Comhustibility of Wood Ashes. 



167 



would have been burned but for this timely discovery. If ashes 

 are liable to such spontaneous ignition, and there is nothing in 

 these cases known that is peculiar, it suggests the propriety of 

 arching all receptacles for them if in a cellar, and the necessity 

 of keeping them always in receptacles constructed of incombus- 

 tible materials. It is hoped that similar occurrences will be re- 

 corded for the more clear elucidation of this obscure subject. 



The editors have received a notice of two similar occurrences, 

 in a letter from Dr. John T. Plummer, Richmond, Indiana. 



3. Comhustibility of Wood Ashes. — Several years ago, a large 

 wooden box, standing in an old frame building, back of my 

 dwelling house, and containing ashes, was discovered to be on fire. 

 Before the fire was extinguished, a hole ten or twelve inches in 

 diameter had been burned through one side of the box, and the 

 flames had seized the building. On strict inquiry of the family 

 that then lived in my house, I was assured by every individual 

 with one accord, that no ashes had been emptied into the box for 

 at least two weeks ; the box having been filled for that length of 

 time, the ashes had been thrown elsewhere. I could not doubt 

 the veracity of my tenants, and therefore was led to attribute the 

 phenomenon to an incendiary act, to some chemical change in 

 the contents of the box, or to hot ashes thrown in and the fact 

 being forgotten by the members of the family. 



To satisfy myself respecting the origin of the fire, I emptied 

 the box, and was at once convinced that the combustion had com- 

 menced within it. The hole burned through the side of it, was 

 near the bottom, and widened inward like a funnel, presenting 

 some resemblance to the holes in the shelf of a pneumatic cistern. 

 The outside of the box was charred where the flames passed up. 



Outside view. 



Inside view. 



The inquiry having been conducted thus far, I was induced to 

 reflect whether an ignited coal could remain buried in ashes to 

 the depth of two feet, in a state of inaction for a fortnight. If 

 this were possible, why should it ultimately become such a source 



