exposed to the flames the stores of cotton above. Surely some law is
called for to prevent the juxtaposition of such inflammable materials.
The turpentine is said to have been fired by a workman who snuffed the
candle with his fingers, and accidentally threw the snuff down the
bung-hole of one of the barrels of turpentine. The warehouses burnt
were built upon Mr. Fairbairn's new fireproof plan, which the
Liverpool people introduced, some years ago, at a great expense to the
town.

Water alone brought into sudden contact with red hot iron is capable
of giving rise to a gas of the most destructive nature--witness the
extraordinary explosions that are continually taking place in
steam-vessels, especially in America, which mostly arise from the
lurching of the vessel when waiting for passengers, causing the water
to withdraw from one side of the boiler, which rapidly becomes red
hot. The next lurch in an opposite direction precipitates the water
upon the highly-heated surface, and thus explosive gas, in addition to
the steam, is generated faster than the safety-valves can get rid of
it.

A very interesting inquiry, and one of vital importance to the
actuaries of fire-insurance companies, is the relative liability to
fire of different classes of occupations and residences. We already
know accurately the number of fires which occur yearly in every trade
and kind of occupation. What we do not know, and what we want to
know, is the proportion the tenements in which such trades and
occupations are carried on, bear to the total number of houses in the
metropolis. The last census gives us no information of this kind, and
we trust the omission will be supplied the next time it is taken.
According to Mr. Braidwood's returns for the last twenty-one years,