The Sun.
London, England, 1829-08-03 00:00:00

THE g' FIRE KING."

Last Saturday we saw M. Chabert, the " Fire
King," as he styles himself, exhibit his various
and wonderful experiments at the Argyll Rooms.
On entering the apartment where he performs,
we found him busily employed in warming the
which he was to be shut uf; oven in during the
time necessary for some dishes of beefsteaks
being cooked in it. The oven built of bricks,
has a large iron door, anti is high enough for a
full-grown man to stand upright in it, and is
about two or three yards wide. It is raised
from the floor by pillars, and is heated by means
of lighted faggots being thrown into it. As
soon as these faggots were consumed, M. Cha-
bert raked out the ashes as far as the door, and
then invited the spectators to mount a ladder
and be themselves convinced of the heat of
the oven ; but it will be easily conceived,
that while a large quantity of red-hot cinders
was burning at the mouth, the heat felt under
such circumstances was very intense. After
those of the company who chose had ascended
the ladder, with a view to obtain personal expe,
rience of the heat of the oven, M. • Chabert
removed the cinders away, casting, however, a
small portion of them back again into the oven,
as it were, accidentally, init, as we thought, pur-
posely. Then, leaving the oven to cool, he proceed-
edto perform the astonishing feat of swallowing
poison, which it seems he possesses, by the use of
antidotes, the faculty of taking without injury to
himself. A gentleman among the company re-
quested him to take oxalic acid, which he ex-
cused himself from doing, on the plea that he
had not prepared himself against poisons of that
class. He was prepared, however, to take Any
quantity whatever of phosphorus. Accordingly
phosphorus was given him, the genuineness of
which was made manifest by its igniting by fric-
tion a piece of paper, and by burning on water.
He held his hands behind him while the phos-
phorus was poured down his throat in a glass of
water. In this there appeared to be no decep-
tion, and the " Fire King," in order to show
that the phosphorus remained nowhere concealed
about his teeth or under his tongue, submitted
his mouth, in which he held a flaming bit of
link, to the examination of the company. This
experiment, we are bound to say, appeared to be
fairly performed. The next thing which M. Cha-
bert did was to drink some oil heated to 320 de-
grees. In swallowing the oil he took care that the
spoon which contained it should not touch his
tongue or his lips, by holding it firmly between his
teeth. The spoon had been made so hot, by contact
wi,j,h the oil, as to prevent any person handling
it. The experimentalist then • amused the com-
pany by exposing the tricks resorted to by com-
mon conjurors to deceive their spectators, to
practise which he declared himself to be above.
His, he declared, was no ordinary exhibition :
what he did, no one else could do ! At length
the time came for going into the oven, and
cooking the beefsteaks, and he left the room to
put on his anti-caloric dress. In this manner
about an hour had been spent, during all which
time the oven was cooling by the help of great
draughts of air, which rushed into the room
from every window. M. Chabert soon returned,
muffled up in a loose great coat, and taking the
covered dishes which contained the beefsteaks,
he put them into the oven, placing them on the
cinders which, as has already been mentioned,
had been previously left there. Thus it
would appear that M. Chabert was not sub-
ject to the same degree of heat as the
steaks. The heat of the oven indeed might
be much less than it was, and still the steaks
being placed where they, were, would be cooked.
He then entered the oven himself, taking with
him a thermometer, which in the room was at 70
degrees, and promised that in eight minutes the
steaks should be ready. Aftek remaining in the
oven that time he came out, perspiring profusely,
and bringing with him the steaks, which were per-
fectly done, and the thermometer raised to 340
degrees. This. certainly would slim a degree of
heat very great for a man to bear, but some per,
sons were inclined .to suppose that while M.
Chabert was shut in the oven he might ha re
taken the liberty of placing the thermo Meter
beside the beef steaks—namely, on the burning
cinders. It is also to be observed, that he did
not breathe the atmosphere of the oven, but a
long tin tube conducted to him the fresh and
cooling air of the room. But whatever doubt
may exist with respect to the heat of the oven,
we certainly feel it to be nothing but.justice to
M. Chabert to state, that as far as we could ob-
serve, and we watched him pretty sharply, he did
actually swallow the phosphorus which was given
him. This certainly is a most extraordinary cir-
cumstance, and will, doubtless, lead to much in-
quiry in the medical world.

the.breeds i
.taesesaadtmi aitenn
Several amateurs and breeders of choice cattle
were last Friday assembled at Chilton, in order to inspect
the stock, preparatory to the great sale, now so soon totz!lie
place, and which is attracting the attention and exciting
the expectation of the agriculturists in every part of the
United Kingdom. It appeared to be the general senti-
ment of the company that, however they had on former
occasions admired Mr. MAsoN's exhibition of stock, the
present display was beyond all parallel, both for numbers
in breeds, so select, and for the high improvement observ-
able in the form and qualities of the individual animals,—
This sentiment, however, was accompanied with an ex-
le
ijtstiuhmdengboneitrliae onnpfdsflhighly-improved
ye that,eot
ione
eala,
ex-
pression of regret, that the dispersion of this remarkable
stock is likely to impede the progress of improvement in
pos-
sessedalarond b'oesfout the adn
ndi individual,
ltmelrlayl
combiningr
qualities which has brought these to their present unri-
valled excellence,.-.Durham County Advertiser.