On Spontaneous Inflammations . 99 
ihe affair, wliicli quieted the minds of all, by pointing 
out the proper method to be pursued by the commission- 
ers of inquiry, in the following order to Count Cher- 
nichef. 
44 When we perceived, by the report you have deli- 
44 vered in of the examination into the accident that hap- 
44 pened on board the frigate Maria, that, in the cabin 
44 where the fire broke out, there were found parcels of 
44 matting, tied together with packthread, in which the 
44 soot of burnt fir-wood had been mixed with oil, for the 
44 purpose of painting the ship’s bottom, it came into our 
44 mind, that, at the fire which happened last year at the 
44 hemp-warehouses, the following cause, among others, 
44 was assigned, that the fire might have proceeded from 
44 the hemp being bound up in greasy mats, or even from 
44 such mats having lain near the hemp : therefore, ne- 
44 gleet not to guide your farther inquiries by this re- 
44 mark.” 
As, upon juridical examination, as well as private in- 
quiry, it was found that, in the ship’s cabin, where the 
smoke appeared, there lay a bundle of matting, contain- 
ing Russian lamp-black, prepared from fir-soot, moisten- 
ed with hemp-oil varnish, which was perceived to have 
sparks of fire in it at the time of the extinction, the Rus- 
sian admiralty gave orders to make various experiments, 
in order to see whether a mixture of hemp-oil varnish 
and the forementioned Russian black, folded up in a mat 
and bound together, would kindle of itself. 
They shook forty pounds of fir-wood soot into a tub, 
and poured about thirty-five pounds of hemp-oil varnish 
upon it ; this they let stand for an hour, after which they 
poured off the oil. The remaining mixture they now 
wrapped up in a mat, and the bundle was laid close to 
the cabin, where th4 midshipmen had their birth. To 
avoid all suspicion of treachery, two officers sealed both 
