THREE:A standard of lineal measures, however, cannot be taken from one country to another, or even transferred from one shop to another without the risk of variation; and it is therefore necessary that such a standard be based upon something in nature to which reference can be made in cases of doubt.Nor did I see any inhabitants in the burning78 town. It was practically impossible to stay in the streets; burning walls and roofs and gutters crashed down with a great noise, so that the streets were as much on fire as the houses themselves. Only at the crossings were any soldiers to be seen, who, in various stages of intoxication, constantly aimed at the burning houses, and shot everything that tried to escape from the burning stables and barns: pigs, horses, cows, dogs, and so on.