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www.it-ebooks.info
Programming in
Objective-C

Fourth Edition

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Programming in
Objective-C

Fourth Edition

Stephen G. Kochan

Upper Saddle River, NJ • Boston • Indianapolis • San Francisco

New York • Toronto • Montreal • London • Munich • Paris • Madrid
Cape Town • Sydney • Tokyo • Singapore • Mexico City

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Programming in Objective-C, Fourth Edition Acquisitions
Copyright © 2012 by Pearson Education, Inc. Editor
Mark Taber
All rights reserved. No part of this book shall be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or
transmitted by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, Development
without written permission from the publisher. No patent liability is assumed with respect to Editor
the use of the information contained herein. Although every precaution has been taken in Michael Thurston
the preparation of this book, the publisher and author assume no responsibility for errors or Managing Editor
omissions. Nor is any liability assumed for damages resulting from the use of the informa- Sandra Schroeder
tion contained herein.
Project Editor
ISBN-13: 978-0-321-81190-5 Mandie Frank
ISBN-10: 0-321-81190-9 Indexer
Heather McNeill
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Proofreader
Kochan, Stephen G. Sheri Cain
Programming in objective-c / Stephen G. Kochan. -- 4th ed. Technical Editors
Wendy Mui
p. cm.
Michael Trent
ISBN 978-0-321-81190-5 (pbk.) Publishing
1. Objective-C (Computer program language) 2. Object-oriented Coordinator
Vanessa Evans
programming (Computer science) 3. Macintosh (Computer)--Programming.
Designer
I. Title. Gary Adair
QA76.64.K655 2012 Compositor
Mark Shirar
005.1'17--dc23
2011046245
Printed in the United States of America
Second Printing: March 2012

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 ❖
To Roy and Ve, two people whom I dearly miss.

To Ken Brown, “It’s just a jump to the left.”

❖

www.it-ebooks.info
Contents at a Glance
1 Introduction 1

2 Programming in Objective-C 7

3 Classes, Objects, and Methods 27

4 Data Types and Expressions 51

5 Program Looping 71

6 Making Decisions 93

7 More on Classes 127

8 Inheritance 151

9 Polymorphism, Dynamic Typing, and

Dynamic Binding 177
10 More on Variables and Data Types 195

11 Categories and Protocols 219

12 The Preprocessor 233

13 Underlying C Language Features 247

14 Introduction to the Foundation Framework 303

15 Numbers, Strings, and Collections 307

16 Working with Files 369

17 Memory Management and Automatic

Reference Counting 399
18 Copying Objects 413

19 Archiving 425

20 Introduction to Cocoa and Cocoa Touch 443

21 Writing iOS Applications 447

A Glossary 479

B Address Book Example Source Code 487

Index 493

www.it-ebooks.info
Contents
1 Introduction 1
What You Will Learn from This Book 2
How This Book Is Organized 3
Support 5
Acknowledgments 5
Preface to the Fourth Edition 6

2 Programming in Objective-C 7
Compiling and Running Programs 7
Using Xcode 8
Using Terminal 17
Explanation of Your First Program 19
Displaying the Values of Variables 23
Summary 25
Exercises 25

3 Classes, Objects, and Methods 27

What Is an Object, Anyway? 27
Instances and Methods 28
An Objective-C Class for Working with Fractions 30
The @interface Section 33
Choosing Names 34
Class and Instance Methods 35
The @implementation Section 37
The program Section 39
Accessing Instance Variables and Data Encapsulation 45
Summary 49
Exercises 49

4 Data Types and Expressions 51

Data Types and Constants 51
Type int 51
Type float 52
Type char 52

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viii Contents

Qualifiers: long, long long, short, unsigned,

and signed 53
Type id 54
Arithmetic Expressions 55
Operator Precedence 55
Integer Arithmetic and the Unary Minus Operator 58
The Modulus Operator 60
Integer and Floating-Point Conversions 61
The Type Cast Operator 63
Assignment Operators 64
A Calculator Class 65
Exercises 67

5 Program Looping 71
The for Statement 72
Keyboard Input 79
Nested for Loops 81
for Loop Variants 83
The while Statement 84
The do Statement 88
The break Statement 90
The continue Statement 90
Summary 91
Exercises 91

6 Making Decisions 93
The if Statement 93
The if-else Construct 98
Compound Relational Tests 100
Nested if Statements 103
The else if Construct 105
The switch Statement 114
Boolean Variables 117
The Conditional Operator 122
Exercises 124

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 Contents ix

7 More on Classes 127

Separate Interface and Implementation Files 127
Synthesized Accessor Methods 132
Accessing Properties Using the Dot Operator 134
Multiple Arguments to Methods 135
Methods Without Argument Names 137
Operations on Fractions 137
Local Variables 140
Method Arguments 141
The static Keyword 141
The self Keyword 145
Allocating and Returning Objects from Methods 146
Extending Class Definitions and the Interface File 148
Exercises 148

8 Inheritance 151
It All Begins at the Root 151
Finding the Right Method 155
Extension Through Inheritance: Adding New Methods 156
A Point Class and Object Allocation 160
The @class Directive 161
Classes Owning Their Objects 165
Overriding Methods 169
Which Method Is Selected? 171
Abstract Classes 173
Exercises 174

9 Polymorphism, Dynamic Typing,

and Dynamic Binding 177
Polymorphism: Same Name, Different Class 177
Dynamic Binding and the id Type 180
Compile Time Versus Runtime Checking 182
The id Data Type and Static Typing 183
Argument and Return Types with Dynamic Typing 184
Asking Questions About Classes 185
Exception Handling Using @try 189
Exercises 192

