As I understand it, this entire discussion began with a discussion of
mist-system firesprinklers, which descended to a dispute as to whether fire
or water was the greater enemy of books, which descended to a dispute as to
whether to save a cat or a B42 in the event of the fire, which dilemma is
presumably reserved for those that, thinking water was the greater enemy, do
not believe that their library should be protected by firesprinklers.
To my earlier argument that fire is the greater enemy of books, I would now
add this recent thread as evidence that fire also seems to be the enemy of
the average freshman Ethics class discussion.
If our hypothetical library had been protected by firesprinklers. we would
now only be discussing the mechanics of drying out a few books, possibly in
the presence of a wet cat.
Edward Levin