neers always being two together, there is thus no difficulty in descending even from a height of eighty feet: the cords should be doubled by way of security.

MEANS OF ESCAPE FROM FIRE.

As to the matter of assisting the inhabitants to escape from a house on fire, I do not pretend to say much from experience, as the business has seldom come in my way. When the lower floors of a house are on fire, and the stairs or other ordinary means of retreat destroyed, the simplest and easiest mode of removing the inhabitants from the upper floors, is by a ladder placed against the wall. In order to be able at all times to carry this plan into effect, (as far as possible,) the person having charge of the engines should inform himself where long ladders are to be had, and how they can most easily be removed.

But if a ladder of sufficient length is not to be procured, or is at too great a distance to render it safe to wait for it, recourse must immediately be had to other means.

If it happen that the windows above are all inaccessible, on account of the flames bursting through those below, the firemen should immediately get on the roof, (by means of the adjoining houses,) and descend by the hatch. The hatch, however, being sometimes directly above the stair, is in that case very soon affected by the fire and smoke. If, on approaching, it is found to be so much so, as to ren

that way impracticable, the fireatly break through the roof, and, the upper floors, extricate those should happen, however, that the Langer are not in the upper floor, and ... it, in consequence of the stair being the firemen should continue breaking oor after floor till they reach them. In state a case as this, the shorter process may be, to break through the party-wall be» the house on fire and that adjoining, when is one: and when there is no house immediy contiguous, through the gable, taking care in eather case to break through at the back of a elsef, press, chimney, or other recess, where the wall is thinnest. If an opening has been made from the adjoining house, it should immediately after having served the purpose for which it was made) be built up with brick or stone, to prevent the fire spreading. All these operations should be performed by slaters, masons, or house-carpenters, who, being better acquainted with such work, are likely to execute it in a shorter time than others; time, in such a case, being every thing, as a few minutes lost may cost the lives of the whole party. It is not impossible, however, that circumstances may occur to render all or either of these plans impracticable; in that case, one or two of the lower windows must be darkened, and by this means access gained to the upper ones. The plan recommended by the Parisian firemen is, for a man to wrap him

self up in a wet blanket, and thus pass swiftly through the flames. But this effort is only to be attempted when the flames from a single door are to be passed; in any other case the stair will most likely be in flames, and impassable.

Many machines have been constructed for the purpose of facilitating escape from buildings on fire. I have seen a considerable number of these machines, and have heard many others described; but one or other of two great and insuperable objections applied to most of them, they were either so unwieldy, that they could not be moved with the necessary celerity, or requiring such a length of time to erect, that the occasion for them was over before they could be used. I remember, in one instance, it was proposed to erect a scaffolding in front of the house from which the people were to be removed; but unless the house was built of cast-iron, it appeared to me that it must have been burned to the ground, before this unwieldy structure could be brought to the place and erected. As a recommendation of this apparatus, it was stated, that it would be no more than two tons weight! There is one invention, however, to which none of the objections I have stated apply; that is, to have an iron ring fastened to the window-sole, and inside of the room a cradle, with a coil of rope attached to it. The rope is put through the ring, and the person wishing to escape gets into the cradle, and lowers himself down by passing the rope through his hands. The great objection to this plan, which is certainly

very simple, is the difficulty, or rather impossibility, of persuading people to provide themselves with the necessary materials. Many men, too, are incapable of the exertion upon which the whole plan depends; and if men in a state of terror are unfit for such a task, what is to become of women and children?

Any fire-escape, to be generally useful, must, in the first place, be capable of being carried about without encumbering the fire-engine; and, in the next place, must be of instant and simple application. The means which appear to me to possess these qualifications in the highest degree, is a combination of the cradle plan, with Captain Manby's admirable invention for saving shipwrecked sea

men.

The apparatus necessary for this fire-escape is a chain-ladder 80 feet long, a single chain or rope the same length as the ladder, a canvass bag, a of strong steel cross-bow, and a fine cord of the very best workmanship and materials, 130 feet long, with a lead bullet of 3 ounce weight attached to one end, and carefully wound upon a wooden cone 7 inches high and 7 inches broad at the base, turned with a spiral groove, to prevent the cord slipping when wound upon it, also a small pulley with a claw attached to it, and a cord reeved through it of sufficient strength to bear the weight of the ladder.

In order to prevent the sides of the ladder from collapsing, the steps are made of copper or iron tube, fastened by a piece of cord passed through the tube

and into the links of the chain, till the tube is filled. The steps thus fastened are tied to the chain with No 14 copper-wire, so that, in the event of the cord being destroyed, the steps will be retained in their places by the wire. The ladder is provided with two large hooks at one end, (see plate 6, figs. 6 and 8,) for the purpose of fixing it to a roof, windowsole, &c. The bag The bag is of No. 3 canvass, three feet wide, and four feet deep, with cords sewed round the bottom, and meeting at the top, where they are turned over an iron thimble at each side of the mouth of the bag. The steel cross-bow is of the ordinary description, of sufficient strength to throw the lead bullet with the cord attached, 120 feet high.

The

When the house from which the persons in danger are to be extricated is so situated, that the firemen can get to the roof by passing along the tops of the adjoining houses, they will carry up the chainladder with them, and drop it over the window where the inmates show themselves, fastening the hooks at the same time securely in the roof. firemen will descend by the ladder into the window, and putting the persons to be removed into the bag, lower them down into the street by the single chain. If the flames are issuing from the windows below, the bag, when filled, is easily drawn aside into the window of the adjoining house, by means of a guy or guide-rope.

If the house on fire stand by itself, or if access cannot be had to the roof, by means of the adjoining