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x Contents

10 More on Variables and Data Types 195

Initializing Objects 195
Scope Revisited 198
Directives for Controlling Instance Variable Scope 198
More on Properties, Synthesized Accessors, and
Instance Variables 200
Global Variables 200
Static Variables 202
Enumerated Data Types 205
The typedef Statement 208
Data Type Conversions 209
Conversion Rules 210
Bit Operators 211
The Bitwise AND Operator 212
The Bitwise Inclusive-OR Operator 213
The Bitwise Exclusive-OR Operator 214
The Ones Complement Operator 214
The Left Shift Operator 216
The Right Shift Operator 216
Exercises 217

11 Categories and Protocols 219

Categories 219
Class Extensions 224
Some Notes About Categories 225
Protocols and Delegation 226
Delegation 229
Informal Protocols 229
Composite Objects 230
Exercises 231

12 The Preprocessor 233

The #define Statement 233
More Advanced Types of Definitions 235
The #import Statement 240
Conditional Compilation 241
The #ifdef, #endif, #else 241
The #if and #elif Preprocessor Statements 243
The #undef Statement 244
Exercises 245

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 Contents xi

13 Underlying C Language Features 247

Arrays 248
Initializing Array Elements 250
Character Arrays 251
Multidimensional Arrays 252
Functions 254
Arguments and Local Variables 255
Returning Function Results 257
Functions, Methods, and Arrays 261
Blocks 262
Structures 266
Initializing Structures 269
Structures Within Structures 270
Additional Details About Structures 272
Don’t Forget About Object-Oriented Programming! 273
Pointers 273
Pointers and Structures 277
Pointers, Methods, and Functions 279
Pointers and Arrays 280
Constant Character Strings and Pointers 286
Operations on Pointers 290
Pointers and Memory Addresses 292
They’re Not Objects! 293
Miscellaneous Language Features 293
Compound Literals 293
The goto Statement 294
The null Statement 294
The Comma Operator 294
The sizeof Operator 295
Command-Line Arguments 296
How Things Work 298
Fact #1: Instance Variables Are Stored
in Structures 298
Fact #2: An Object Variable Is Really a Pointer 299
Fact #3: Methods Are Functions, and Message
Expressions Are Function Calls 299
Fact #4: The id Type Is a Generic Pointer Type 299
Exercises 300

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xii Contents

14 Introduction to the Foundation Framework 303

Foundation Documentation 303

15 Numbers, Strings, and Collections 307

Number Objects 307
String Objects 312
More on the NSLog Function 312
The description Method 313
Mutable Versus Immutable Objects 314
Mutable Strings 320
Array Objects 327
Making an Address Book 330
Sorting Arrays 347
Dictionary Objects 354
Enumerating a Dictionary 355
Set Objects 358
NSIndexSet 362
Exercises 365

16 Working with Files 369

Managing Files and Directories: NSFileManager 370
Working with the NSData Class 375
Working with Directories 376
Enumerating the Contents of a Directory 379
Working with Paths: NSPathUtilities.h 381
Common Methods for Working with Paths 383
Copying Files and Using the NSProcessInfo Class 386
Basic File Operations: NSFileHandle 390
The NSURL Class 395
The NSBundle Class 396
Exercises 397

17 Memory Management and Automatic Reference

Counting 399
Automatic Garbage Collection 401
Manual Reference Counting 402
Object References and the Autorelease Pool 403

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 Contents xiii

The Event Loop and Memory Allocation 405

Summary of Manual Memory Management Rules 407
Automatic Reference Counting (ARC) 408
Strong Variables 408
Weak Variables 409
@autoreleasepool Blocks 410
Method Names and Non-ARC Compiled Code 411

18 Copying Objects 413

The copy and mutableCopy Methods 413
Shallow Versus Deep Copying 416
Implementing the <NSCopying> Protocol 418
Copying Objects in Setter and Getter Methods 421
Exercises 423

19 Archiving 425
Archiving with XML Property Lists 425
Archiving with NSKeyedArchiver 427
Writing Encoding and Decoding Methods 429
Using NSData to Create Custom Archives 436
Using the Archiver to Copy Objects 439
Exercises 441

20 Introduction to Cocoa and Cocoa Touch 443

Framework Layers 443
Cocoa Touch 444

21 Writing iOS Applications 447

The iOS SDK 447
Your First iPhone Application 447
Creating a New iPhone Application Project 449
Entering Your Code 452
Designing the Interface 455
An iPhone Fraction Calculator 461
Starting the New Fraction_Calculator Project 462
Defining the View Controller 464

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xiv Contents

The Fraction Class 469

A Calculator Class That Deals with Fractions 473
Designing the UI 474
Summary 475
Exercises 476

A Glossary 479

B Address Book Example Source Code 487

Index 493

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About the Author
Stephen Kochan is the author and coauthor of several bestselling titles on the C
language, including Programming in C (Sams, 2004), Programming in ANSI C (Sams, 1994),
and Topics in C Programming (Wiley, 1991), and several Unix titles, including Exploring
the Unix System (Sams, 1992) and Unix Shell Programming (Sams, 2003). He has been
programming on Macintosh computers since the introduction of the first Mac in 1984,
and he wrote Programming C for the Mac as part of the Apple Press Library. In 2003
Kochan wrote Programming in Objective-C (Sams, 2003), and followed that with another
Mac-related title, Beginning AppleScript (Wiley, 2004).

