84 NOTES AND COMMENTS [august 



The Ordeal by Fire. 



A year or two ago, Drs. Hocken and Colquhomi of Dunedin witnessed 

 the fire-walking ceremony in Fiji, and their scientific zeal led them to 

 lick the soles of the feet of the natives who were about to walk over 

 the red-hot stones to ascertain whether any substance had been applied 

 to them. Colonel Gudgeon, British resident at Rarotonga, has now 

 gone one better and walked over the stones himself, and appears to 

 have enjoyed it. 



In the March number of the Journal of the Polynesian Society, 

 published in Wellington, IST.Z., he says that the tohunga, or priest, first 

 took across Mr. Goodwin, at whose place the ceremony was performed. 

 He then said to Mr. Goodwin, " I hand my mana (power) over to you ; 

 lead your friends across." Mr. Goodwin then led Colonel Gudgeon 

 and two other Europeans across. Colonel Gudgeon got across 

 unscathed, and only one of the party was badly burned. They all 

 walked with bare feet, and after they had done so, about two hundred 

 Maoris followed. Colonel Gudgeon did not walk quickly across the 

 oven — which was about 12 feet in diameter — but with deliberation, 

 for he feared that he might tread on a sharp point of the stones and 

 fall, as his feet were very tender. His impression as he crossed the 

 oven was that the skin would all peel off his feet, but all he felt when 

 the task was accomplished was a tingling sensation, not unlike slight 

 electric shocks, on the soles of his feet, and this continued for seven 

 hours or more. Many of the Maoris thought that they were burned, 

 but they were not, at anyrate not severely. Although the stones were 

 hot enough an hour afterwards to burn up green branches, the skin of 

 Colonel Gudgeon's feet was not even hardened by the fire. 



We should like to know the experience of Dr. Craig, who was 

 badly burned. Was he one of the percentage who are said to be 

 non-susceptible to suggestion ? Or is the solution elsewhere ? 



American Species of Peripatus. 



The suggestive value of the systematic study of the species of Peripatus 

 is well known. The isolated position of the type, its archaic and syn- 

 thetic characters, its wide distribution, its great diversity of structure 

 within narrow limits, the differences in the modes of development in 

 the several species, and other considerations, lend special interest to the 

 detailed working out of the taxonomy. The student of species is here 

 almost forced to face the problem of origins. 



In a recent communication on the American species (Comptes 

 Eendus Acad. Sci. Paris, cxxviii. 1899, pp. 1344-1346) Mr. E. L. 

 Bouvier notices some results of general interest. He mentions the 



