The morning Astorian. [volume] (Astoria, Oregon) 1899-1930, 1905-03-22

NATIVES PLAclDLY WALK ABOUT ON
WHITE HOT STONES.

Feet and Come Out Of the Fiery Or
deal Apparently UainIsred.
There may be seen In the National
museum an ordinary. prosaic looking
stone which probably escapes the at
tention OF most OF the visitors and yet
which represents the question as TO
whether there may not exist In some
quarters Of the world something like
actual bona fide wItchcraft, says the
Washington Post.
Professor Langley himself brought
this stone with him after having wit
Messed the marvellous spectacle of ma.
tives Of the FIJI islands walking bare
foot over white hot stones and coming
out OF the ordeal unscathed. The pro
fessor In describing the incident said:
u saw tho spectacle Of fire walking
In Tahiti. The essential question as TO
the actual heat of the stones had not
then been satisfactorily answered, and
after the fourth passage secured
Papalta tthe principal performer)
permission 10 remove from the middle
OF the pile one stone which from It's
size and position every foot had rested
upon In crossing and which was un-
doubtedly at least as hot as any OF the
others troddcn on. II was pulled out
by my assistants with difficulty. had
brought over the largest wooden buck
OF which the ship had and which was
half filled with water The stone caused
the water to rise nearly TO the top Of
the bucket. and II was thrown into
such violent ebullltIon that great
deal Of II boiled over and escaped
weighing. The stone was an exceeding
ly bad conductor OF heat. for II contin.
ued to boil the water for about twelve
minutes. when, tho ebullltion being
nearly over. II was removed to the ship.
The stone was found to weigh six
ty.hye pounds. brought this piece Of
II to Washington with me and deter
mined Its specific gravity to be 2.39. It's
specific heat Old and It's conductlvlty
10 be 80 extremely small that one end
Of small fragment could be held In
the hand while the other was heated
indefinitely In the flame OF blowpipe.
This partly defeated the aim Of the ex.
pertinent Ito find the temperature OF
the upper part OF the stone). since only
the mean temperature was found This
mean temperature OF the hottest stone
OF the upper layer as deduced from
the data mentioned was about 1900 +.
The temperature at which such stones
begin TO show dull red by daylight 10
approximately 1900 TO 400 degrees F.
In other words. this performance Of
the Fijlans II every whit us wonderful
as II man put his naked feet upon
white hot Goals. let them remain there
for considerable period (for the fire
walkers promenade back and forth re.
peatedly upon the blazing stones) and
showed not trace OF the performance.
How account for this?
In fact, the theories put forth by eye
witnesses OF this modern miracle Ia
number OF them, like Professor Lang
ley, trained scientific observers) are al
most as varied as so many philosoph-
ical systems.
Some OF these observers have con-
tented themselves with the mere su-
perflclal remark that the stones were
not as hot as they appeared, but Pro
fessor Langley's experiment has thor
oughly demonstrated the fallacy Of
this hypothesis Other observers, again,
admit the presence of intense heat and
eudeavor TO call science to their aid in |
the construction Of theories TO account
for the phenomenon. Professor w, f.
Barrett remarks:
III white hot ball OF metal, prefer
ably ofcopper, be lowered into vessel
of water containing a little soap In so
luton, II will enter the water without |
any ebullitlon Of steam, and the ball |
will remain white hot In the midst of |
the water for considerable time. The
ball, In fact does not touch the water,
and the latter remains only slightly |
warmed until the temperature of the
ball falls below Il certain point, when |
II comes In contact with the water and
violent ebulltion ensues. The phenom.
enon is really attributable to a repul-
sive force. discovered by Sir William
Crookes, which occurs when hot body
is brought very near to a cold one"
1t has been argued, too, that a sim.
liar phenomenon occurs In cases when
the human hand is plunged into molten
metal and instantly withdrawn, quite
owing to the rapid evapora.
hon from the surface of the skin.
which creates momentary protection.
But II has been pointed out that such
experiments call for momentary ex.
posures to the heat, whereas the fire
walk lasts n very appreciable time.
II has been Furthermore urged that
chemical substances, such as the oil
rom the fat of the green frog or the
uice Of the aloe plant, are employed
~ the natives as a protection against
he heat, Those putting forth this ex-
'lanation, 1t may be remarked, have
lever been willing to testify to their
aith by a.practical experiment In their
'wn proper persons. As a matter OF
act, chemical authorities may be quot
d as saying that there is no known