384 Scientific Intelligence — Miscellaneous. 



Flaxman was the artist who was so liberally rewarded. Sir Joseph 

 Banks and Sir Joshua Ileynolds bore testimony to the excellent 

 execution of these copies, which were chased by a steel rifle, after 

 the bas-relief had been wholly or partially fired. — [Curiosities of 

 Glass-making, hy Apsley Pellatt, p. 21.)* 



MISCELLANEOUS. 



27. On the Tricks of Fire-eaters and Conjurors. — M. P. H. Bou- 

 tigny, whose beautiful experiments on the spheroidal condition of 

 water created so much interest at the meeting of the British As- 

 sociation at Cambridge, has lately been pressing his researches on 

 heat in a somewhat novel direction, lie has now proved that 

 metals in a melted state have, in a remarkable manner, the repul- 

 sive force of incandescent surfaces, and that the tricks of fire-eaters 

 and conjurors belong to a high class of physical facts. He says, 

 " I have made the following experiments : — I divided or cut with 

 my hand a jet of melted metal of five centimetres, which escaped 

 by the tap. I immediately plunged the other hand into a pot 

 filled with incandescent metal which was truly fearful to look at. I 

 involuntarily shuddered, but both hands came out of the ordeal vic- 

 torious. * * * * I shall of course be asked," he continues, 

 " What are the precautions necessary to prevent the disorganizing 

 action of the incandescent mass ? I answei- none. Have no fear — 

 make the experiment with confidence — pass the hand rapidly, but 

 not too rapidly, in the metal in full fusion. The experiment suc- 

 ceeds perfectly when the skin is moist, and the dread usually felt at 

 facing masses of fire supplies the necessary moisture ; but by taking 

 some precaution, we may become truly invulnerable. The follow- 

 ing succeeds best with me : I rub my hands with soap, so as to give 

 them a polished surface ; then, at the instant of trying the experi- 

 ment, I dip my hand into a cold solution of sub-ammoniac saturated 

 with sulphurous acid." The experiment has been tried by Boutigny 

 with melted lead, bronze, and cast-ii'on. — (AtheneEum, No. 1138, 

 p. 842.) 



* One of these beautiful copies is preserved in tlie Natural History Museum 

 of tlio University of Edinburgh. 



