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.

Another cause of the greater frequency of fires in New York and their more
destructive nature is the greater density of population in that city. The