y, 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
London Metropolitan Police District covers 690 square miles, extending 12
to 15 miles in every direction from Charing Cross, and contained in 1881 a
population of 4,764,312; but what is generally known as London covers 122
square miles, containing, in 1881, 528,794 houses, and a population of
3,814,574, averaging 7.21 persons per house, 49 per acre, and 31,267 per
square mile. Now let us look at New York. South of Fortieth Street between
the Hudson and East Rivers, New York has an area of 3,905 acres, a fraction
over six square miles, exclusive of piers, and contained, according to the
census of 1880, a population of 813,076. This gives 208 persons per acre.
The census of 1880 reports the total number of dwellings in New York at
73,684; total population, 1,206,299; average per dwelling, 16.37. Selecting
for comparison an area about equal from the fifteen most densely populated
districts or parishes of London, of an aggregate area of 3,896 acres, and
with a total population of 746,305, we obtain 191.5 persons per acre. Thus
briefly New York averaged 208 persons per acre, and 16.37 per dwelling;
London, for the same area, 191.5 persons per acre, and 7.21 per house. But
this comparison is scarcely fair, as in London only the most populous and
poorest districts are included, corresponding to the entirely tenement
districts of New York, while in the latter city it includes the richest and
most fashionable sections, as well as the poorest. If tenement districts
were taken alone, the population would be found much more dense, and New
York proportionately much more densely p