842 
the parts from taking fire again: 
after the flames of a burning body 
are extinguished, it cannot again 
take fire, for the abovementioned 
reason, till all the water thrown 
Bpon it be evaporated. 
Being convinced, by these expe- 
riments, that very little water may 
suffice for extinguishing ordinary 
conflagrations, particularly at their 
commencement, -I have endeavoured 
to convince many of my fellow-citi- 
zens of it, by repeating the experi- 
ments just described; and I have 
advised the procuring of small por- 
table engines, to be used in cases of 
necessity. Many followed my ad- 
vice immediately, and, after their 
good offices had been seen, in some 
cases, their numbers increased more 
and more in many towns of Hol- 
Jand, especially after the experiment 
which 1 made here in May, 1797,- 
to shew, upon a larger scale, the 
advantages that may be derived 
from a judicious application of wa- 
ter, to extinguish even the most fu- 
rious conflagration, by means of 
portable engines, with a very small 
quantity of water. The experiment 
was the following. 
I constructed a shed of dry wood, 
forming a room twenty-four feet 
long, twenty wide, and fourteen 
high, having two docrs on one side, 
and two windows on the other.— 
This shed was provided with the 
wood work of a roof, but was not 
covered, and stood about six inches 
from the ground, that there might 
be a thorough current of air to in- 
crease the fierceness of the flames, 
when the building should be set on 
fire. The inside of it was com- 
pletely covered with pitch, and lined 
with straw, which was likewise 
pitched. To this straw lining I 
fastened wood shavings and cotton 
ANNUAL REGISTER, 1803. 
dipped in oil of turpentine, to set 
fire to the whole inside of the shed 
at once. Soon after the fire was 
applied, the flames, being increased 
by the wind, were every where so 
violent, that all the speétators 
thought they could not possibly be 
extinguished. I, however, succeed« 
ed in about four minutes, by the 
method already described, with five 
buckets of water, part of which was 
wasted through the fault of those 
who assisted me, as the following 
experiment proved. 
Ll invited but very few to be pre- 
sent at this first experiment on the 
8th of May, but on the 11th I re- 
peated it, in the presence of a very 
numerous company, after repairing 
and restoring the shed to its original 
state. The fire was not less violent 
than in the preceding experiment.— 
I then directed the water myself, 
without any assistance, and effeétu- 
ally extinguished the fire in three 
minutes, having used only three 
buckets of water, each containing 
about four gallons and a half. 
Being at Gotha, in July 1801, the 
duke and duchess of Gotha pressed 
me, at their expence, to repeat the 
experiment, of which they had seen 
the details in the German journals, 
that it might be made more gene- 
rally known in that part ef Ger. 
many, where, as in other countries, 
great injury is sometimes sustained 
from conflagrations, because the 
people know not how to employ 
judiciously the small quantity of 
water they have at hand. The 
obliging manner in which their high- 
nesses requested me to repeat the 
experiment, and my wish to make 
it of more general utility, induced ~ 
me to undertake it. The celebrated 
astronomer Von Zach was likewise 
present, and drew up the account 
inserted 