About the Technical Reviewers

Wendy Mui is a programmer and software development manager in the San Francisco
Bay Area. After learning Objective-C from the second edition of Steve Kochan’s book,
she landed a job at Bump Technologies, where she put her programming skills to good
use working on the client app and the API/SDK for Bump’s third-party developers.
Prior to her iOS experience,Wendy spent her formative years at Sun and various other
tech companies in Silicon Valley and San Francisco. She got hooked on programming
while earning a B.A. in Mathematics from University of California Berkeley.When not
working,Wendy is pursuing her 4th Dan Tae Kwon Do black belt.
Michael Trent has been programming in Objective-C since 1997—and programming
Macs since well before that. He is a regular contributor to Steven Frank’s cocoadev.com
website, a technical reviewer for numerous books and magazine articles, and an occasional
dabbler in Mac OS X open-source projects. Currently, he is using Objective-C and
Apple Computer’s Cocoa frameworks to build professional video applications for Mac
OS X. Michael holds a Bachelor of Science degree in computer science and a Bachelor
of Arts degree in music from Beloit College of Beloit,Wisconsin. He lives in Santa
Clara, California, with his lovely wife, Angela.

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 1
Introduction

D ennis Ritchie at AT&T Bell Laboratories pioneered the C programming language in

the early 1970s. However, this programming language did not begin to gain widespread
popularity and support until the late 1970s.This was because, until that time, C compilers
were not readily available for commercial use outside of Bell Laboratories. Initially, this
growth in popularity was also partly spurred by the equal, if not faster, growth in popular-
ity of the UNIX operating system, which was written almost entirely in C.
Brad J. Cox designed the Objective-C language in the early 1980s.The language was
based on a language called SmallTalk-80. Objective-C was layered on top of the C lan-
guage, meaning that extensions were added to C to create a new programming language
that enabled objects to be created and manipulated.
NeXT Software licensed the Objective-C language in 1988 and developed its libraries
and a development environment called NEXTSTEP. In 1992, Objective-C support was
added to the Free Software Foundation’s GNU development environment.The copy-
rights for all Free Software Foundation (FSF) products are owned by the FSF. It is released
under the GNU General Public License.
In 1994, NeXT Computer and Sun Microsystems released a standardized specification
of the NEXTSTEP system, called OPENSTEP.The Free Software Foundation’s imple-
mentation of OPENSTEP is called GNUStep.A Linux version, which also includes the
Linux kernel and the GNUStep development environment, is called, appropriately
enough, LinuxSTEP.
On December 20, 1996,Apple Computer announced that it was acquiring NeXT
Software, and the NEXTSTEP/OPENSTEP environment became the basis for the next
major release of Apple’s operating system, OS X.Apple’s version of this development
environment was called Cocoa.With built-in support for the Objective-C language, cou-
pled with development tools such as Project Builder (or its successor Xcode) and Inter-
face Builder,Apple created a powerful development environment for application
development on Mac OS X.
In 2007,Apple released an update to the Objective-C language and labeled it Objective-
C 2.0.That version of the language formed the basis for the second edition of the book.

www.it-ebooks.info
2 Chapter 1 Introduction

When the iPhone was released in 2007, developers clamored for the opportunity to
develop applications for this revolutionary device. At first, Apple did not welcome third-
party application development.The company’s way of placating wannabe iPhone devel-
opers was to allow them to develop web-based applications. A web-based application
runs under the iPhone’s built-in Safari web browser and requires the user to connect to
the website that hosts the application in order to run it. Developers were not satisfied
with the many inherent limitations of web-based applications, and Apple shortly there-
after announced that developers would be able to develop so-called native applications for
the iPhone.
A native application is one that resides on the iPhone and runs under the iPhone’s
operating system, in the same way that the iPhone’s built-in applications (such as Con-
tacts, Stocks, and Weather) run on the device.The iPhone’s OS is actually a version of
Mac OS X, which meant that applications could be developed and debugged on a Mac-
Book Pro, for example. In fact,Apple soon provided a powerful Software Development
Kit (SDK) that allowed for rapid iPhone application development and debugging.The
availability of an iPhone simulator made it possible for developers to debug their applica-
tions directly on their development system, obviating the need to download and test the
program on an actual iPhone or iPod Touch device.
With the introduction of the iPad in 2010,Apple started to genericize the terminol-
ogy used for the operating system and the SDK that now support different devices with
different physical sizes and screen resolutions.The iOS SDK allows you to develop appli-
cations for any iOS device and as of this writing, iOS 5 is the current release of the oper-
ating system.

What You Will Learn from This Book

When I contemplated writing a tutorial on Objective-C, I had to make a fundamental
decision. As with other texts on Objective-C, I could write mine to assume that the
reader already knew how to write C programs. I could also teach the language from the
perspective of using the rich library of routines, such as the Foundation and UIKit
frameworks. Some texts also take the approach of teaching how to use the development
tools, such as the Mac’s Xcode and the tool formerly known as Interface Builder to
design the UI.
I had several problems adopting this approach. First, learning the entire C language
before learning Objective-C is wrong. C is a procedural language containing many features
that are not necessary for programming in Objective-C, especially at the novice level. In
fact, resorting to some of these features goes against the grain of adhering to a good
object-oriented programming methodology. It’s also not a good idea to learn all the
details of a procedural language before learning an object-oriented one.This starts the
programmer in the wrong direction, and gives the wrong orientation and mindset for fos-
tering a good object-oriented programming style. Just because Objective-C is an exten-
sion to the C language doesn’t mean you have to learn C first.

