4^0 ANNUAL RECORD OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. 



sive than it was. It was also found that good wbod-work in 

 beams and posts, good wood floors, well plugged, and good 

 wooden staircases, were safer and more to be depended upon 

 than cast-iron columns and stone staircases, landinirs, and 

 floors. Stone staircases, well protected by plaster, were fire- 

 proof, although not so safe as wood in case of heavy debris 

 falling upon them. 8 A, September 2, 1872, 131. 



STEAM AS A FIEE-EXTINGUISHER. 



Dr. Weidenbusch, of Wiesbaden, highly recommends steam 

 as a fire-extinguisher, and suggests experiments as to the 

 best method of employing it, as well by the use of portable 

 boilers (where the connecting pipes would produce the chief 

 difficulty) as by pipes and boilers arranged for each building. 

 As an illustration of its efficiency, he gives the case of a fac- 

 tory about 196 feet long and 33 feet wide, the garret of Avhich 

 was filled with rags, shavings, leather-scraps, etc., in which, 

 when the fire was detected, half the length of the roof Avas 

 burning. The fire apparatus arrived about an hour after- 

 ward, and the extinguishing appliances of the building itself 

 were so defective that the whole roof was in flames and had 

 fallen in, and the lower story was on fire in diff*erent places. 

 About two and a half hours after the outbreak of the fire a 

 steam-boiler, separate from the building, and not in use for 

 some hours, was fired up with wood, and the cast-iron pipes 

 were cut by a daring carpenter who entered a room of the 

 burning building. The efiect was instantaneous. The room, 

 filled with the steam issuing imder high pressure (which, 

 however, he does not consider essential), soon darkened, one 

 portion after another ceased to burn, even the heaps of rags 

 on the garret, with free access of air, Avere gradually extin- 

 guished, and after half an hour all danger was regarded as 

 past. The effect was too marked to be ascribed to the fire- 

 engines operating during the same time, and the firemen 

 were more and more impressed with the fact that their labor 

 was superfluous as the steam came into play. 15 C, 1873, 21. 



NEW SUBSTITUTE FOR COAL GAS. 



A company has been recently organized in Great Britain 

 for the purpose of manufacturing a substitute for coal gas, 

 and from the scale on which it is prosecuted very sanguine 



