ee ee 
Protection of Persons from Fire. 107 
tains only a brief account of some of the mechanical contrivances 
that have been proposed to rescue them from their peril; such as 
pullies, rope ladders, sliding baskets, jumping out of windows on ex- 
tended sheets or elastic cushions, forcing pumps for supplying fresh 
air to persons in danger of suffocation, &c.; but in none of these in- 
ventions is there any provision for enabling firemen to rush into the 
flames, and endure the heat with impunity long enough to accom- 
plish the important object of rescue and deliverance to those who are 
. 
unable to help themselves. 
Cuar. IX.—A summary account of the principal experiments made 
’ in Italy with the armatures and other apparatus. 
These experiments were commenced in 1827. They were wit- 
nessed by a deputation of the municipality of the city of Milan; and 
agreeably to the proces-verbal, duly attested by the secretary, fire- 
men were able to expose their hands, arms, feet, and even their 
faces, to a burning fire of wood, without any painful constraint upon 
respiration, or considerable augmentation of heat. The apparatus 
consisted of gloves, caps and boots, as before described. 
In 1828 the experiments were extended, and in that year, both at 
Milan and Pavia, firemen walked through the flames and smoke 
eisurely, which in one case extended about eight yards long, rising 
to the height of two to three yards. A cage was placed in the mid- 
le of the flames, and taken away a minute after, without injury to 
the animals it contained. 
The author states that his illustrious colleague, the chevalier Scarpa, 
examined his apparatus with great interest, and pointed out several 
modifications of which he thought it susceptible. 
After these preparatives the chevalier Aldini exhibited, in the be- 
Stoning of June, 1828, before the viceroy of Lombardy and the au- 
thorities of Milan, his experiments with the apparatus, upon a large 
Scale inthe barracks of St. Jerome, which had been assigned him 
for the purpose. The firemen in their own simple dress, each with 
* Sponge in his mouth and defended by a buckler of double metallic 
het Work, ascended and descended a very narrow staircase, about 
Which a fire of ‘straw had been kindled, many times without injury ; 
others resisted for a long time fire and smoke in a close chamber ; 
ai@ some in the complete armor walked many times over a grate 
of hot iron two yards long, and a fireman carried on his back, a pre- 
