nature, but this same failing is one of the prime factors constituting the fire risk of the citizen. Not long since a guest in a hotel thoughtlessly threw away a lighted cigarette end into a waste paper basket. In due course the contents burst into flames, set alight the curtains, and eventually involved the whole floor of the building, causing incidentally the loss of three lives. That same story is repeated week by week and day by day the world over, and yet the lesson never seems to be appreciated. Hence, the next best thing to prevention being cure, an attempt has been made in the chapter indicated to formulate certain simple rules which if followed will go a long way towards controlling the blaze until such time as professional help shall arrive. Further, it is not generally realized by what means fires are sometimes started. For instance, who would ever suspect that the common or garden rat possessed all the qualities of an incipient fire-bug. In the city of Washington, during one year, 36 outbreaks arose through rats nibbling at the ends of matches; proof sufficient that where fire is concerned not even the most remote possibilities can be overlooked with impunity.
The prevention of panic in schools, shops, factories and the like is, of course, one of the most important features of the ethics of fire-fighting. It is no exaggeration to say that as many people are killed by suffocation, by being trampled to death and by unnecessarily jumping into the streets, as are actually sacrificed to the flames themselves. Human nature is easily susceptible of control, provided there is at hand a sufficiently strong influence to inspire confidence and restore nerve. This influence must be a combination of self possession and training; with this upon which to draw, panic can often be averted. Thus in schools, teachers should be trained in the marshalling of their charges in the same way that employees in shops should be taught to look after the safety of purchasers. The timely playing of the orchestra in a theatre has often prevented disaster, and such aids are worthy of more than passing attention. All this has received careful study
