another, in which the attempt at extinction was followed by exactly the opposite effects.  A tradesman was about to light his gas, when, finding the cock stiff, he took a candle to see what was the matter; whilst attempting to turn it the screw came out, and with it a jet of gas, which was instantly fired by the candle.  The blaze igniting the shop, a passer-by seized a wooden pail and threw its contents upon the flames, which flared up immediately with tenfold power.  It is scarcely necessary to state that the water was whiskey, and that the country was Old Ireland.

Spontaneous combustion is at present very little understood, though chemists have of late turned their attention to the subject.  It forms, however, no inconsiderable item in the list of causes of fires.  There can be no question that many of those that occur at railway-stations, and buildings, are due to the fermentation which arises among oiled rags.  Over-heating of waste, which includes shoddy, sawdust, cotton, &c., is a fearful source of conflagrations.  The cause of most fires which have arisen from spontaneous combustion is lost in the consequence.  Cases now and then occur where the firemen have been able to detect it, as for instance at Hibernia Wharf in 1846, one of Alderman Humphreys’ warehouses.  It happened that a porter had swept the sawdust from the floor into a heap, upon which a broken flask of olive-oil that was placed above, dripped its contents.  To these elements of combustion the sun added its power, and sixteen hours afterwards the fire broke out.  Happily it was instantly extinguished; and the agents that produced it were caught, red-handed as it were, in the act.  The chances are that such a particular combination of circumstances might not occur again in a thousand years.  The sawdust will not be swept again into such a position under the oil, or the bottle will not break over the sawdust, or the sun will not shine in on them to complete the fatal sum.  It is an important fact, however, to know that oiled sawdust, warmed by the sun, will fire in sixteen hours, as it accounts for a number of conflagrations in saw-mills, which never could be traced to any probable cause.

By means of direct experiment we are also learning something on the question of explosions.  It used to be assumed that gunpowder was answerable for all such terrible effects in warehouses where no gas or steam was employed; and as policies are vitiated by the fact of its presence, unless declared, many squabbles have ensued between insurers and insured upon this head alone.  At the late great fire at Gateshead, a report having spread that the awful explosion which did so much damage arose from the illicit stowage of seven tons of gunpowder in the Messrs. Sisson’s warehouse, the interested insurance companies offered a reward of 100l. to elicit information.  The experiments instituted, however, by Mr. Pattinson, in the presence of Captain Du Cane, of the Royal Engineers, and the coroner’s jury impanelled to inquire into the matter, showed that the water from the fire-engine falling upon the mineral and chemical substances in store was sufficient to account for the result.  The following were the experiments tried at Mr. Pattinson’s works at Felling, about three miles from Gateshead.