The Evansville journal., 1844-11-07

would interest the public. The following
paper is-very curious:
ON THE POWER OF THE HUMAN
BODY TO RESIT HEAT.
1t was long believed that the human body
could not be safely exposed, even for short
time, 10 a degree, of heat much exceeding
! that which is met with in hot climates. This
| opinion, which we know now to be erroneous
was strengthened by the result ofsome ex-
periments made by the celebrated Fahren-
het himself, and related by Boerhaave.-
Some animals were shut up in sugar ba-
ker's stove, where The mercury stoodat l46 : j.
A Sparrow died in less than seven minutes, a
cat in rather more than quarter of an hour,
and dog in about twenty-eight minutes
The aOrius ar Of the stove had probably
more to do with the speedy deaths of these
animals than The heat.
The truth upon this subject may be said
TO have been discovered by accident. In
The year 1850 and 176l, M. M. Duhamel
and Jillet were appointed TO devise some
means of destroying an insect which con-
sumed the grain in the province of Ango-
umais, i'll France. They found that this
could be done by subiecting the corn, and
the insects contained in it, in an oven, 10
a degree oil heat great enough to kill the
insect -butnot so great as TO hrrt the grain.
LIN order to ascertain the precise heat OF
the oven, they introduced into it the rmo-
meter, placed upon the end of long shovel.
The mercury, when the thermometer was
found to indicate degree of heat consdera-
fbly above that of boiling water. But M.
I al AZ IL 1, =
sunk several degrees as il was drawn iowa rds
the mouth of the oven. While he was puz,
lzled TO invent. some way of determining more
exactly the actual degre Of heat, girl, who
was one of the attendants, offered 10 go III
and mark with pencil the height at which
the mercury stood; and she did enter the
oven, and remained there two or three min
utes, and then market the thermometer a
100 of Reaumar, which nearly equals 26G
Fahrenheit. NJ. Jillet then began to ex
press some anxiety for the safety of the girl
but she assured him she felt no inconveni
ience, and remained in the oven ten miuute
longer, during which time the mercury
reached the 2SSo of Fahrenhet's scale
ldenoting rs Q ofheat above that of waite
when it bols. When she came out, he
complexion was considerably heightened
but her respiration was by no means quick O
laborious. This experiment was afterward
repeated. Another girl remained in tn
oven as long as the former had done, at th
same temperature, and with the same impu
nifty. Nay, she even breathed, for the spac
of FIVE minutes, air heated to about 325 de
grees OF Fahrenheit--or l l3 degrees aboy
that of boiling water.
The publication of these facts naturall
excited the curiosity of scientific men, an
other experiments were soon instituted. d
Dobson, of Liverpool, and several other pc
sons with him, shut themselves up in tn
sweating room of the hospital there-the a
having been heated till the mercury stood /;
224 degrees of Fahrenheit. They did NJ
experience any oppressive or painful sens;
ton of heat. DIR. Fordyce and DR.. Blagde
made some remarkable trials of the sam
kind. They entered rooms artifcially hea
ed TO a very high degree, sometimes make
and sometimes with their clothes on, an
bore the extraordinary temperature of 24t
and even 260 degrees for considerable tim
with very little inconvenience. In all thes
experiments, it, was found that the anim
heat, as ascertained by thermometers place
under the tongue, or grasped in the ham
was scarcely increased at all, and the resp
ration bui little affected; but the pulse W,
very much quckened. The frequency ofD
Blagden's pulse in one instance was double
Their watch-chans and other pieces of met
about them, ,became so hot that they coul
- - scarcely be touched. When they breathe
ge upon The thermometer, the mercury imme
lately sunk several degrees. Every act ofc