t; and if the fire be in the roof of the
apartment, he must lie down on his back on the floor, and in this
manner gets completely steeped.

A bath of this sort is neither very safe nor pleasant; and the only
preventive of injury to the health is to keep the men in constant
motion. When they are allowed to stand still or sit down, the danger
is considerable. When the fire is extinguished, or in two or three
hours after its commencement, I make it a rule to give every man a
dram of spirits. If it be necessary to leave an engine on the spot,
those of the men who are to remain are sent home to change their
clothes.

THE LONDON FIRE BRIGADE.

The London Fire Brigade now (January, 1861) consists of one
superintendent, four foremen, each being appointed to a district
consisting of a fourth part of London, which he never leaves except on
some very pressing emergency, and who, in the absence of the
superintendent, has the sole command of all engines, or firemen,
within, or who may come within, his district; twelve engineers, ten
sub-engineers, forty-seven senior firemen, and forty-three junior
firemen: in all, one hundred and seventeen individuals. In addition,
there are fifteen drivers and thirty-seven horses, all living at the
several stations, and ready when required. There is also a
supplementary force of four extra firemen, four drivers, and eight
horses living at the stations, pursuing their usual avocations, and
only paid by the Committee when required. The mechanical appliances
consist of twenty-seven large engines drawn by horses, eight small
engines drawn by hand, two floating-engines worked by steam, one of
forty-horse power, and the other of eighty-horse power, one land steam
fire-engine, and twenty-eight hand-pumps, one of the latter being
carried on each engine. When an engine is sent to a fire, only four
firemen and one driver accompany it. The levers are worked by the
by-standers, who are paid one shilling for the first hour, and
sixpence for each succeeding hour, besides refreshments. Upwards of
six hundred assistants have been thus employed at one time. The
principal protection of London against fire is entirely voluntary on
the part of the insurance companies, to whom the above establishment
belongs; there being no law in any shape whatever to control or
sustain the brigade; and with the exception of some fifteen or twenty,
the parish-engines are comparatively useless at a serious fire. It
must not be o