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 ihe 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 considered as 

 being without their use. 



11. 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 7-oof 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 in the 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 ivood, and of 

 a cylindrical form, except that they should be ivider 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. 



