The frequency of accidents from fire renders some certain method of
escape desirable. The following have received medals:—
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The first is founded on those ingenious machines we find in the Dutch
toy-boxes, for causing soldiers, ducks, sheep, and even tea things, to
march, deploy, and fall into lines, in the most orderly manner. One of
these will be kept at the corner of every street, and, by the aid of
four policemen, will always raise the preserver, or lower the preserved,
in this manner.
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The next is simply by a parachute, formed of canvas, which may be folded
up, and kept in the window-seat. Should there be any wind, the inmates
will be carried to the end of the street, and perhaps further, which is
of course, an advantage. An ingenious architect recommends that the
ceiling of every room should be a shower-bath on a large scale, always
charged. This is practicable, but in the event of the bath going off
when there was no fire, the results would be very inconvenient.
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