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 210 FIRE sists in the purity of its language and in the great poetical beauty of its episodes. An edi- tion of the whole in the original Persian was published by Turner Macan (4 vols., Calcutta, 1829). An abridged English translation of it in prose and verse by J. Atkinson, with a biographical notice prefixed, was published in London in 1832. The best German (abridged) edition is by Gorres (Berlin, 1820), and trans- lations of extracts appeared in Berlin in 1851 and 1853. There is an edition in Persian and French, by J. von Mohl (4 vols., Paris, 1838-'54). FIRE. See FLAME, HEAT, and LIGHT. FIRE BEETLE. See FIREFLY. FIRE ENGINE, a machine for throwing a stream of water for the purpose of extinguish- ing fires. The earliest notices of machines used for this purpose are in some allusions of ancient Roman writers to an apparatus, nowhere de- scribed, which they called a sipho, and which some now regard rather as the name of the aqueduct pipes for supplying water to houses than as an especial fire-extinguishing machine. That they were very inefficient may be inferred from the remark of Seneca, that owing to the height of the houses in Rome it was impossible to save them when they took fire. Apollodo- rus the architect, perhaps, was the first to sug- gest the use of a kind of hose, in recommend- ing for the conveyance of water to high places exposed to fiery darts the use ftf the gut of an ox having a bag filled with water affixed to it ; by compressing the bag the water was made to rise in the tube. In early periods of English and French history the chief protection against destructive fires appears to have consisted in the care with which those used for domestic purposes were managed. The curfew bell, or couvrefeu, was sounded at 8 o'clock as a signal for the fires to be extinguished. In Germany fires were of frequent occurrence in the latter part of the 15th century and in the 16th ; and ordinances were established regulating the man- ner of building houses and the methods to be adopted in preventing fires. At Augsburg fire engines, called "instruments for fires" and "water syringes useful at fires," were in use in 1518. The Jesuit Kaspar Schott describes one he saw at Nuremberg in 1657, which much resembled those in use at the present time ; and he mentions that 40 years before he had seen a similar engine of smaller size in his native city, Konigshofen. The one at Nurem- berg was placed upon a sledge 10 ft. long and 4 ft. broad, which was drawn by two horses. It had a water cistern 8 ft. long, 4 ft. high, and 2 ft. wide. It was moved by 28 men, and forced a stream of water an inch in diameter to the height of 80 ft. The cylinders are de- scribed as lying in a horizontal position in a box. No mention is made of an air chamber, nor of anything more than a short flexible dis- charge pipe, which could be directed to one or the other side. The oldest record of fire en- gines in Paris is in the work of Perrault, pub- lished in 1684. From this it appears that there FIRE ENGINE was one in the king's library, which, though having but one cylinder, threw out the water in a continuous jet to a great height; a result attained by the use of an air chamber, of which, as introduced into the fire engine, this is the earliest notice. Destructive fires were of fre- quent occurrence in Paris and in the provinces in the latter part of the 17th century, the work of incendiaries, who were known as boutefeux. In 1699 a special officer was charged with the duty of constructing, keeping in repair, and using at fires the 17 pompes portatives belong- ing to the royal service, and in 1722 the num- ber of these had increased to 30. There were besides many others not included in this par- ticular service. It is believed that none were provided with air chambers; for in 1725 a paper was published in the Memoires of the academy of sciences at Paris describing this improvement as adopted in the engines at Strasburg, and in it no intimation is expressed of the same contrivance ever having been in- troduced in Paris. Leathern hose was invent- ed about the year 1670 in Amsterdam by two Dutchmen named Van der Ileyde, and the ap- paratus was speedily introduced into all the engines of the city. They also invented the suction pipe. In 1690 the inventors published a folio volume containing engravings, the first seven representing dangerous conflagrations at which the old engines had been used to lit- tle purpose ; the twelve following represent fires which had been extinguished by the new engines, and the method of working the ma- chines. The details of their construction are not given. The title of the work, which is re- garded as exceedingly valuable on account of its excellent engravings, is BescJirijmng der nieuwlijks uitgevonden slang-lrand-spuiten. It was long before the inventions of the Dutch were introduced into England. At the close of the 16th century the only engines there known were "hand squirts," or syringes, made of brass, and holding two or three quarts of water. Some of them are still preserved in the vestry room of St. Dionis Backchurch in Fenchurch street, London. Each one required the labor of three men, one on each side to hold the instrument steady with one hand, and with the other to direct the nozzle, while the third man worked the plunger. When dis- charged, the piston was taken out and the nozzle was dipped into water, which flowed in and filled the body. They were afterward fitted into a portable cistern, and furnished with levers for working the pistons. About the close of the 17th century Newsham's improved engine was patented in England. This was a strong cistern of oak, placed upon wheels, fur- nished with pumps, air chambers, and a suction pipe of strong leather, to prevent its collapsing when the air began to be exhausted from it by the action of the pumps, through which was run a spiral piece of metal. The end for re- ceiving the water was provided with a strainer. In case the suction pipe could not be conve-