Preservative plan; or, hints for the preservation of persons exposed to those accidents which suddenly suspend or extingui[s]h vital action, and by which many valuable lives are prematurely lost to the community / by A. Fothergill.

  • Anthony Fothergill
Date:
1798
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Preservative plan; or, hints for the preservation of persons exposed to those accidents which suddenly suspend or extingui[s]h vital action, and by which many valuable lives are prematurely lost to the community / by A. Fothergill. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by Royal College of Physicians, London. The original may be consulted at Royal College of Physicians, London.

    14/48 (page 12)
    [ .1 ] \ 2. Magazines of gunpowder, dlflilieries, fugar- houfes, and all hazardous occupations, ought to be removed from cities, and carried on in detached offices in the country. 3. 'To prevent fires from fpreading. — All communication ought to be cut off by party-walls, and by infulating the apartments by thin plates of iron or copper, or by ftrata of fand. Alfo by {tone flairs, well-conftru6led chimneys, &c. 4. To extinguijh fires. — The outward air ffiould be excluded as much as poffible, as the fudden opening of a door or window increafes the conflagration. When water is plentiful, it ought to be poured on abundantly in inceffant ftreams from the engines. When fcarce, its efficacy may be greatly increafed, by diffolving in each hogfhead two pbunds of alum or half a bjjfliel of wood afhes. A mere fprinkling of water, it is to be obferved, inftead of extinguifhing the fire, aggravates the flames. The reafon is evident. The water, being overpowered and decompofed by the intenfe heat, fuddenly lets loofe its principal ingredient, vital air, the grand foiirce of combuftion. 5. To facilitate the efcape of the family. — The upper flories ought to be previoufly provided with 'fire-ladders, or, rather. Cooper’s Patent Apparatus, (fold in Middle-Row, Holborn,) capable of conveying three or four perfons at a time with fafety and expedition.