in London and in American cities.  He found from an investigation which he conducted with much care during a visit to London that it is undoubtedly true that large fires are much less frequent in the metropolis than in American cities; but it is equally true that the circumstances existing in London and New York are quite different.  As it is a well-known fact that the promptness, efficiency, and bravery of American firemen cannot be surpassed, we gladly give prominence to the result of the author’s investigations into the true causes of the great liability of American cities to large fires.  In a highly interesting comparison the writer has selected New York and London as typical cities, although his observations will apply to most American and English towns, if, perhaps, with not quite the same force.  In the first place, the efforts of the London Fire Brigade receive much aid from our peculiarly damp climate.  From the average of eleven years (1871-1881) of the meteorological observations made at the Greenwich Observatory, it appears that in London it rains, on the average, more than three days in the week, that the sun shines only one-fourth of the time he is above the horizon, and that the atmosphere only lacks 18 per cent. of complete saturation, and is cloudy seven-tenths of the time.  Moreover, the humidity of the atmosphere in London is very uniform, varying but little in the different months.  Under these circumstances, wood will not be ignited very easily by sparks or by contact with a weak flame.  This is very different from the condition of wood in the long, hot, dry seasons of the American continent.  The average temperature for the three winter months in London is 38.24 degrees Fahr.; in New York it is 31.56 degrees, or 6.68 degrees lower.  This lower range of temperature must be the cause of many conflagrations, for, to make up for the deficiency in the natural temperature, there must be in New York many more and larger domestic fires.  The following statistics, taken from the records of the New York Fire Department, show this.  In the three winter months of 1881, January, February, and December, there were 522 fire alarms in New York, or an average per month of 174; in the remaining nine months 1,263, or an average per month of 140.  In the corresponding three winter months of 1882 there were 602 fire alarms, or an average per month of 201; in the remaining nine months 1,401, or an average per month of 155.  In round numbers there were in 1881 one-fourth, and in 1882 one-third more fire alarms in the three winter months than in the nine warmer months.  We are not aware that similar statistics have ever been compiled for London, and are consequently unable to draw comparison; but, speaking from recollection, fires appear to be more frequent also in London during the winter months.