Miracle Mongers and Their Methods: A Complete Exposé of the Modus Operandi of Fire Eaters, Heat Resisters, Poison Eaters, Venomous Reptile Defiers, Sword Swallowers, Human Ostriches, Strong Men, Etc.Houdini, Harry
History
Miracle Mongers and Their Methods: A Complete Exposé of the Modus Operandi of Fire Eaters, Heat Resisters, Poison Eaters, Venomous Reptile Defiers, Sword Swallowers, Human Ostriches, Strong Men, Etc.
Houdini, Harry
Magic tricks -- History; Magicians -- Biography
A series of curious experiments were made on this subject by M. Tillet,
in France, and by Dr. Fordyce and Sir Charles Blagden, in England. Sir
Joseph Banks, Dr. Solander, and Sir Charles Blagden entered a room in
which the air had a temperature of 198 degrees Fahr., and remained ten
minutes; but as the thermometer sunk very rapidly, they resolved to
enter the room singly. Dr. Solander went in alone and found the heat
210 degrees, and Sir Joseph entered when the heat was 211 degrees.
Though exposed to such an elevated temperature, their bodies preserved
their natural degree of heat. Whenever they breathed upon a
thermometer it sunk several degrees; every expiration, particularly if
strongly made, gave a pleasant impression of coolness to their
nostrils, and their cold breath cooled their fingers whenever it
reached them. On touching his side, Sir Charles Blagden found it cold
like a corpse, and yet the heat of his body under his tongue was 98
degrees. Hence they concluded that the human body possesses the power
of destroying a certain degree of heat when communicated with a certain
degree of quickness. This power, however, varies greatly in different
media. The same person who experienced no inconvenience from air heated
to 211 degrees, could just bear rectified spirits of wine at 130
degrees, cooling oil at 129 degrees, cooling water at 123 degrees, and
cooling quicksilver at 118 degrees. A familiar instance of this
occurred in the heated room. All the pieces of metal there, even their
watch-chains, felt so hot that they could scarcely bear to touch them
for a moment, while the air from which the metal had derived all its
heat was only unpleasant. M. Duhamel and Tillet observed, at
Rochefoucault in France, that the girls who were accustomed to attend
ovens in a bakehouse, were capable of enduring for ten minutes a
temperature of 270 degrees.
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