FIRES AND THEIR CAUSES. 657 



whether a cask contains gunpowder or not, to insert a red-hot poker into 

 the bung-hole. Yet such a proceeding would be scarcely less foolhardy 

 than the detection of the presence of gas by means of flame. The test 

 in both cases is most thorough, but it is too energetic in its action to be 

 of any value but to those who wish to rise in the world too suddenly. 



Drunkenness is a well-known source of burned-out dwellings, the 

 habitual tippler being too often left to his own devices in the matter of 

 matches and candles. The usual faculty of double vision with which 

 an inebriated man is gifted leads to a divided claim upon the extin- 

 guisher, which naturally points to a disastrous sequel. Even sober peo- 

 ple will be guilty of the most hazardous habits, such as novel-reading 

 in bed with a candle placed near them on a chair ; for novels, like some 

 other graver compositions, are occasionally apt to induce slumber ; and 

 the first movement of the careless sleeper may imperil his life, as well 

 as the lives of others who may be under the same roof with him. 



The caprices of female dress have also often led to fatal accidents 

 from fire, and crinoline skirts had in their day much to answer for. But 

 at the present time petticoats seem to have shrunk in volume to the 

 more moderate dimensions of an ordinary sack, so that we are not like- 

 ly to hear of accidents from this particular cause until some fresh enor- 

 mity is perpetrated in the name of fashion. We may mention in this 

 connection that tungstate of soda (a cheap salt) will render muslins, 

 etc., uninflammable. But strange to say it is not generally adopted, 

 even on the stage, where the risks are so multiplied, because it is said 

 to prevent the starch drying with due stiffness ! We have all heard 

 of what female courage is capable when little ones are in danger, but 

 we hardly thought that it was equal to the task of risking precious life 

 for the appearance of a muslin dress. We can only bow, and say — ^no- 

 thing. 



Where fires have been traced to spontaneous combustion, it has 

 generally been found that some kind of decomposing vegetable matter 

 has been the active instrument in their production. Cotton-waste 

 which has been used for cleaning oily machinery and then thrown aside 

 in some forgotten corner, sawdust on which vegetable oil has been spilt, 

 and hemp, have each in its turn been convicted of incendiarism. The 

 simple remedy is, to avoid the accumulation of lumber and rubbish in 

 places where valuable goods and still more valuable lives are at stake. 

 Occasionallj' fires have been accidentally caused by the concentration of 

 the sun's rays by means of a lens or of a globe of water, and opticians 

 have for this reason to be very careful in the arrangement of their shop- 

 windows. A case lately occurred where a fire was occasioned, it was 

 supposed, by a carafe of water that stood on the center of a table. 

 The sun's rays had turned it into a burnnig-glass ! It is stated, with 

 what amount of truth we can not say, that fires in tropical forests are 

 sometimes caused by the heavy dewdrops attached to the foliage acting 

 the part of lenses. 



