TurTdsh Fire-Engines.

316

[Book III.

boys at play, than the well directed energies of men to subdue the ragingelement.

In Asia syringes have probably been always in limited use. Tbey arethe only instruments of the pump kind now known there, if China be ex-cepted. Yery effective engines on the European plan are made by theChinese . (Chinese Repos. vol. iv.)

The fire-engine of the Turks is an improvement on the syringe, butnot much more effective. The author of “ Sketches of Turkey” observes,when speaking of fires in Constantinople , “ Indeed, when we afterwardssaw the machines used by the Turks to extinguish fires, we were not sur-prised at the feeble resistance which they could oppose to the progress ofthe devouring element. The engines, in fact, are not larger than thoseemployed with us to water gardens : they have but a single chamber,which is about eight inches long by three or four in diameter ; they arereadily carried about by hand.” Commodore Porter, in his interestingaccount of “Constantinople and its Environs,” says their fire-engines “arelike those we use in our gardens, for watering the beds and walks, and de-liver about as much water as a good large syringe. When an alarm of fireis given, a man seizes on one of these and runs to the spot indicated, withthe engine on his shoulder, another brings a skin of water, pours it intothe reservoir and they pump away.” A characteristic anecdote is thusfacetiously related by Commodore Porter. “ They had heard of the fire-engines and fire Companies of the United (States—howhalf a shingle couldbe burnt, and the engines save the other half from the flames. They couldnot understand it. Mr. Eckford fortunately arrived with his beautifulship, having one of our engines on board, requiring some twenty men towork it. The Capudan Pacha heard of it—‘ Mash Allah ! let us see it,’exclaimed the old man. The engine was brought on shore and placed inthe Navy Yard ; a short suction was fixed to it and put into the Bospho-rus; men were set to work it—the Navy Yard was soon inundated, andthe Bosphorus began to run dry ! ‘ Mash Allah !’ said he, ‘ very good

—but it will require a sea to supply it with water. It won’t do for us,for there is no sea in the middle of the city.’ They therefore have thoughtbest to stick to their squirts, and to let the fire spread until the windchanges, or it is tired of burning.”

Sandys, in the beginning of the 17th Century, visited Constantinople ,and speaks of the frequency of fires in that city : he observes, “ It is nottobe marvelled at, for the citizens dare not quench the fire that burneth theirown houses, because officers are appointed for that purpose.” He is si-lent respecting the instruments then used.

When the useful arts began to excite attention, the defects of portablesyringes were too apparent to be neglected, hence in the early part of the16th Century several attempts were made to remedy them, by those no-ble spirits who burst through the prejudice that had so long consignedthe subjects of practical mechanics to the mere makers of machines, as oneunworthy of a philosopher’s pursuit; and from the cultivation of whichno distinction, save such as was allied to that of a skilful artisan, couldbe derived—a species of fame from which professors of philosophy shrunk,like Plato , with feelings of horror. To render the syringe an efficient fire-engine, would seem to be impossible, except by Converting it into a forc-ing pump, and in that case it would be no longer a syringe. As long,therefore, as such an idea did not occur to engineers, they had no resourcebut to improve the “ squirt” as well as they could ; and however hope-less the task may now appear, it was not only attempted, but to a certainextent accomplished, and with considerable ingenuity too, as will appear