Pfotection of Persons from Fire, 103 



In the country, where destruction by fire is often most fatal for 

 want of the means of extinction, one or two of these bucklers kept 

 always at hand, might prove of the greatest importance. 



Chap. V. — On the manner of handling ignited metals, and of walk- 

 ing over red hot plates of iron. 



It may happen that the floor of a room or chamber, although fire- 

 proof, may become so heated as to render it impossible, without pro- 

 tection, to pass into it, or through it with safety. But by clothing the 

 feet and head with the defensive materials, the Chevalier Aldini has 

 enabled fire men to walk over a grate of iron bars heated to redness, 

 and through the openings of which the flames were vigorously as- 

 cending from a fire beneath. They have walked in like manner leis- 

 urely over cast iron plates, so heated that some of them have crack- 

 ed in several places. 



If there should be a necessity of performing an operation requir- 

 ing time, e. g. breaking a hole through a wall, in a situation where 

 the floor was thus heated, he recommends a wooden stool with iron 

 legs. The seat of the stool to be hollowed out on the top, covered 

 first with amianthine pasteboard, then with a quantity of ashes, 

 (which is a slow conductor of heat) then a covering of the paste- 

 board, and lastly, the whole seat covered with wire gauze, nailed or 

 screwed to the wood. If the hands be covered with gloves of ami- 

 anthus, and then again with a glove of the metallic gauze, or simply 

 with a second glove like the first, there will be no difficulty, as ha& 

 been amply proved, in handling red hot bars, extracting from burning 

 coals and ignited rubbish, articles of value, and conveying them to 

 places of safety. 



Chap. VI. — On the manner of defending the head, so that it may he 

 exposed to the action of flames and smoke, ivithout injury to res- 

 piration. 



The first experiments of the author in ascertaining how far life 

 may be preserved when the head is enveloped in flame, were made 

 upon pigeons, chickens, rabbits and other animals. They were 

 placed in cages of iron wire, attached to long handles, and surround- 

 ed with metallic gauze, so as to keep the flames at a certain dis- 

 tance. The interior was furnished with prepared stufl\, and openings- 



