called there the grea. fire Q
modern history. because thd reform
which were started in consequence of
are living issues in the municipal affai
OF to-day. The fire was caused L
an oyerheated bakers oven and in Il
course of four days It swep, over 43
acres, burning $500. houses. :
churches and 81 PauI's Cathedral. cau-
ING damage estimated to b. Ela. ZIG
900, say s53, 500, 600 Ursier the j!
rection Of Pepys the fre was stopped /
blowing up buildings, which was. q: Il
time, the only method % rcdaclng !. f
that had grown beyond the capacity
the small fire engines. Thee we.e {
large tubs, and threw a stream of wa;l