www.it-ebooks.info
 How This Book Is Organized 3

So I decided neither to teach C first nor to assume prior knowledge of the language.
Instead, I decided to take the unconventional approach of teaching Objective-C and the
underlying C language as a single integrated language, from an object-oriented program-
ming perspective.The purpose of this book is as its name implies: to teach you how to
program in Objective-C. It does not profess to teach you in detail how to use the devel-
opment tools that are available for entering and debugging programs, or to provide in-
depth instructions on how to develop interactive graphical applications.You can learn all
that material in greater detail elsewhere, after you’ve learned how to write programs in
Objective-C. In fact, mastering that material will be much easier when you have a solid
foundation of how to program in Objective-C.This book does not assume much, if any,
previous programming experience. In fact, if you’re a novice programmer, with some
dedication and hard work you should be able to learn Objective-C as your first program-
ming language. Other readers have been successful at this, based on the feedback I’ve
received from the previous editions of this book.
This book teaches Objective-C by example.As I present each new feature of the lan-
guage, I usually provide a small complete program example to illustrate the feature. Just as
a picture is worth a thousand words, so is a properly chosen program example.You are
strongly encouraged to run each program (all of which are available online) and compare
the results obtained on your system to those shown in the text. By doing so, you will
learn the language and its syntax, but you will also become familiar with the process of
compiling and running Objective-C programs.

How This Book Is Organized

This book is divided into three logical parts. Part I,“The Objective-C Language,” teaches
the essentials of the language. Part II,“The Foundation Framework,” teaches how to use
the rich assortment of predefined classes that form the Foundation framework. Part III,
“Cocoa, Cocoa Touch, and the iOS SDK,” gives you an overview of the Cocoa and
Cocoa Touch frameworks and then walks you through the process of developing a simple
iOS application using the iOS SDK.
A framework is a set of classes and routines that have been logically grouped together to
make developing programs easier. Much of the power of programming in Objective-C
rests on the extensive frameworks that are available.
Chapter 2,“Programming in Objective-C,” begins by teaching you how to write your
first program in Objective-C.
Because this is not a book on Cocoa or iOS programming, graphical user interfaces
(GUIs) are not extensively taught and are hardly even mentioned until Part III. So an
approach was needed to get input into a program and produce output. Most of the exam-
ples in this text take input from the keyboard and produce their output in a window
pane: a Terminal window if you’re using the command line, or a debug output pane if
you’re using Xcode.
Chapter 3,“Classes, Objects, and Methods,” covers the fundamentals of object-oriented
programming.This chapter introduces some terminology, but it’s kept to a minimum. I

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*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK FIREMEN AND

THEIR EXPLOITS ***
 THE NEW HORSED FIRE-ESCAPE,
DESIGNED BY COMMANDER WELLS, CHIEF OFFICER OF THE
METROPOLITAN FIRE-BRIGADE.

FIREMEN
AND THEIR EXPLOITS:
WITH SOME ACCOUNT

OF THE RISE AND DEVELOPMENT OF FIRE-BRIGADES,

OF VARIOUS APPLIANCES FOR SAVING LIFE
AT FIRES AND EXTINGUISHING
THE FLAMES.
 BY
F. M. HOLMES,

AUTHOR OF "ENGINEERS AND THEIR TRIUMPHS," "MINERS

AND
THEIR WORKS UNDERGROUND," ETC.

LONDON:
S. W. PARTRIDGE & CO.,
8 & 9, PATERNOSTER ROW.
1899.
 PREFACE.

The present volume, though complete in itself, forms one of a series

seeking to describe in a popular and non-technical manner the
Triumphs of Engineers. The same style has, therefore, been followed
which was adopted in the preceding volumes. The profession of
Engineering has exercised great influence on the work of Fire
Extinguishment, as on some other things; and the subject is,
therefore, not inappropriate to the series of books of which the
volume forms part.
The story of the Fire-Engine begins in Egypt about a hundred and
fifty years before Christ. Hero of Alexandria describes a contrivance
called the "siphon used in conflagrations," and some persons are of
opinion that he was not unacquainted with the use of the air-chest.
But it was not until nearly two thousand years later—that is, about
the close of the seventeenth century—that the air-chamber and the
hose seem to have been brought into anything like general use,—if,
indeed, the use can be called general even then.
Much of the story is involved in obscurity, or it may be there was
little story to tell; but by the year 1726, Newsham had constructed
satisfactory fire-engines in London; and Braithwaite the engineer—
who with Ericsson constructed the "Novelty" to compete with
Stephenson's "Rocket" at the locomotive contest at Rainhill in 1829—
built a steam fire-engine about 1830, though it was not until thirty
years, or more, later that the use of the machine became general.
As to Fire-Brigades, the Insurance Companies, which began to
appear after the Great Fire of 1666, were wont to employ separate
staffs of men to extinguish fires; but by the year 1833, the more
important had united, and the London Fire-Brigade had been formed
under the control of Mr. James Braidwood. Many provincial towns
followed the metropolitan model in forming their brigades.
Together with the development of the Fire-Engine and of efficient
brigades has been the introduction of various other appliances, such
as Fire-Escapes, Chemical Extinctors, Water-Towers, and the great
improvement in the water supply. Nothing is more striking in the
history of conflagrations than the comparison between the dry state
of the New River pipes at the Great Fire of 1666 and the copious
flood of five million gallons poured into the city in a few hours by the
same company to quench the great Cripplegate fire of November,
1897.
But, indeed, the whole realm of Fire Extinguishment is a world of
constant improvement and strain after perfection. To describe
something of these efforts, and trace out the main features of their
story, is the object of the present volume.
 CONTENTS.

