and of obtaining supplies of water and of warm air. 301 
tional customs, unless where fashion leads the way. But this obsta- 
_ cle has been very essentially increased in the present instance, by the 
facility and cheapness of insuring against fire, existing throughout Eng- 
land ; by the many fire engines, distributed around the country, and 
particularly in the city of London ; by the employment of wood-work 
both for wainscoting and ornament, having of late years been.much 
lessened in the houses of the English; and by the number of houses. 
which are built in England, on speculation, by persons with limited 
means, and which therefore are not likely to be constructed in a 
provident manner, if calling for any material increase of cost.—But 
this forms no objection to the adoption of proper principles in the 
construction of stair-cases and of the passages between different sets 
of rooms; any more than it does to the banishment of wood-work as 
much as possible from the sides of an apartment. The explanations 
therefore given above on these heads, are not to be consideretts as 
being without their use. 
Il. We now proceed to consider (as promised) the mode of .sup- 
plying cisterns with water, for extinguishing fires in buildings, and 
particularly where the buildings are very elevated. : 
The roof of each building offers of itself one obvious source of 
supply of water on this occasion. If the climate affords only thirty 
inches of rain annually, (and in many parts of the United States, the 
quantity which falls annually is abundantly greater,) a superabundant 
supply of water falling inthe shape of rain on any roof whatever, is 
here offered for a demand which is only occasional.—The cisterns 
Containing this water, however, should not be too limited in number ; 
for if made very large, and placed aloft in a building, the weight of 
each cistern would be so enormous, as to be dangerous; and conve- 
nience also will of itself suggest the propriety of placing these cis- 
terns in several different places. ‘They should be of wood, and of 
a cylindrical form, except that they should be wider at their tops, than 
at their bottoms; (that in case of frost, the water, when it expands 
into ice, may always rise into wider parts of the vessel, so as to avoid 
bursting it.) ‘The water, also in order to be always sweet, should 
be introduced into the cistern, by a pipe descending to the bottom; 
for the water last entering will thence naturally occupy the lower 
part of the vessel, and by pressing up the water which preceded it, 
will create a sort of circulation so as to prevent the water’s becoming 
offensive ; a spout being placed at the top to carry off all superfluity. 
