Many fires are believed to have been produced by this
singular circumstance. How much, again, must lucifers have
contributed to swell the large class of conflagrations whose causes
are unknown! Another cause of fire, which is of recent date, is the
use of naphtha in lamps--a most ignitable fluid when mixed in certain
proportions with common air. "A delightful novel" figures as a
proximate, if not an immediate, cause of twenty-two fires. This might
be expected, but what can be the meaning of a fire caused by a high
tide? When we asked Mr. Braidwood the question, he answered, "Oh! we
always look out for fires when there is a high tide. They arise from
the heating of lime upon the addition of water." Thus rain, we see,
has caused four conflagrations, and simple overheating forty-four.
The lime does no harm as long as it is merely in contact with wood,
but if iron happens to be in juxtaposition with the two, it speedily
becomes red-hot, and barges on the river have been sunk, by reason of
their bolts and iron knees burning holes in their bottoms.
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