CHAP. PAGE
THE HORSED FIRE-ESCAPE APPEARS. AN EXCITING
I. 9
SCENE
THE BEGINNING OF THE STORY. HERO'S "SIPHON." HOW
II. 17
THE ANCIENTS STROVE TO EXTINGUISH FIRES
III. IN MEDIÆVAL DAYS. AN EPOCH-MAKING FIRE 20
THE PEARL-BUTTON MAKER'S CONTRIVANCE. THE
IV. 36
MODERN FIRE-ENGINE
EXTINGUISHMENT BY COMPANY. THE BEGINNINGS OF
V. 47
FIRE INSURANCE
VI. THE STORY OF JAMES BRAIDWOOD 53
VII. THE THAMES ON FIRE. THE DEATH OF BRAIDWOOD 58
VIII. A PERILOUS SITUATION. CAPTAIN SHAW.
VIII. IMPROVEMENTS OF THE METROPOLITAN BOARD AND OF 67
THE LONDON COUNTY COUNCIL
IX. A VISIT TO HEADQUARTERS 83
X. HOW RECRUITS ARE TRAINED 98
XI. SOME STORIES OF THE BRIGADE 111
XII. FIRE-ESCAPES AND FIRE-FLOATS 123
CHEMICAL FIRE-ENGINES. FIRE-PROOFING, OR MUSLIN
XIII. 134
THAT WILL NOT FLAME
THE WORK OF THE LONDON SALVAGE CORPS. THE
XIV. 144
GREAT CRIPPLEGATE FIRE
XV. ACROSS THE WATER 156
 OFF TO THE FIRE.

FIREMEN AND THEIR EXPLOITS.

 CHAPTER I.
THE HORSED FIRE-ESCAPE APPEARS. AN
EXCITING SCENE.

"Shall we have a quiet night, Jack?"

