US On Spontaneous Inflammations . 
It was in the spring of the year 1780, that a fire wa§ 
discovered on board a frigate lying in the road off Cron- 
stadt; which, if it had not been timely extinguished, 
would have endangered the whole fleet. After the se- 
verest scrutiny,.no cause of the fire was to he found ; and 
the matter was forced to remain without explanation, but 
with strong surmises of some wicked incendiary being at 
the bottom of it. In the month of August, in the same 
year, a fire broke out at the hemp-magazine at St. Peters- 
burgh, by which several hundred thousand poods * of 
hemp and flax were consumed. The walls of the maga- 
zine are of brick, the floors of stone, and the rafters and 
covering of iron ; it stands alone on an island in the Ne- 
va, on which, as well as on board the ships lying in the 
Neva, no fire is permitted. In St. Petersburg!!, in the 
same year, a fire was discovered in the vaulted shop of a 
furrier. In these shops, which are all vaults, neither fire 
nor candle is allowed, and the doors of them are all of 
iron. At length the probable cause was found to be, that 
the furrier, the evening before the fire, had got a roll of 
new cere- cloth, (much in use here for covering tables, 
counters, &c. being easily wiped and kept clean,) and 
had left it in his vault, where it was found almost con- 
sumed. 
In the night between the 20th and 21st of April, 1781, 
a fire was seen on board the frigate Maria, which lay at 
anchor, with several other ships, in the road off the island 
of Cronstadt ; the fire was however soon extinguished ; 
and, by the severest examination, little or nothing could 
be extorted concerning the manner in which it had ari- 
sen. The garrison was threatened with a scrutiny that 
should cost them dear ; and, while they were in this cru- 
el suspense,, the wisdom of the sovereign gave a turn to 
* A pood consists of 40 pounds Russ, or 36 pounds English, 
