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28 MARINE REVIEW AND MARINE RECORD. FIRE AND VERMIN ON BOARD SHIP. By Geo. W. Ramage. The scourge of fire and plague of rats, mice and insects on shipboard have for ages been prolific sources of anxiety and loss to the ship owner and mariner. This anxiety and loss is also shared in a marked degree by shippers and by the marine in- surance interests, who stand to lose with the ship owners from the ravages of flame and vermin. What mav be news to the av- erage individual is the fact that the destruction of life and prop- erty directly traceable to rats alone, that are harbored aboard ships, exceeds that caused by fire, as their ravages are continu- ous, while thanks to the watchful care exercised at the present day by those responsible for the safety of a ship and her cargo, a disastrous fire at sea occurs but occasionally. And yet, oc- casionally is far too often, as outside of any consideration of property loss, such a calamity is too pregnant with peril to human life to be contemplated with any degree of equanimity. Only those who have been participants in such a disaster can fully realize the unutterable horror of a fire at sea, and they even cannot adequately describe the horrible fear and feeling of ut- ter helplessness that seizes upon them when brought face to face with the realization that their only place of refuge on the expanse of water is doomed to destruction. Persons who have' passed through such an ordeal and escaped with their lives can fully ap- preciate the boon to humanity of anv invention or discovery that will even lessen, let alone eliminate, the danger from fire on ship- board. : A prolific source of fire at sea is spontaneous combustion, the stealthy germ of which is ever present in a variety of mer- chandise, such as cotton, coal, oils, seeds and fibres, which may smolder for days unseen only awaiting favorable conditions to eaten ep into uncontrollable flame destroying property and hu- man. life. But, while the ravages if fire at sea are more dreaded by mankind than that of vermin, because the effects are more start- ling and therefore seem more terrible and devastating, the fact remains that the latter, as proven bw scientific investigation, is even more of a menace to life and property than the former. Es- pecially is the presence of rats on shipboard to be feared since it has been demonstrated that the dreaded bubonic plague and other contagious diseases are carried from one country to another by this rodent, transported in the holds of ships. Before this question was understood plagues like the bubonic, cholera, etc., which seemed to leap across oceans as if on the wings of the wind, were considered as visitations of Providence in pun- ishment for man's misdoings. But, thanks to scientific research, this superstition, like many another gone before, has fallen from its pedestal. In truth it has fallen from the Omnipotent Throne of Providence and landed in a loathsome rat hole, greatly to man's advantage; for, while the ways of Providence are past find- ing out those of the rat are within human comprehension and may be reckoned with. In the days when Providence was held accountable for all the evils for which man in his ignorance could not account there was a superstition rife among sailors--which still lingers among the more ignorant--that a ship that did not harbor rats aboard was unseaworthy and hence unsafe to ship on. The fact is, rats, which are endowed by nature with ex- ceeding keen instinct, approaching reason, having access to all parts of a ship's hold were the first to discover any weak part or leak therein, and scenting danger sought safety in flight or meen amet out, thus begetting the popular superstition men- tioned. But in these days of enlightenment the mariner is as anxious as the landlubber to dispense with the rat's company, and even more so, since he has learned that the rodent is a pest breeder and distributor, besides being a costly passenger through the havoc wrought to cargo. . On this score Dr, A. Loir, who is a nephew and worthy fol- lower of the late celebrated Louis Pasteur, in discussing dam- age done by rats on shipboard before the section of hygiene, Co- lonial Congress of Paris, April 11, 1903, said: "Rats are not only germ vehicles, as aptly expressed by M. Le Dantec, but veritable scourges from the point of view of the losses they inflict on car- goes of vessels. It is calculated that a rat consumes in one day about 14 centimes (about 3 cts.) 'worth of merchandise. On board vessels which carry coffee the damage done by rats often amounts to 8,000 or 10,000 francs on a single cargo. In Den- mark the annual losses caused by these pests are estimated at 15,000,000 francs ($3,000,000), which represents a tax of 6 francs ($1.20) per annum on each inhabitant." _ It is also a well-demonstrated fact that the rodent is noth- ing loath when hungry in attacking man, and passengers on ocean as have been known to be attacked in their berths at night by - them. . But while fire and rats aboard ship are to be dreaded, the les- ser vermin, composed of creeping and flying insects that find their way on board, are to be seriously considered, as they are a con- stant menace to comfort, health and life. This is particularly true in regard to the pestiferous mosquito and the loathsome bedbug, all too often found pre-empting ships' cabins and berths, and eagerly awaiting human victims. As regards the bedbug: It may not be generally known that death often lurks in the bite of this pestilence that walketh in darkness, but such has been proven to be a fact. A case in point: A French physician at- tended a patient who died of consumption. The bed on which the patient died was afterwards occupied by a person in good health who soon developed consumption and died. Again the bed [June 4, was occupied by still another healthy person and he soon follow- ed his