"Can't say," replied Jack philosophically; "I take it as it comes."
Clang!
Even as he spoke, the electric fire-alarm rang through the silent
station. The men sprang toward the stables, glancing at the bell-
tablet as they ran.
The tablet revealed the name of the street whence the alarm had
been sounded; and at the clang the horses tossed their heads and
pawed the ground, mad to be off. They knew the sound of the alarm
as well as the men themselves.
"Will it be a life-saving job, d'ye think, mate?"
"May be," was Jack's sententious reply; "you never know."
The horses were standing ready harnessed, and were unloosed at
once. They were led to the engine, the traces hooked on, the crew,
as the staff of firemen is called, took their places, and the doors in
front of them were opened smartly by rope and pulley.
"Ready?"
"Aye, aye, sir!"
"Right away!"
In less than two minutes from the ringing of the alarm, the engine
was rushing out of the station, and tearing along London streets
with exciting clatter, the firemen shouting their warning cry, and
sparks flying from the funnel. Soon the engine fire was roaring
below, and the steam was hissing for its work.
How had the firemen obtained a blazing fire and hot steam so soon?
When the engine was waiting in the station, a lighted gas-jet, kept
near the boiler, maintained the water at a high temperature; and
while the horses were being hooked on, a large fusee, called a
"steam-match," had been promptly ignited, and dropped flaming
down the funnel. The match fell through the water-tube boiler to the
fuel in the fire-box below; the draught caused by the rush of the
engine through the air helped the fire; and the water being already
so hot, steam pressure soon arose.
"The new escape's close behind!" cried one of the men, as the
engine hurried along.
Something, unusual then, to London streets was rapidly following
the steamer. In the gloom, it looked like a dim spectral ladder
projecting over the horses in front, and several men could be seen
sitting on the carriage conveying it.
"She's a-comin' on pretty fast," exclaimed one of the men; "she
travels as smart as an engine."
Indeed, the new escape was now so near, that it could be seen more
clearly. It was securely mounted on a low car, and its large wheels
hung over the end at the back, not far above the ground. Designed
by Commander Wells, chief officer of the London Fire-Brigade, it was
brought into use in the brigade in July, 1897.
But now it was nearing the fire, and cheers and cries rang loudly
from the excited crowd gathered at the spot.
"Make way for the escape! Hurrah! Hurrah!"
No wonder the crowd were excited. On the second-floor window of a
large building appeared three white, eager faces, framed by the dark
sashes, and crying eagerly for help.
Cheer after cheer rent the air, as the escape drew up opposite, and
was slipped from its car; then, resting on its own wheels, it was
pitched near the burning building, and its ladders run up to the
window. The policemen could scarce keep back the thronging crowd.
Away go the firemen up the rungs of the ladder, and amid continued
cheers, and cries, and great excitement approach the sufferers in
their peril.
"They've got one!" shouts an excited voice.
"Aye, and there's another!" cries a second spectator.
"They're all three saved!" vociferates a third; and loud cheers greet
the firemen's triumph.
It was a smart piece of work; and with the rescued persons thrown
over their shoulders in the efficient manner they are taught at drill,
the firemen carefully descend the ladder one after the other, and
amid shouts and plaudits arrive safely on the ground.
The flames dart out of the building more fiercely than ever, as if in
anger at losing their prey; the glare and heat grow more intense;
the smoke rolls off in dense volumes; the fire is raging furiously.
Engine after engine rushes fast to the spot, the loud, alarming cries
of "Fire-ire! Fire-ire!" echoing shrilly along the lamp-lighted
thoroughfares; fireman after fireman leaps from the arriving
engines, and with their bright brass helmets flashing in the glare are
quickly stationed round the huge conflagration.
The "brigade call" has been telephoned all round London, and from
east and west, and north and south, engines and firemen have
hurried to the spot. Steamers with sparks flying, steam hissing, and
whistles shrieking; manuals with the clatter of their handles; hose-
carts with their lengths of flexible pipes; and tall ladders of fire-
escapes, useful, even when no life is to be saved, as high points of
vantage whence firemen can direct streams of water straight into
the raging fire,—all—all are here. One after another they arrive, until
the word is passed that more than twenty engines and a hundred
and twenty firemen are concentrated on the spot.
Hydrants also are at work. They are appliances, permanently fixed
under the pathway, from which firemen can obtain a powerful
pressure of water, ranging from thirty-five to seventy pounds per
square inch. From the steamers and the hydrants the quantity of
water poured on the huge fire is now immense, and the steam and
smoke roll off in immense volumes.
Crash!
"There goes the glass!" cries a fireman; and a few moments later it
is rumoured that one of the brigade has been badly cut in the
hands. The skylight had broken and fallen upon him, showing that it
is not only from heat and smoke that the men are likely to suffer, but
also from falling parts of the burning building.
The huge fire is fought at every possible point. It is prevented from
spreading to surrounding buildings by deluging them with water, and
strenuous efforts are made to quench it at its source. Steadily in the
growing light of day the firemen work on; but the morning had far
advanced before the great conflagration was fully extinguished and
the London Salvage Corps were left in possession of the ruined
premises.
"Well, you've had your first big fire, Newall; how d'ye like it?"
"Oh, it's all right, mate; it's pretty hard work, but I don't mind it."
"'Tain't all over yet," said Jack cheerfully; "there's this 'ere hose to be
scrubbed and cleaned, and hung up in the well to dry. I reckon it will
be four or five o'clock before we can turn in."
Jack was right. The wet hose had to be suitably treated to keep it in
good condition, and the engines carefully prepared for the next
alarm that might arise; and when the men turned in to rest, they
slept sound enough.
This story not only illustrates the work of the London Fire-Brigade,
but also points to a notable fact in its history. That fact is the
introduction of the horsed fire-escape. The first rescue in London by
this valuable appliance took place on October 17th, 1898. There
were, in fact, two disastrous fires raging at nearly the same time on
that day, and the new appliance was used at one of these.
Early in the morning, a disastrous fire broke out in Manresa Road,
Chelsea. The conflagration originated in the centre of a large timber-
yard, and spread so rapidly that a very serious fire was soon in
progress. Engines and firemen hurried up from various quarters,
until sixteen steamers, three manuals, and more than a hundred
men were on the spot. The fire was completely surrounded, and the
enormous quantity of water poured upon the blazing wood soon
took effect.
But before all the engines had left, news came that a still more
serious fire had broken out in Oxford Street. The extensive premises
of Messrs. E. Tautz & Co., wholesale tailors, were discovered to be in
flames, and the alarm was brought to the fire-stations from various
sources.
The Orchard Street fire-alarm rang into Manchester Square station,
and resulted in the horsed escape being turned out; then another
fire-alarm rang into Great Marlborough Street fire-station, and the
horsed escape had hurried from this point also. The appliance was
new, and for some time the men of the brigade had cherished a
laudable ambition to be the first to use the escape in what they call
a life-saving job. And it was only by an untoward chance, or simple
fortune of war, that the men of the Manchester Square station, who
were first on the spot, missed the coveted honour.
When they arrived on the scene, no sign of fire was visible in Oxford
Street itself, and the firemen were pointed to North Row, one of the
boundaries of the burning block behind. They made their way
thither, searching for inmates, but were driven back by the fierce
flames.
Meantime, the three persons sleeping on the premises—the
foreman, Mr. Harry Smith, his wife, and their little son, aged six
years—had been endeavouring to escape by the staircase, but had
been driven back by the fire. Mr. Smith had been awakened by the
dense smoke filling the room, and he aroused his wife at once and
took the boy in his arms.
Not being able to escape by the staircase, they hurried to the front
of the large block of buildings, shutting the doors after them as they
went. So it happened that they appeared at the second-floor
windows facing Oxford Street just as the horsed escape from Great
Marlborough Street fire-station hurried up. A scene of great
excitement followed. The firemen ran the ladders from the escape to
the building, and brought down all three persons in safety; but Mrs.
Smith unfortunately had suffered a burn on the left leg. It is
probable that, but for the rapidity with which the horsed escapes
arrived on the scene, the family might have suffered much more
severely; for the fire was very fierce, and soon appeared in Oxford
Street.
The honour, therefore, of the first rescue by the new horsed escape
rests with the Great Marlborough Street station, though the efforts
of their brave comrades of the Manchester Square station should
always be remembered in connection therewith. Commander Wells
appreciated this; for he telephoned a special message to
Superintendent Smith, saying:
"Please let your men understand that I thoroughly appreciate and
approve their action on arrival at the fire this morning, although the
honour of rescue falls by the fortune of war to the second horse-
escape."
The fire proved very disastrous, and a large force was speedily
concentrated. It was eventually subdued; but it was about two
o'clock in the afternoon before the brigade were able to leave, a
large warehouse belonging to Messrs. Peel & Co., boot-makers,
being also involved, and other buildings more or less damaged.
The horsed fire-escape, which was found so useful on this occasion,
is but one among several appliances for saving life and fighting the
fire. These appliances are worked by highly-trained brigades of
firemen, whose efficient organization, well-considered methods, and
ingenious apparatus form one of the remarkable features of the
time.
They did not reach their present position in a day. Indeed, a stirring
story of human effort and of high-spirited enterprise lies behind the
well-equipped brigades of the time. Step by step men have won
great victories over difficulty and danger; step by step they have
profited by terrible disasters, which have spurred them on to fresh
efforts.
What, then, is this story of the fight against fire? How have the fire-
services of the day reached their present great position?
 CHAPTER II.
THE BEGINNING OF THE STORY. HERO'S
"SIPHON." HOW THE ANCIENTS STROVE TO
EXTINGUISH FIRES.

