Mr. Samuel Brown, of the Institute of Actuaries, after analyzing the returns of Mr. Braidwood, as well as the reports in the “Mechanics’ Magazine,” by Mr. Baddeley, who has devoted much attention to the subject, drew up some tables of the times of the year, and hours of the day, at which fires are most frequent.  It would naturally be supposed that the winter would show a vast preponderance over the summer months; but the difference is not so great as might be expected.  December and January are very prolific of fires, as in these months large public buildings are heated by flues, stoves, and boilers; but the other months share mishaps of the kind pretty equally, with the exception that the hot and dry periods of summer and autumn are marked by the most destructive class of conflagrations, owing to the greater inflammability of the materials, than in the damper portions of the year.  This, from the desiccating nature of the climate, is especially the case in Canada and the United States, and, coupled with the extensive use of wood in building, has a large influence in many parts of the Continent.  The following list of all the great fires which have taken place for the last 100 years will bear out our statement:—­

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--+-----------+-----
|                                |             | Value of  |
|                                |             | Property  |
Month    | Description of Property, &c.   |  Place      | Destroyed | Year
----------+--------------------------------+-------------+--

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January   | Webb’s Sugar-house             | Liverpool   |    £4,600 | 1829
| Lancelot’s-hey                 |    "        |   198,000 | 1833
| Town-Hall and Exchange         |    "        |    45,000 | 1795
| Caxton Printing Office         |    "        |    --     | 1821
| Dublin and Co.  Warehouse       |    "        |    --     | 1834
| Suffolk-street                 |    "        |    40,000 | 1818
| Mile End                       | London      |   200,000 | 1834
| Royal Exchange                 |    "        |    --     | 1838
----------+--------------------------------+-------------+--

---------+-----
February  | York Minster                   | York        |    —­     | 1829
| 3 West India Warehouses        | London      |   300,000 | 1829
| House of Commons               | Dublin      |    --     | 1792
| Argyle Rooms                   | London      |    --     | 1830
| Camberwell Church              |    "        |    --     | 1841
| Custom House                   |    "        |    --     | 1814
| Hop Warehouse                  | Southwark   |    --     | 1851
| J.F.Pawson and Co.’s           | St. Paul’s  |           |
|     Warehouses                 |  Church Yard|    40,000 | 1853
| Pickford’s Wharf               | London      |    --     | 1824
| Goree Warehouses               | Liverpool   |    50,000 | 1846
----------+--------------------------------+-------------+--

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