The Washington union. [volume] (City of Washington [D.C.]) 1857-1859, 1858-06-20
THE SPHEROLDAL STATE.
lFrom the Household Words


(From the Household Words,l ~ ltHf
branch of physics has of late years been inau
guratcd by the discovery of what is called the spheroida
state of matter. When had got fur steam and
gas fanced had fathomed the uttemost of
nature but maryels which writer of fiction would
hardly dare to introduce into fairy tale legend
turn out to be incontestaby and demonstrably true
For instance bold expermentalist some people might
call him an impudent quack-sct his heart manufac-
turing lump Of ice. And where does he succeed in
making it OF all preposterous places IN the world he
produces it inside glowing crucible standing in heated
furnace the heat Of the furnace moreover not being
the gentle temperature which bakers reduce beef
and potatoes to savoury dish nicely Drowned and with
the gravy in but chemists white heat and the bit of
ice turned out il not half melted hailBtone which
you would suck with pleasure (f clean after
afternoons thunder storm but dabolcal little lump of
such intense GOODNESS that you would take it to be the
concentration of whole Russian winter, essential
cedrop distilled out of the north pole itself The per-
former of the feat is Monsieur p H. Bougny ID Evreux
member of various learned and scientific societies. and
Chevalicr Of the Legion of Honor who has proved by
experiment on his own proper person and his friends
have not hcstated to follow his examplethat the judi
ca tests ordcals of former ages by hot iron by
boiling water OIL and other ingenious of tor
ture which have been in at diverse epochs amongst
almost every nation under the unhc has demonstrated
that these fearful fiery trials have been triumphanty
passed through undergone without exercise ochar
atansm ckery the part Of the actors and with
out any supernatural interference beyond the influence
physical laws which have always been in operation and do
act to the present day Occult powers of nature they
have hitherto BEEN but natural powers they ever re-
main
One Adurabad Mabrasphand priest of zoroaster,
wishing to convce the dssenters and ndes of his day
of the superior truth and holiness of his faith proposed
that his naked body there should be poured eighteen
pounds Of melted "copper" hot from the furnace on the
condition that il he received harm, disbelievers
should bow and yield their credence in the Of
great prodigy The Dictionnaire HstoJque which
tells the tale adds that the trial reported have
been made with such complete success that all the scep
tics were incontinently converted.
Is this gross fable, is it only unexplained fact
Most readers tempted to treat 1t and vu
gar story, utterly repugnant to common sense. But
many things which has scornfuy rejected
have found refuge and resting place in the realms of
science In proof of the fact have only back to
the infancy Of steam, gas and electricity.
NJ Boutigny regards the anccdote IA an undoubted
fact and however improbable it really is nevertheless
perfectly veracious and historical Many credible things
he remarks, false; and many incredible things are
true. 1t is hardly worth disputng now whether the
hard apostle of Zoroastes creed enjoyed his hot
copper showcr-bath not, because NJ Boutgny backs
his opinion by personal proof of the possibility of the
He has plunged (he writes) finger his hands,
several times into mould of incandcsccnt metal fright
full to look at He has repeated the experiment with
silver, bronze, and lead and the result has been
pletely identical the same sensation ard no burning
except in instance which he mcantions aftcrwar,s
He adds that by wetng the finger with ether before
plungng it into melted lead feeling OF chilliness
perenced BY wetting the finger with water it may be
plunged with mpuny into tallow heated three hundred
degrees of centigradc. Reaumurs thermometer takes
melting ice for its Zero starting point and is gradua
ted into eighty degrees between that and boiling water
The cengrade thermometer more conveniently divides
the same interval into hundred degrees. The tallow,
therefore, into which il pleased M. Bougny to thrust
his finger merrily as little Jack Horner put in his
thumb and pulled out plum exactly three times
hot boiling water In like manner intrusive finger
or thumb may be plunged with equal safety into boiling
water, after having been wetted with ether
M Boutigny's bold experiment had been forestaed by
III Alphonse Michel, who passed his finger without any
previous precaution, through jet of glowing melted
metal flowed from the furnace After the Meisseus
Boutigny and Michael the fact has been repeated and
verified by the usrious natural philosopher Des-
pretz by Nj. Desouit, whose recklcssncss alarmed M
Boutigny himself by M A. Percy professor of natural
philosophy at Lyons by NJ lie Doctem Legal of Dieppe
and by NJ Come professor at Laval who relates that his
friend Covet the first to begin handling the dan
gerous payhngs that they passed their fingers through
jets Of cast ron and that they plunged their hands into
moulds and crucbles full Of melted iron that had just
been tapped and whose raiated heat scarcely sup
portable at considerable distance. They varied their
experiments for more than couple of hours Madame
Covlet who present, allowed her little daughter
child eight years DID, put her hand into cru
chile full Of glowing melted iron which done with
impunty- When their hands immersed in the
melted metal, after making Of suphurous acid the
previous mostening liquid every Of this venture
some party experienced sensation of cold.
The origin Of NJ Boutgnys apparently reckless cx-
posture of his person to the danger Of burning and
consumption by fire. and the first hint Of the principles
which he explains its possibility, complete an
accident Newtons discovery OF gavitaon from the
fall of apple. One evening, Monsieur B. expert
mentazng the relative densties Of various starches
He pot ether into glass vessel called eprouvete
he then added the starch closed the mouth of the tube
with the tip of his forngcr and shook it violently He
next placed the eprouvette it's stand and noted the time
tho starch took to precpitate That which precpi
tated the quickest either the most bulky equal dens
ty the dcnset of equal bulk and this result suced
for the special object which he wanted to attain
AS the ether which he employed for each experiment
very small in quantity he threw it into fire.
place, in which some brands Of wood that still
tanned their heat Every time that the ether fell upon
brand beautiful blue light srcaned from it which had
nothing in common with the ordinary fame of ether.
The phenomenon strongly excited his curiosity and in
duced him to repeat the experiment by daylight and
crucibles. Consequently, he slightly heated patina
crucble spirit lamp and poured into it few drops
of ether. They assumed spherical FORM and without
moisenng the crucibc that held them. The crucible,
removed to dark place. found to be full of beauti
full blue vapors The expcrimentor discovered by
of slip Of blue test paper, tpapcr dc touneso that
the internal temperature OF the crucibc very high
whilst that Of the little sphcroid within was very low
In fact the slip of paper turned brown in the crcibc
whilst its extremity plunged in the ether sphcroid
manned perfectly intact.
Such tho hazard lucky accident which led to the