200 Transactions. — Miscellaneous. 



surface " and " under- surface," but used the words " walked - 

 upon surface," and mentioned no part of the stone as having 

 been specially heated in the oven. He merely referred to the 

 physical characters of the stone, and left any conclusions to 

 be drawn by others. 



Mr. Laing says that Professor Langley's argument "will 

 not explain the case in which men walk on burning embers, 

 and not on red-hot stoues," such as the performance 

 in Mauritius, where Hindu coolies walk on red-hot coals. 

 From a description of the "fire-walk " in Tahiti, where Pro- 

 fessor Langley made a careful examination of the main factor, 

 a heated stone, to argue that he did not show how in Mau- 

 ritius, 8,000 miles away, men can walk upon red-hot embers, 

 seems to me peculiar. Professor Langley reported on the 

 Tahiti " walk " on heated stones, which he had himself wit- 

 nessed ; not on the Mauritius " walk " on red-hot coals, which 

 he had never seen. Until one of the performances in Mau- 

 ritius, Japan, or elsewhere, has been witnessed and reported 

 upon in a strictly judicial manner by a scientist of authority, 

 one cannot accept the statement that the men walk upon red- 

 hot coals. The performance, as seen in Fiji, is so different 

 from the conception previously formed from newspaper ac- 

 counts, that it is more than likely that much exaggeration 

 will be found in the descriptions of the "walking" in other 

 parts of the world. 



The thanks of the scientific world are certainly due to 

 Professor Langley for calling attention to the peculiar cha- 

 racter of the Tahiti stone, and for estimating the mean heat 

 of a piece which he had seen walked upon ; but he did not 

 show in what way the poor conductivity might be utilised, 

 nor did he allude to the more important fact of slow radia- 

 tion. 



In conclusion, I repeat that the main factors in this 

 strange apparent immunity from burning at Mbenga (Bega) 

 are as follows :— 



(1.) The slow radiation of heat from these basaltic stones. 



(2.) The stones are gradually heated until split by the 

 expansion of the water therein, the fire is then put out, and 

 the stones are carefully arranged fractured surface upwards. 



(3.) Owing to poor conduction, the inside of the stone, or 

 fractured surface, is not nearly so hot as the spectators 

 imagine. 



(4.) The general heat of the lovo is so great that radiation 

 from each individual piece of stone is infinitesimal, and much 

 less than it is when the stone is removed from the oven to a 

 cooler surrounding atmosphere. 



(5.) The foot is only momentarily in contact with the 

 heated stone. 



I 



