The Vancouver independent. (Vancouver, W.T. [Wash.]) 1875-1910, 1877-01-20
sleighing over the mountainous ice.-
London Daily Nescs.



Burning Dssds.
SOME ACCOUNT OF FIRE KINGS AND FIRE
EATERS.
Late in the fifteenth century there
was an exhibitor, one Richardson, who
gained much notoriety by his defiance
of fire. This appears to be the man
mentioned by Madame de Sevign. He
waited upon her from Vitry, and drops'
ped into his mouth melted sealing-wax
''as if it had been so much cold water"
without the slightest semblance of pain;
nor did his tongue show the least sign
of burning or injury whatever. Rich
ardson probably exhibited his marvels
in various parts of Europe; for Evelyn
was present at one such display at Lady
Sutherland's. After dinner, the fire.
king devoured flaming birthstone by
way of dessert; chewed and swallowed
burning Goals; melted q beer-glass and
then ate it up, or drank it down; put
live coal on his tongue. placed an oys-
ter on the coal, blew this strange sub
stitute for fireplace with bellows, and
so continued until the oyster was roast
ed or scalloped; he melted pitch and
wax with sulphur and drank off the
mixture in a flaming state; and finally
held thick piece of red-hot iron be-
tween his teeth. A learned French
publication, the Journal DIES Savans,
gave detailed accounts of many of Rich
ardson's marvels; and in the same jour-
nal, M. Panthot afterward explained
how they were done, according to re-
Violations made to him by Richardson's
servant. The exhibitor rubbed with
some chemical substance the hands and
other parts of the skin to be exposed
to the fire; the powerful liquid harden
ed the scarf-skin4 INTO kind of leather,
and after many repetitions of the expert
ment, this hardening became permanent.
Some blacksmiths, it is known, can
handle a piece of iron nearly red-hot,
the skin of the hand having become in
durated by long practice at the hot
trade. In roasting bits of steak and
raw oysters on his tongue, Richardson
is said to have secretly placed thin
slice of veal between the tongue and the
burning coal; and that this and the
moisture of the mouth shielded him
from injury. AS to swallowing such
dainties as flaming sulphur and pitch,
he was wont to retire Immediately from
the audience, drink of warm water and
oil, and so obtain relief by an emetic.
Early in the last century fre-eater
named Heiterkeit exhibited in London;
but all we hear of him is that he had
the honor of appearing before three or
four members of the royal family.
About the middle of the century the great
hero in this line was Powell. who was
visited and described by Strut. AL
though eighty years of age this man
would take burning Goals from the fire
and eat them; place bundle of lighted
matches in his mouth and blow out the
sulphur-fumes through his nostrils;
carry a red-hot heater around the room
between his teeth; broil a piece of
beefsteak on red-hot charcoal placed on
the tongue; and drink with an iron
spoon delectable beverage consisting
of blazing hot pitch, wax, birthstone
and lead. There was little waggery
in some of the descriptions of Powell's
tendencies: Ellis common food is
birthstone and fire, which he ticks up
as eagerly as q hungry peasant would
a mess of pottage. He feeds on this ex-
traordinary diet before princes and
peers to their infinite satisfaction; and
such is his passion for this terrible ele-
ment, that if he were to come hungry
into your kitchen while sirloin was
roasting, he would eat up the fire and
leave the beef" We may fairly sur
mise that Powell adopted some such
precautionary measures as his predeces-
sor Richardson.
About the same time, the beginning
of the reign of George III, several
scientific men made some valuable ex-
periments to ascertain what degree of
heat the human frame could endure for
short time with impunity-apart from
any sophistication or secret preparation.
NM. Duhamel and Tissot recorded
their observations on young girl, who
entered an oven and remained there ten
minutes at temperature of 298 deg. F.,
and on another who braved a heat of 325
deg. Fahrenheit for five minutes. DR..
Solander, first clothed and then I'M
clothed, remained for some minutes
in an oven at 30 deg; Sir Joseph Banks
at little higher temperature, and DIR.
Blagden at $50 deg. Eggs were at the
same time roasted hard in few minutes,
and beefsteak baked flor it was really
baking) in about half an hour. The
experimenters could not touch any of
their metal buttons without burning
their fingers. All the temperatures
here named, except one, greatly exceed
that of boiling water.
Sixty or seventy years ago there was
a SiQnOra Girardelli who aStouiShed the