"They would have roasted," returned the Doctor, laughing. "At all events they have never tried it, so I shall stand up for my countrymen. There is one more instance I recollect, and really it is so incredible, that it would be impossible to believe it, if it were not attested by unimpeachable evidence. The Duke of Ragusa and [Illustration: ] Dr. Jung, a Frenchman and an Austrian, saw a Turk plunge into a bath at 170 deg." "But that is not so astonishing as those servant girls, or our own countrymen," said Johnson. "I beg your pardon," replied Clawbonny; "there is a great difference between plunging into hot air and hot water. Hot air produces perspiration, which protects the skin, but boiling water scalds. The maximum heat of baths is 107 deg., so that this Turk must have been an extraordinary fellow to endure such temperature." "What is the mean temperature, Mr. Clawbonny, of animated beings?" asked Johnson. "That varies with the species," replied the Doctor. "Birds have the highest, especially the duck and the hen. The mammalia come next, and human beings. The temperature of Englishmen averages 101 deg." "I am sure Mr. Altamont is going to claim a higher rate for his countrymen," said Johnson, smiling. "Well, sure enough, we've some precious hot ones among us, but as I never have put a thermometer down their throats to ascertain, I can't give you statistics." "There is no sensible difference," said the Doctor, "between men of different races when they are placed under the same conditions, whatever their food may be. I may almost say their temperature would be the same at the Equator as the Pole." "Then the heat of our bodies is the same here as in England," replied Altamont. "Just about it. The other species of mammalia are generally hotter than human beings. The horse, the hare, the elephant, the porpoise, and the tiger are nearly the same; but the cat, the squirrel, the rat, the panther, the sheep, the ox, the dog, the monkey, and the goat, are as high as 103 deg.; and the pig is 104 deg." "Rather humiliating to us," put in Altamont. "Then come the amphibia and the fish," resumed the Doctor, "whose temperature varies with that of the water. The serpent has a temperature of 86 deg., the frog 70 deg., and the shark several degrees less. Insects appear to have the temperature of air and water." [Illustration: ] "All this is very well," interrupted Hatteras, who had hitherto taken no part in the conversation, "and we are obliged to the Doctor for his scientific information; but we are really talking as if we were going to brave the heat of the torrid zone. I think it would be far more seasonable to speak of cold, if the Doctor could tell us what is the lowest temperature on record."