USEFUL PROJECTS. 
inserted in a German periodical 
publication, intituled ‘* Reichs An- 
zeiger,”’ of 6th August, 1798. 
M. Lalande arrived at Gotha four 
days after the experiment, and was 
informed of its result. He men- 
tioned it, as he lately informed me, 
soon after his return to Paris, to 
the national institute, but he, at the 
same time, told me, that doubts 
were entertained of the truth of his 
narrative. To remove all doubts on 
this head, I shall annex the follow- 
ing account of the experiment, 
drawn up by the celebrated astrono~ 
mer of Gotha, and inserted by him in 
the abovementioned periodical pub- 
lication. 
*¢ Doétor Van Marum, having 
made some stay at Gotha, in the 
course of a literary tour through 
Germany, in 1798, the duke of Go- 
tha, known as an amateur of the 
mathematical and physical sciences, 
expressed a wish that he would ex- 
hibit, on a large scale, an experi- 
ment of his method of extinguishing 
fire, the effeét of which M. Van 
Marum had shewn, by extinguish- 
ing, by means of a ladle full of wa- 
ter, a pitched barrel, which he had 
set on fire. A shed of old and per- 
feétly dry wood was, in consequence, 
erected, under the direéction of M. 
Van Marum, in front of the du- 
chess’s garden. Its dimensions 
were, in every respect, equal to that 
which served for the same experi- 
ment at Haarlem, being twenty-four 
feet long, twenty wide, and four- 
teen in height. There were two 
doors on the north-east side, and 
two large apertures, in the form of 
windows, on the north-west side,— 
The top was quite open, to give the 
flames a free passage. 
“The inside of thisshed was cover- 
ed with pitch, and afterwards with 
é 
843 
straw mats, plentifully besmeared 
with melted pitch. To the bottom 
of these straw mats were fastened 
cotton wicks, dipped in spirits of 
turpentine, that the place might 
take fire in every part at once. In 
consequence, the fire being consider- 
ably increased by the wind, was at 
first so powerful, and the flames, 
enveloped in thick clouds of smoke, 
rose with such violence, to the height 
of several feet above the opening of 
the roof, that the nearest spectators 
were obliged to retire precipitately, 
and many of them declared that it 
would be impossible to extinguish 
the conflagration, and that the shed 
would be entirely reduced to ashes. 
When the straw mats were com- 
pletely consumed, the wood of the 
shed was soon in flames in every 
part. The circumstances under 
which this experiment was made 
were highly unfavourable ; for the 
wind drove the flame exactly out at 
the doors on the north-east side, at 
which the water for extinguishing it 
was to be introduced. But not- 
withstanding this M. Van Marum 
placed a small portable engine be- 
fore the door, nearest the south-east 
side, without regard to the fears and 
opposition of his assistants, and or-) 
dered it to be worked there, station- 
ing himself as near as the heat of the 
fire would permit him, he first di- 
rected the water to the south-east 
side, as near the door as possible, 
and as soon as the flame was extin- 
guished in one part, he guided the 
water to another. He then directed 
it along the north-east side, so that 
in a few minutes the flames were 
completely extinguished on those 
two sides. The engine was then 
placed before one of the apertures 
made in the form of windows, on 
the north-west side, and then com- 
ing 
