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VIII. Some facts relative to the Spheroidal State of Bodies^ 

 Fire-OrdeaU Incombustible Man, Sj-c. By P. H. Boutigny 

 (d'Evreux)*. 



IN the year 241, Sapor or Chapour ordered the Magi to do 

 all in their power to persuade them and bring them back 

 to the faith of" their ancestors. It was then that one of the 

 pontiffs of the dominant religion, Adurabad-Mabrasphand, 

 offered to submit to the fiery ordeal . . . . " He proposed 

 that eighteen pounds of melted copper, issuing from the fur- 

 nace, all hot, should be poured on his naked body, on con- 

 dition that, if he was not injured by it, the unbelievers should 

 yield to so great a miracle. The trial was said to be attended 

 with such success, that they were all converted." The his- 

 torian adds, with an air of doubt, certainly allowable in such 

 a matter, " We see that the religion of Zoroastre had also its 

 miracles and its legends f." 



Now this fiery ordeal, undergone with such success by 

 Adurabad-Mabrasphand, is in plain truth an experiment of 

 primitive facility and simplicity, and which is anything but 

 miraculous. 



I stop here an instant, for I fancy that I see the smile of 

 incredulity rise on the lips of some who do me the honour of 

 listening to me ; — that smile, so discouraging to one who is in- 

 sincere, but which only heightens the ardour of him who in- 

 tends to practise no deception, and who does all in his power 

 not to deceive himself. 



To such persons then I would offer this encouragement; 

 the little that I have still to relate appears improbable, but 

 it is true, and that is enough. Having said this, I continue. 



In France, in England, in Italy, wherever I have had 

 occasion to speak of bodies in the spheroidal state, I have 

 met with persons who have put to me this question : May 

 there not be some connection between these phasnomena and 

 that presented by men who run barefooted over liquid metal (?) 

 still incandescent, or who plunge their hand into molten lead, 

 &c. J? To all I have answered, Yes, I believe that there is 

 an intimate relation between all these facts and the spheroidal 

 state. And then, in my turn, I put this question : Have you 

 witnessed the fact which you tell me? And the answer has 

 invariably been in the negative. 



I avow that all these on-dits and the marvellous legends 



* From the Comptes Rendus for May 14, 1849. 

 f Dictionnaire historique, critique et bibliographique, t. xxvii. p. 417- 

 I I have alluded to these facts in the work entitled, Nouvelle branche 

 de Fhysiqxic^ or E'tudes sur les Corps a VEtat spheroidal, p. 36. 