two predecessors, being carried off by the same disease. Then the physician began a thorough investigation in search of a cause for tuberculosis contagion, to which he ascribed the deaths of the two last victims. This he found to be bedbugs, with which the bed which the three patients had occupied was infested, the vermin having conveyed the inoculating virus of the dread disease from one victim to another. Thus the cause of many a contagious disease, which heretofore has seemed a mys- tery, and, like all other death laden.mysteries, has been laid to a "visitation of Providence," may be traced to its source and a preventive applied. As to this nocturnal pest, too much care can- not and should not be spared to eradicate it from sleeping apart- ments; especially where such apartments are constantly subject to change of occupants. - : : : The mosquito, hitherto rated as simply an annoying nuisance, is now known to be a most dangerous enemy to man's health as well as happiness. While this pest is frail of body he is all pow- erful in spreading malarial contagion, and being native to all parts of the earth he may be rated as the most universal pest to be found on the globe. None are exempt from the attacks of this fever-germ bearer, as he is no respecter of persons, at~ tacking the just and the unjust, the cleanly and uncleanly, vary- ing his virus according to latitude, from the germ of ordinary malarial fever of the temperate zone to that of the malignant "Yellow Jack" of the tropics. No better proof of his contagion- spreading qualities is needed than the results of the late tests in Cuba, where by experiments necessitating the sacrifice of human lives, it was demonstrated that this noxious insect inoculated human beings with yellow fever and is the chief cause of the spread of that dreaded disease. Other vermin that often infect ships and their cargoes and prove destructive to property, and a pest in many ways, might be enumerated, such as cockroaches, ants, weevils, etc., but enough have been mentioned to show that an efficient remedy for these evils has long been needed. Many methods have been tried in the past to rid vessels of the pests complained of, one being car- bonic acid gas, which has proved to be too dangerous for gen- eral use, as giving off no odor it may be unconsciously inhaled by man in deadly quantity, the victim being unaware of danger until seized by death, a case being cited by French au- a where three men were killed by its use in fumigating a ship. The writer has lately been investigating the subject of pre- ventives of the evils complained of, which are of vital importance, not only to the shipping interests of the world, but-to the whole human race, and among other methods used for destroying ver- min, fumigating, disinfecting and suppressing fire on shipboard, has been making inquiry into the value of the Clayton gas sys- tem, which is winning its way into great favor in Europe, having been adopted by Great Britain, France and Germany, British In- dia, Cape Colony, Natal, Rhodesia, Egypt, French Soudan, Aus- tralia and Brazil and is now being introduced into this coun- try. This gas is the discovery of Mr. Thomas A. Clayton, who, born in Scotland, came to America at an early age and became a citizen of the United States. In 18098, while confined to his bed in Philadelphia from an accident, he read an account of a dis- astrous attempt to fumigate a ship by the old-style method of burning sulphur in an open kettle, where the kettle was accident- ally upset and the burning sulphur set fire to the vessel destroying it. This set him to work on a plan for using sulphur for such a purpose without any attendant danger. The result of his stud- ies and experiments was the Clayton gas machine, or apparatus, in the construction of which, it would appear, the inventor build- ed better than he knew. Although his first apparatus was crude, it demonstrated its ability to manufacture and diffuse a gas con- sisting principally of sulphur dioxide, but also containing the higher oxides of sulphur, giving it strong toxic and penetrating properties. This product is now known as Clayton gas, which, before its properties were discovered by Mr. Clayton, was un- known to science. The method of generating this gas is extremely simple. A generator is charged with sulphur, which, when gas is wanted, is ignited with a quick-burning kindling, and the sulphur, by its own combustion, generating a temperature of over 1,000 degrees Fah., produces the gas; which before being used, is quickly cooled down to a temperature of from 85 to 125 degrees Fah. and by means of a blower, which is part of the apparatus, is diffused through metal pipes, or rubber hose, to any desired point. _ It has been found by tests carried on by experts that this gas is the most powerful and efficient, as well as the safest, agent known to science for extinguishing fire, destroying vermin and disease germs and the preservation of perishable products on board ship. Its penetrating properties is one of its marked pe- culiarities, as will be herein shown, while the ease and cheapness of its production is gréatly in its favor. Another advantage claimed for it over other known methods for exterminating rats and other vermin is that at the first sniff of its pungent odor the vermin leave their hiding places and seek the onen in quest of fresh air, where they are soon asphyxiated, and thus they may be easily gathered up and removed after the operation. Another favorable feature is the safetv in its use, a good il- lustration of which was given at the first trial made at Dunkirk, France, of the gas for fumigating and disinfecting purposes, on the steamer La Marguerite. In this instance, after due precaution had been taken to see that no person remained within, the gas was turned into the crew's quarters throuch a door left slightly ajar to admit the rubber hose through which the gas was con-