No one knows who invented the modern fire-engine.

The earliest machine, so far as is generally known, was described by
Hero of Alexandria about a hundred and fifty years before Christ. He
called it "the siphon used in conflagrations"; and it seems to have
been originated by Ctesibius, a Greek mechanician living in Egypt,
whose pupil Hero became.
It is very interesting to notice how this contrivance worked. It was
fitted with two cylinders, each having a piston connected by a beam.
This beam raised and lowered each piston alternately, and with the
help of valves—which only opened the way of the jet—propelled
water to the fire, but not continuously. The method must have
proved very inefficient, especially when compared with the constant
stream thrown by the modern fire-engine. Indeed, it is this power to
project a steady and continuous stream which chiefly differentiates
the modern fire-engine from such machines as Hero's siphon.
How far this siphon or any similar contrivance was used in ancient
times we cannot say; but no doubt buckets in some form or other
were the first appliances used for extinguishing conflagrations.
Whenever mankind saw anything valuable burning, the first impulse
would be to stamp it out, or quench the flame by throwing water on
it; and the water would be conveyed by the readiest receptacle to
hand; then when men had discovered the use of the pump, or the
squirt, they would naturally endeavour to turn these appliances to
account.
In some places the use of water-buckets was organized. Juvenal
alludes to the instructions of the opulent Licinus, who bade his
"servants watch by night, the water-buckets being set ready"; the
wealthy man fearing "for his amber, and his statues, and his
Phrygian column, and his ivory and broad tortoise-shell."
Then Pliny and Juvenal use a term—hama—which signifies an
appliance for extinguishing fires; but the true rendering seems to be
in dispute, some translators being content to describe it simply as a
water-vessel. Pliny the Younger refers to siphones, or pipes, being
employed to extinguish fires; but we do not know how they were
used, or whether they resembled Hero's siphon.
In fact, the earliest references to fire-engines by Roman writers are
regarded by some as being merely allusions to aqueduct-pipes for
bringing water to houses, rather than to a special appliance. And
from Seneca's remark, "that owing to the height of the houses in
Rome it was impossible to save them when they took fire," we may
gather that any appliances that may have been in use were very
inefficient.
A curious primitive contrivance is described by Apollodorus, who was
architect to Trajan. It consisted of leathern bags or bottles, having
pipes attached; and when the bottles were squeezed, the water
gushed through the pipes to extinguish the flames. Augustus was so
enterprising as to organize seven bands of firemen, each of which
protected two districts of Rome. Each band was in charge of a
tribunus, or captain, and the whole force was under a præfectum
vigilum, or prefect of the watch; though what apparatus they
employed—whether buckets or pipe-bags, syringes or Hero's siphon
—we do not know.
But these appliances, or some of them, were no doubt in use at the
Great Fire of Rome in A.D. 66. In July of that year—the tenth of the
reign of the infamous Emperor Nero—two-thirds of the city was
destroyed. The fire broke out at a number of wooden shops built
against the side of the great Circus, and near to the low-lying
ground between the Palatine and the Cælian Hills. The east wind
blew the flames onward to the corner of the Palatine Hill, and there
the fire blazed in two directions. It gained such enormous power,
that stonework split and fell before it like glass, and building after
building succumbed, until at one point it was only stopped by the
river, and at another by frowning cliffs.
For six awful days and seven nights the fire raged, and then, when it
was supposed to have been extinguished, it burst forth again for
three more days. The sight must have been appalling. We can
picture the huge sheets and tongues of flame sweeping ever
onward, the fearful heat, and the immense volumes of smoke which
mounted upward and obscured the sky.
The panic-stricken people fled to the imperial gardens, but
whispered that Nero himself had originated the fire. To divert
suspicion, he spread reports that the Christians were the culprits;
and they were treated with atrocious cruelty, some being wrapped in
fabric covered with pitch and burnt in the Emperor's grounds. The
guilt of Nero remains a moot point; but he seems to have acted with
some amount of liberality to the sufferers, though his acts of
humanity did not free his name from the foul suspicion.
The conflagration itself stands out as one of the most terrible in
history. Before its furious rage the capable Romans seem to have
been reduced to impotence. Their organization, if they had any,
seems to have been powerless; and their appliances, if they used
any, seem to have been worthless.
We are entitled to draw the deduction that they had no machine
capable of throwing a steady, continuous stream from a
comparatively safe distance. No band of men, however strong and
determined, could have stood their ground sufficiently near the
fierce fire to throw water from buckets, pipe-bags, or even portable
pumps. For small fires they might prove of service, if employed
early; but for large conflagrations they would be worthless. And if
Rome, the Mistress of the World, was so ill-provided, what must
have been the condition of other places?
We may infer, therefore, that the means of fire extinction in the
ancient world were miserably inadequate.
Had mediæval Europe anything better to show?
 CHAPTER III.
IN MEDIÆVAL DAYS. AN EPOCH-MAKING
FIRE.

"Prithee, good master, what's o' fire?"

