Fire

the heat and light noted when bodies burn. The ancients thought the universe composed of four elements: fire, air, earth, and water. The latter three are regarded still, not indeed as elements, but as compound substances; but fire is not a substance. It has no weight, none of the characteristics of a substance. Everyone knows fire when he sees it; yet the dictionary maker finds fire a difficult word to define. It is small wonder that the ancients thought fire a sort of gas that poured out of wood or oil when it burned. It was centuries before the chemist discovered that fire is a rapid union of carbon in fuel with oxygen of the air.

According to the mythology of the Greeks fire was the exclusive possession of the gods, until Prometheus stole it and conferred the gift on mortals. While it is quite conceivable that there may have been races of men so primitive that they did not understand the use of fire, it is as yet true that no tribes have been found so rude as not to understand how to produce fire and how to use it in the preparation of food.

It has been suggested that the first fire used by man was kindled by lightning. Several methods of making a fire were known among primitive people. A common method was that of rubbing a pointed stick in a groove until the heat of friction caused the particles of wood to ignite. The Indians had a way of producing fire by pressing a pointed stick upon a piece of wood with one hand. The other hand caused the stick to rotate rapidly by means of a sort of bow, the string of which was given a turn around it. It is needless to say that fires kindled in this laborious way were covered up carefully at night to prevent their going out. The Greeks, as well as the Chinese, understood the method of creating fire by the use of a lens or burning-glass.

The method of producing sparks by striking a piece of flint with steel is well known. As late as 1830 the housekeeper and traveler were never without steel, flint, and tinder,--the latter a box of carefully prepared lint or punk in which the falling sparks might catch and start a fire. Lucifer matches came into general use about 1835. The present generation can have little idea of the labor and care involved in fire-making in the early half of the nineteenth century.

When we consider how indispensable and precious fire is, it is little wonder that the carrying of fire to the hearthstone of a new home on the occasion of occupying a new house, or of a wedding, was held by the ancient Romans to be a religious ceremony. So important, so sacred, was fire, that the vestal virgins were set apart to maintain a perpetual flame on an altar. Nor does it seem strange that the fire worshipers of Persia should consider a flame the emblem of purification. The Mexican Aztecs kept sacred fires burning on their altars. These they extinguished once a year and proceeded with great solemnity to kindle a new fire by the friction of sticks.

While indispensable to civilization and most useful as an able servant, fire beyond control is one of the most destructive of agencies. The amount of property that has been destroyed by fires is almost beyond calculation. The fires which sweep over our western prairies, sometimes at the speed of a trotting horse, are a sight worth travel to see. A prairie fire at night going before a high wind is a magnificent spectacle, though fraught with terror to the settler. The shortening of grass by pasturing, and the increase of plowed fields have made prairie fires on a large scale rare. One who is accustomed to the prairie feels little concern, however, as it is very easy to protect one's self by starting a local fire and falling in behind on the ground recently burned over.

Forest fires are a different matter. When an evergreen forest once catches on fire, there is occasion for alarm. Fires in woods of this sort sweep across large tracts in North America, leaving nothing in their rear but blackened stumps and ashes. In time of drouth the resin contained in evergreen boughs and leaves takes fire almost like powder. In addition to this, an electrical state of the atmosphere appears to be developed. A forest fire of this sort runs before the wind like a racehorse. It is almost impossible for those in its path to preserve their lives, save by plunging into streams until the fiery blast be passed. Many an Indian village and white settlement has been blotted out by a forest fire. In 1871 forest fires swept across Wisconsin and Michigan. Fifteen thousand persons were rendered homeless, and 1,000 lives were lost. September 1, 1894, northeastern Minnesota suffered a similar disaster by what is known as the Hinckley fire. In 1811 forest fires in the Tyrol, Switzerland, destroyed sixty-four villages and hamlets.

Every civilized country has its record of great city fires. In 64 Rome burned for eight days. No less than nine destructive fires are recorded for London; the first in 798, the last in 1861. The Great Fire of London took place in September, 1666. Over 13,000 buildings were consumed. The total loss of property was over $50,000,000. September 14, 1812, the Russians fired the city of Moscow to drive out the army of Napoleon. The fire burned for five days, consuming over 30,000 houses and inflicting a loss of $150,000,000. During the communistic outbreaks in 1871, following the Franco-Prussian War, it is estimated that over $150,000,000 worth of Paris property was destroyed by fire. Liverpool, Glasgow, Venice, Leipsic, Hamburg, Copenhagen, Stockholm, Christiania, St. Petersburg, Constantinople, Bombay, Canton, Yokohama, and Yeddo; in short all considerable cities have had destructive fires with corresponding loss of life. Quebec and Montreal have suffered.

In the United States, Boston has had five great fires; the first in 1679, the last in 1872. By this fire nearly a thousand buildings were consumed, and $75,000,000 worth of property destroyed. Charleston, South Carolina, has had three fires; New York City had a great fire in 1835, ruining 1,000 mercantile firms; another in 1845 destroyed many million dollars' worth of property. Thirty-five people were killed. St. Louis has had 3 destructive fires; Philadelphia, 2; San Francisco, 1; Chicago, 4. The Chicago fire of 1871 was one of the greatest fires of modern times. An area of 2,124 acres was burned over in the very heart of the city; 250 lives were lost; nearly 100,000 persons were made homeless. The loss of property was not less than $165,000,000. Baltimore was visited by a destructive fire in 1904. A fire following the earthquake of 1906 destroyed the business portion of San Francisco, causing a loss which has been estimated at $350,000,000.

The total property loss in the United States by fires during the last twenty-five years of the nineteenth century is put at about $3,000,000,000. The present annual loss is not far from $269,000,000. New York averages 8,700 fires a year. Chicago has 4,100. The average record in this country is 3 theaters, 3 public halls, 12 churches, 10 schools, 2 hospitals, 2 asylums, 2 colleges, 6 apartment houses, 3 department stores, 2 jails, 26 hotels, 140 flats, and nearly 1,600 homes burned up every week in the year. The average family runs one chance in sixty of being burned out some time during the year.

See Alchemy; Chemistry; Heat; Matches; Flint; San Francisco; Insurance