FIRES CAUSED BY EATS. 27 



roses, cutting the stems off clean, and denude geraniums of both 

 flowers and leaves. In stores and markets infested by rats carna- 

 tions can not be left exposed without being eaten. Next to carnation 

 growers, the growers of chrysanthemums are the greatest losers, for 

 rats attack the choicest blooms even in exhibition rooms. 



FIRES CAUSED BY RATS. 



In the museum of the Royal United Service Institution, Whitehall, 

 London, some years ago, a rat nest was exhibited bearing the follow- 

 ing note : 



Rat's nest and young. This nest was set on fire by a lucifer match ignited by the 

 old rat as she worked it into her nest. A fire was nearly caused thereby on H. M. S. 

 Revenge. — Lieut. A. H. Gilmore, R. N. a 



It is generally believed that rats and mice cause fires by igniting 

 matches with their teeth. The testimony of chiefs of fire depart- 

 ments and adjusters of fire-insurance claims confirms this belief, and 

 many specific instances have been given of fires caused in this way. 

 A fire which resulted in the partial destruction of the Sultan's palace 

 at Scutari, Asia Minor, in 1856, had such an origin. During 1907 the 

 fire department of Washington, D. C, gave a similar explanation of 

 a fire which seriously damaged a large store and its contents. 



Manufacturers of matches often dip them in paraffin to protect the 

 phosphorus. The paraffin is attractive to rats and mice, and the 

 matches are often carried under floors and behind partitions, where 

 they are subsequently gnawed. Paper and other combustible mate- 

 rials collected by the animals add to the danger of fires. Moreover, 

 since the heads of phosphorus matches contain from 14 to 17 percent 

 of phosphorus, it does not require actual gnawing by rats to ignite 

 them. Hot weather, excessive heat from furnaces, or friction of any 

 kind may effect the same result as the teeth of rats, when the matches 

 have been carried into a nest made of combustibles. 



Fires in mills and warehouses have been traced to the spontaneous 

 ignition of oily and fatty rags or waste carried under floors by rats 

 or mice. Cotton mills are said to be peculiarly subject to fires from 

 this cause. 



Phillip's warehouse, Church street, London, was twice set on fire 

 and damaged by reason of gas leaks. In both instances the lead gas 

 pipe leading to the meter had been eaten through by rats, and the 

 escaping gas was accidentally set on fire by workmen who were search- 

 ing for the leak. 5 In a similar instance of gas leak caused by rats in 

 a London private residence, no fire resulted, but a sleeping family of 

 four persons narrowly escaped death by asphyxiation. An inspector 

 in the employ of the Washington Gas Light Company recounts a 



aHardwicke's Science Gossip, vol. 5, p. 142, 1869. 

 ^Hardwicke's Science Gossip, vol. 10, p. 73, 1874. 



