Arizona state miner., 1922-06-03
TOO HOT TO BURN
TOO COLD TO KILL
Ignorance About Extremes of
Heat and Cold.
BY H. B. WATSON

The world knows little about heat and
cold. There is temperature of heat
so intensely hot that it is hotter than
boiling water and yet will not destroy
animal life. Then there is cold so
intense that il will CONCEAL water and
all moisture into solid ice, yet life, tho
dormant and suppressed, is not des-
troyed
These principles of heat and cold were
better understood by the ancients than
even the most advanced scientists of
> lr modern age.
A repetition of the biblical story of
Daniel in the lions den and deliverance
from the fiery furnace is given by a
Hindu writer and devotee who is repeat
ing the performance IN European cities.
Now comes the Detroit News and re-
prints the following on the same topic
under the heading:
COOKED IN A FURNACE AND STILL ALIVE
''For wager Of 5000 man named
Martinez suffered himself to be practi-
cally baked alive some years ago in
Paris in the presence of number of
scientists He entered a huge oven,
specially built, after it had been heated
to d temperature of 3l2 degrees Fahren-
heit, or about 100 degrees hotter than
boiling water
Then the door was closed, and he was
left alone for an hour, in company with
an uncOoked chicken and an unbaked
loaf of bread. Candles were also pro-
vided thtt he might have light during
his Incarceration or incineratIon, as
many people believed it would turn out
When he was released, however. he
was found alive and well, with the
chicken and loaf cooked to turn. The
candles had become boiling talIow.
Martinez afterward repeated the per-
formance in Brussels, Milan, and other
cities, but there must have been some
thing abnormal in his constitution,
since of several wouldbe emulators of
his feat none succeeded in stay ing out
the full hour, While two, at least, per-
ished miserably."
The explanation of Martinez success
in emulating Daniels feat is now due
III part to the extreme care he took in
having every particle of moisture ex-
tracted from the furnace or oven be-
fore he entered it, it being an acknowl-
edged fact that hot, dry air does not so
adversely affect a human being as
moist. hot air. This principle is further
explained by the fact that on the desert
even under temperature of l20 to 140
degrees Fahrenheit there is seldom a
case of sunstroke, while in the East at
Chicago near the Great Lakes and even
in the cities of Buffalo, New York, St.
Louis, and Cincinnati after a temper
ature of few degrees above blood
heat, sunstrokes are of frequent occur
renee.
Travellers from the tropical islands of
the Pacific frequently relate instances
of a religious rite still practiced by
natives of BONN ard Caroline Islands,
wherein pits are excavated and filled
with stones which are heated by burn
ing logs and fuel for three days and
become so hot that the heat repels all
moisture, much like drop of water is
repelled from the surface of hot fiat
iron. When the proper heat is attained
these natives divest themselves of all
clothing and walk barefooted over and
reeross the pit on the red-hot stones.
Camera reproductions of these strange
feats illustrates that there is no hoax
about the actual contact between the
bottoms of the feet of the natives and
that they actually walk upon the heated
stones without injury to their feet or
themselves. Three times each group of
devotees walk over the hot stones in
side of the pit, chanting a weird,
monotOnous melody, and conclude the
performance with throwing leaves and
grass into the fiery pit which immedi-
ately blazes up and is consumed.