TRIALS BY FIRE AND FIRE-JUGGLERS. 649 



alloys fusible at low temperatures, or even simply mercury, as is done 

 in some imitations of their tricks. 



A father in the Church, Saint Hippolytus, has revealed to us in a 

 book called " Philosophumena " other tricks which the pagan priests 

 employed. " This is the way," he says, " that the magician can put 

 his hand into a brass vessel full of pitch that appears to be boiling. 

 He puts into the dish vinegar and natron (carbonate of soda), and, on 

 top of this liquid, pitch. The mixture of vinegar and natron has the 

 property, on the application of the slightest heat, of agitating the pitch 

 and producing bubbles that rise to the surface and present the ap- 

 pearance of boiling. Previous to the operation, he washes his hands 

 several times with salt-water, which would keep them from getting 

 burned even if the pitch should be really hot. If he anoints his hands 

 with myrtle, natron, and myrrh mixed with vinegar, and washes them 

 as well with salt-water, he will not be burned. His feet will not be 

 burned if he anoints them with isinglass. 



" The magician breathes fire and smoke from his mouth ; then, 

 putting a piece of cloth on a dish full of water, he throws burning 

 coals upon it, and they leave the cloth intact. 



" He breathes smoke from his mouth for a short time, by putting 

 in it a coal of fire wrapped in tow, and keeping the coal alive with his 

 breath. The cloth in the dish is kept from being set on fire by the 

 coals that are thrown upon it, by the transfer of the heat to the salt- 

 water under it. The cloth should also be previously dipped in salt- 

 water and covered with a mixture of whites of eggs and liquid alum. 

 If to this liquid we add the liquor of eternal life,* the effect of the 

 composition is to render the cloth providing it has been prepared for 

 some time wholly incombustible." 



We may remark upon the similarity of the last recipe with that 

 which the latest experiments have suggested for the robes of ballet- 

 dancers in the opera. 



The feat of breathing fire played an important part in antiquity. 

 By its aid the Syrian Eunus was able to revive the insurrection of the 

 slaves in Sicily, and Barchochebas to assume the command of the Jews 

 who revolted against Hadrian. Both used it to make their followers 

 believe in the divine inspiration with which they pretended to be in- 

 vested, the former by the Syrian goddess, the latter by the God of 

 Israel. 



I give next one of the recipes of the jugglers who at present per- 

 form this miracle in the fairs. They take a handful of tow in each 

 hand ; the left hand holds also, concealed, a piece of burning tinder. 

 The performers begin by taking from the right hand with the teeth a 

 piece of tow which they pretend to chew, while they fill it with saliva 

 and dispose it in the mouth, by the aid of the tongue, so as to form a 



* Possibly ammoniacal carbonate of copper, the magnificent color of which is called 

 by chemists celestial blue. The ancients got ammonia by distilling blood with ashes. 