"A baker's house they say, name of Farryner."
"Faith! it's in Pudding Lane, nigh Fish Street Hill," quoth another
spectator, coming up. "They say the oven was heated overmuch."
"It's an old house, and a poor one," said another speaker. "'Twill
burn like touchwood this dry weather."
"Aye, it have been dry this August, sure enow; and I reckon the rain
won't quench it to-night." And the speaker looked up to the starlit
sky, where never a cloud could be seen.
"Have they the squirts at work, good-man?"
"Aye, no doubt. 'Twill be quenched by morning, neighbour. Faith! 'tis
just an old worm-eaten house ablaze, and that's the tale of it."
But it was not "the tale of it." A strong east wind was blowing, and
the hungry flames spread quickly to neighbouring buildings. These
houses were old and partly decayed, and filled with combustible
material, such as oil, pitch, and hemp used in shipwright's work. In a
comparatively short time the ward of Billingsgate was all ablaze, and
the fierce fire, roaring along Thames Street, attacked St. Magnus
Church at Bridgefoot.
Before the night was far spent, fire-bells were clashing loudly from
the steeples, alarming cries of "Fire! Fire!" resounded through the
streets, and numbers of people in the old narrow-laned city of
London were rushing half dressed from their beds.
It was the night of Saturday, September 2nd, 1666, a night ever
memorable in the history of London. About ten o'clock, any lingerers
on London Bridge—where houses were then built—might have seen
a bright flame shoot upward to the north. They probably conversed
as we have described, and retired to bed. But the fire spread from
the baker's shop, as we have seen, and the confusion and uproar of
that terrible night grew ever more apace.
Half-dazed persons crowded the streets, encumbered with
household goods, and the narrow thoroughfares soon became
choked with the struggling throng. But the flames seized upon the
goods, and the panic-stricken people fled for their lives before the
fierce attack. The lurid light fell on their white faces, and the terrible
crackling and roaring of the flames mingled with their shrieks and
shouts as they hurried along. Now the night would be obscured by
dense clouds of thick smoke, and anon the fire would flash forth
again more luridly than ever.
To add to the alarm, the cry would ring through the streets, or would
be passed from mouth to mouth, that the pipes of the New River
Company—then recently laid—were found to be dry. With the
suspicion of Romanist plots prevailing, the scarcity of water and the
origin of the fire were put down to fanatical incendiaries; or, as an
old writer quaintly expressed it, "This doth smell of a popish design."
When the next morning dawned, the terrible conflagration, so far
from having been extinguished, was raging furiously; the little jets
and bucketsful of water, if any had been used, proved of no avail;
and the narrow streets became, as it were, great sheets of flame.
But was nothing done to extinguish the fire? What appliances would
the Londoners have had?
Here, perhaps, in the early hours of the conflagration, you might
have seen a group of three men at the corner of a street working a
hand-squirt. This instrument was of brass, and measured about 3
feet long. Two men held it by a handle on each side; and when the
nozzle had been dipped into a bucket or a cistern near, and the
water had flowed in, they would raise the squirt, while the third man
pushed up the piston to discharge the water. The squirt might hold
about four quarts of water.

A CITY FIRE TWO HUNDRED YEARS AGO.

If one man worked the squirt, he would hold it up by the handles,
and push the end of the piston, which was generally guarded by a
button, against his chest. But, at the best, it is obvious that the
hand-squirt was a very inadequate contrivance.
Not far distant you might also have seen a similar squirt, mounted in
a wheeled reservoir or cistern, the pistons, perhaps, worked by
levers; and, possibly, in yet another street you might have noticed a
pump of some kind, also working in a cistern; while here and there
you might have come upon lines of persons passing buckets from
hand to hand, bringing water either from the wells in the city, or
from the river, or actually throwing water on the fire. Such were the
appliances which we gather were then used for extinguishing fires.
But such contrivances as were then in the neighbourhood of Fish
Street Hill appear to have been burnt before they could be used, and
the people seem to have been too paralyzed with terror to have
attempted any efforts.
The suggestion was made to pull down houses, so as to create gaps
over which the fire could not pass; and this suggestion no doubt
indicates one of the methods of former days. But the method was
not at first successful on this occasion.
Thus, Pepys, in his Diary, tells us, under date of the Sunday: "At last
[I] met my Lord Mayor in Canning Street, like a man spent, with a
handkercher about his neck. To the King's message [to pull down
houses before the fire] he cried, like a fainting woman, 'Lord! what
can I do? I am spent: people will not obey me. I have been pulling
down houses; but the fire overtakes us faster than we can do it.'"
This is a graphic little picture of the bewilderment of the people; and
Pepys goes on to say that, as he walked home, he saw "people all
almost distracted, and no manner of means used to quench the
fire."
 THE GREAT FIRE OF LONDON (FROM A CONTEMPORARY
PRINT).
In a similar manner, another famous eye-witness, John Evelyn, notes
in his Diary that "some stout seamen proposed, early enough to
have saved nearly the whole city," the destruction of houses to make
a wide gap; "but this some tenacious and avaricious men, aldermen,
etc., would not permit, because their houses must have been of the
first."
The main idea, therefore, of extinguishing the fire seems to have
lain in the pulling down of houses to produce a wide gap over which
the fire could not pass. But at first the civic authorities shrank from
such bold measures. On Sunday, then, the flames were rushing
fiercely onward, the ancient city echoing to their roaring and to the
cries and shrieks of the populace. The houses by London Bridge, in
Thames Street, and the neighbourhood were but heaps of
smouldering ruins. The homeless people sought refuge in the fields
outside the city by Islington and Highgate, and the city train-bands
were placed under arms to watch for incendiaries; while, as if the
horror of the terrible fire was not enough, numbers of ruffians were
found engaged in the dastardly work of plunder. The clanging of the
fire-bells, the crackling of the huge fire, the cries and curses of the
people, made such a frightful din as can scarce be imagined; while
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