takes out another, couples it to the former length, and then uncoils it. If a third length is wanted, No 3 comes up with it, after having attached the first length to the engine. If more lengths are still wanted, No 2 goes back to the engine for another; Nos 3 and 4 follow, and so on till the requisite length is obtained; No 1 then screws on the director at the farther extremity of the last length.* While Nos 1, 2, 3, and 4 are attaching the hose to the engine, No 5 opens the fire-cock door, screws on the distributor, and attaches the length of hose, which No 6 uncoils; Nos 7 and 8 assist, if more than one length of hose be required. Immediately on the call being given to attach the hose, the sergeant locks the fore-carriage of the engine, and unlocks the levers. The fire cock being opened by No 5, (who remains by it as long as it is being used,) the sergeant holds the end of the hose which supplies the engine, and at the same time superintends the men who work the levers. The call being given to work the engine, the whole of the men, Nos 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5, the captain and sergeant excepted, work at the levers along with the men of the other company.

* The hose are made up in flat coils, with the male coupling-screw in the centre, and the female on the outside. When a length is to be laid out in any direction, it is set on its edge, and then run out in the required direction,—in this way no turns or twists can ever occur. When the hose is to be taken up, it is uncoupled, and then wound up, beginning at the end farthest from the engine or from the fire-cock, (as the case may be): by this method all the water is pressed out.

Although these operations may appear complicated, they are all completed, and the engine in full play, with three lengths, or 120 feet of hose, in one minute and ten seconds, including the time required for the water to fill the engine so far as to allow it to work.

In order to excite a spirit of emulation, as well as to teach the men dexterity in working the engines, I frequently cause a competition amongst them. They are ordered to attach one or more lengths of hose to each of two engines, and to work them as quickly as possible, the first engine which throws water being considered the winner. They are sometimes also placed at an equal distance from each of two separate fire-cocks; on the call being given to move forward, each party starts for the fire-cock to which it is ordered, and the first which gets into play is of course held to have beat the other. The call to stop is then given, and both parties return to their former station, with their hose coiled up, and every thing in proper travelling order; the first which arrives being understood to have the advantage.

The men are also carefully and regularly practised in taking their hose up common-stairs, drawing them up by ropes on the outside, and generally in accustoming themselves to, and providing against every circumstance, which may be anticipated in the case of fire.

When a fire occurs in a common-stair, the advantages arising from this branch of training are incalculable. The occupants, in some cases amount

30 families, hurrying out with their furniture, regardless of every thing eservation of their lives and property,

of the crowd to the scene of alarm, Archer, notwithstanding the exertions of ..... police, such a scene of confusion as who have witnessed it can imagine; and

14 ...y

that discipline and unity of purpose are Nassible; for, unless each man has already Yight and accustomed to the particular duty As from him, he only partakes of the general

and adds to the confusion. But even where A has been carried up the interior of a comsair, the risk of damage from the people carg out their furniture is so great, that the hose is unfrequently burst, almost as soon as the engine begun to play. If the hose be carried up to

loor on fire by the outside, the risk of damage comparatively small; the hose in that case being ely exposed for a short distance in crossing the

Within the last four years, the only two firemen who have lost their lives, were run down by their own engines; and, in order to avoid danger from les cause, they are frequently accustomed suddeny to stop the engines, when running down the It is a steep streets with which this city abounds. highly-necessary exercise, and is done by wheeling the engine smartly round to the right or left, which has the effect of immediately stopping its course.

There is a branch of training which I introduced Amongst the Edinburgh firemen some time ago,

which has been attended with more important advantages than was at first anticipated. I mean the gymnastic exercises. The men are practised in these exercises (in a small gymnasium fitted up for them in the head engine-house) regularly once aweek, and in winter sometimes twice: attendance on their part is entirely voluntary; the best gymnasts (if otherwise equally qualified,) are always promoted in cases of vacancy.

So sensible were the Insurance Companies, doing business here, of the advantages likely to arise from the practice of these exercises, that in the autumn of last year they subscribed upwards of £10, which was distributed in medals and money among the most expert and attentive gymnasts of the corps, at a competition in presence of the Magistrates, Commissioners of Police, and Managers of Insurance Companies.

Amongst the many advantages arising from these exercises I shall notice only one or two. The firemen, when at their ordinary employments, as masons, house-carpenters, &c. being accustomed to a particular exercise of certain muscles only, there is very often a degree of stiffness in their general movements, which prevents them from performing their duty as firemen with that ease and celerity which are so necessary and desirable; but the gymnastic exercises, by bringing all the muscles of the body into action, and by aiding the more general development of the frame, tend greatly to remove or overcome this awkwardness. But its greatest advantage is the confidence it gives to the

men when placed in certain situations of danger. A man, for example, in the third or fourth floor of a house on fire, who is uncertain as to his means of escape, in the event of his return by the stair being cut off, will not render any very efficient service in extinguishing the fire; his own safety will be the principal object of his attention, and till that is to a certain extent secured, his exertions are not much to be relied upon. An experienced gymnast, on the other hand, placed in these circumstances, finds himself in comparative security. With a hatchet and eighty feet of cord at his command, and a window near him, he knows there is not much difficulty in getting to the street; and this confidence, not only enables him to go on with his duty with more spirit, but his attention not being abstracted by thoughts of personal danger, he is able to direct it wholly to the circumstances of the fire. He can raise himself on a window-sole, or the top of a wall, if he can only reach it with his hands; and by his hands alone he may sustain himself in situations where other means of support are unattainable, till the arrival of assistance. These are great advantages; but, as I said before, the greatest of all, is that feeling of safety, with which it enables a fireman to proceed with his operations, uncertainty or distraction being the greatest of possible evils. The cord carried at the waist-belt of the captains, sergeants, and pioneers, being fully sufficient to sustain a man's weight, and with the assistance of their small hatchets easily made fast, and the pio