APPLICATIONS OF TIMBER. 203 



were not so ready in coming to his assistance as the 

 occasion required. As there were always some 

 leathern buckets kept in the house, and a tub of 

 water in the lantern, he attempted as speedily as pos- 

 sible to extinguish the fire in the cupola, by throwing 

 water from the balcony with a leather bucket, upon 

 the outside cover of lead; by this time, his comrades 

 approaching, he /encouraged them to fetch up water 

 with the leather buckets from the sea: but as the 

 height would be, at a medium, full seventy feet, this, 

 added to the natural consternation that must attend 

 such a sudden and totally unexpected event, would 

 occasion this business of bringing up water, at the 

 best, to go on but slowly. Meanwhile the flames 

 gathering strength every moment, and the poor man, 

 though making use of every exertion, having the 

 water to throw full four yards higher than his own 

 head, to be of any service, we must by no means be 

 surprised, that, under all these difficulties, the fire, 

 instead of being soon extinguished, would increase ; 

 and what put a sudden stop to further exertions, was 

 the following most remarkable circumstance : As he 

 was looking upward with the utmost attention, to see 

 the direction and success of the water thrown, a quan- 

 tity of lead, dissolved by the heat of the flames, sud- 

 denly rushed like a torrent from the roof, and fell not 

 only on the man's head, .face, and shoulders, but over 

 his clothes; and a part of it made its way through 

 his shirt collar and very much burnt his neck and 

 shoulders: from this moment he had a violent inter- 

 nal sensation, and imagined that a quantity of this 

 lead had passed down his throat, and got into his 

 body. The man, who was ninety-four years of 

 age, died on the twelfth day after the accident ; 

 on opening the stomach, a solid piece of lead was 

 found in it, weighing seven ounces five drachms. 

 Under this violence of pain and anxiety, as every 

 attempt had proved ineffectual, and the rage of the 



