This accident, which was the most extensive in any firework factory since the Explosives Act came into operation, afforded striking proof of the efficiency of the precautions instituted under that Act. It is indeed extraordinary that in an explosive factory of considerable size, employing many workpeople, during working hours it should be possible to destroy more or less completely seventeen buildings and only slightly injure two persons. It may be contended that the number of buildings damaged was very high, but it must be remembered that rockets without sticks take a most erratic course in their flight, rendering the effective screening of other buildings most difficult, if not impossible. However, there is evidence that many rockets were stopped by the screens, and that without their interposition the number of buildings destroyed might have been many times greater. The other Explosives Act requirements of which the efficiency was demonstrated by this accident, are the dividing of sheds into compartments with a limited number of workpeople in each, easy means of escape from working buildings, and the value of uninflammable clothing. It was also shown that a large quantity of fireworks might be burnt in mass without causing a veritable explosion; as in the case of the magazine containing 3,000 lbs. Contrasting with this occurrence are the reports of accidents in firework factories both on the Continent and in America. The same year, at Civita Vecchia, ten persons were killed and twice that number injured in one accident at a firework factory. Four years later, in Paris, seven girls were killed out of the eighteen employed in one compartment. The material being used was red phosphorus and chlorate. In 1882 fourteen persons were killed and no fewer than seventy injured at Chester, Pennsylvania. From 1891 to 1894 eight accidents in the United States are reported, resulting in a total of twenty-three deaths and injury to more than fifty persons. In 1894, at New Haven, Con., damage to the extent of 125,000 dollars was done, and at Dallas a considerable part of the city was destroyed. These are, of course, not a complete list, but only such cases as are brought to the notice of the English Home Office, but the extent of these clearly illustrates the value of the restrictions in force in this country. During the same years the total of firework factory accidents in this country was thirteen, in which three persons lost their lives, and in no case was more than one person killed in any one accident. Indeed, in one instance only since 1875 has the number of deaths resulting from any accident exceeded two—on that occasion four deaths resulted. An interesting type of accident, examples of which have taken place on several occasions, is that in which two compositions, one containing sulphur and the other chlorate of potash, are placed in contact in the paper case of a firework, and produce spontaneous combustion.