cks from the next ring.

Another very serious objection to buildings of this description, is
that, unless scientifically constructed, they are very unlikely to be
safe, even for the common purposes intended, independent of the risk
of fire. In the Report of Sir Henry De la Beche and Mr. Thomas Cubitt
on the fall of the mill at Oldham, in October, 1844,[B] it is stated
that the strength of the iron-beams was within ten per cent. of the
breaking weight. Now according to Mr. Fairbairn's experiments on
heated iron, already referred to, an increase of temperature of only
170 deg. would have destroyed the whole building. It is quite clear,
therefore, that so long as mill-owners and others continue to
construct such buildings without proper advice, they must be liable to
these accidents. In timber-floors there can be no such risk, as the
strains are all direct, and any journeyman carpenter, by following
good examples, can ascertain the size required; and even if he makes a
mistake, the evil is comparatively trivial, as the timber will give
notice before yielding, and may be propped up for the time, until it
can be properly secured. In the case of fire-proof buildings, an
ignorant person may make many mistakes without being aware that he has
done so, and the slightest failure is probably fatal to every one
within the walls. This also increases the difficulty and danger of
extinguishing fires in a large building, as the only method of doing
so is for the firemen to enter it with their branches, and in case of
the floors falling, there is no chance of escape. On the other hand,
timber-floors have repeatedly fallen while the firemen were inside the
building, and they have made their escape uninjured.

In a pamphlet published by Mr. S. Holme, of Liverpool, in 1844,[C] and
which contains a report from Mr. Fairbairn on fire-proof buildings, it
is stated, that many people, especially in the manufacturing
districts, are their own architects; that the warehouses in Liverpool
may be loaded to one ton per yard of flooring; and that unless great
care and knowledge are used in the construction of fire-proof
buildings, they are of all others the most dangerous.[D]

The following are the principles on which Mr. Fairbairn proposes to
build fire-proof warehouses:--

The whole of the building to be composed of non-combustible
materials, such as iron, stone, or bricks.

In order to prevent fire, whether arising from accident o