11 



The pouring of water from the 

 ground level into upper windows is 

 on almost all ordinary occasions (ex- 

 cept when it is impossible to enter 

 the floor on fire) an utter waste of 

 labour, and in such a building as the 

 British Museum would most inevit- 

 ably cause a large destruction of 

 valuable property by water. 



Should it so happen that, pre- 

 viously to the arrival of the Super- 

 intendent, the fire has got beyond the 

 power of the water from the Fire 

 cocks or Engines, attention must im- 

 mediately be turned to excluding the 

 air by shutting up and keeping shat 

 as much as possible the part of the 

 building in which the fire is, as the 

 admission of the air causes a fire to 

 burn rapidly, whereas its exclusion, 

 if complete, would alone extingish 

 it ; and even its partial exclusion will 

 keep the fire in check until the arrival 

 of powerful aid. 



A comparatively small quantity of 

 water used in the manner here pointed 

 out will extinguish Fire much more 

 quickly and effectually, and of course 

 with much less damage by wet, than 

 a large quantity of water carelessly 

 scattered or driven in an intermittent 

 or irregular stream. In every case of 

 extinguishing Fire by water, there 

 must be a certain amount of damage 

 done by the latter, and it is one of 

 the most important duties of a good 

 Fireman not alone to extinguish the 

 Fire in the shortest possible time, but 

 also to reduce damage by water to the 

 minimum. "While therefore it is of 

 the utmost moment to get the water 



