150 Intelligence atid Miscellaneous Articles. 



and brushwood, piled upon bars of iron. When these were set on 

 fire, the flames from the two rose in a body to the height of at least 

 9 feet, and filled the entire space between; while the heat was too 

 great to approach nearer than S or 10 paces. At this in.stant, six 

 firemen, accoutred with the dress of M. Aldini, and following each 

 other at a slow pace, traversed the flames between the hedges many 

 times in succession. One of them carried an osier basket covered 

 with wire-gauze, containing a child eight years old, protected only 

 with a mask of incombustible cloth. This experiment, which the 

 bystanders witnessed with apprehension, had a most satisfactory re- 

 sult; and .had the smoke been more dense, it would have been en- 

 tirely decisive. The firemen were unhurt: the one with the child 

 retreated from the fire in the space of a minute, on account of the 

 cries of the child, who was frightened at a sudden movement of the 

 man in shifting it on his shoulder. The child was also uninjured, 

 and when taken from the basket its pulse had risen only from 84° to 

 98°. The other firemen sustained the experiment 2 minutes and 

 22 seconds ; and on coming out, were in a profuse perspiration. 



The pulse of the fireman who carried > n „^o, ,,„o 

 .i* 1 1 1 > from 92° to 116 



the child rose j 



That of the second 88° to 152° 



That of the third 84° to 138° 



That of the fourth 78° to 124° 



The main question was, the possibility of supporting respiration 

 in the midst of the flames : and if by this we suppose the men to be 

 completely enveloped in them for 2 or 3 minutes, their situation cer- 

 tainly appears most perilous. M, Gay Lussac observes, that when a 

 furnace is heated so as to flame and smoke, the air within is entirely 

 deprived of oxygen ; and therefore it is certain, that if the imme- 

 diate action of the flames were guarded off by the wire-gauze, still 

 it would be impossible to sustain respiration in the midst of them. 

 We must therefore conclude that if the firemen did not experience 

 the difficulty of breathing which we should naturall)' expect, they 

 must have been supplied in some way with pure air. There are 

 several ways of accounting for this; and one, which M. Gay Lussac 

 suggests, appears the most probable: viz. that the men were supplied 

 by a current of fresh air from the space between the two garments. 

 Besides this, we cannot suppose that their heads were constantl}' en- 

 veloped in the flames, and they would of course find favourable 

 moments for breathing; but the power of suspending the breath is 

 also an excellent resource, which every fireman ought by practice to 

 acquire. The fireman has another difficulty to contend with, in the 

 dense volumes of smoke, which prevent his breathing, blind his sight, 

 and consequently retard his exertions. To obviate this, it has been 

 proposed to furnish a supply of air from a portable reservoir; or by 

 means of a flexible tube, rising from the feet to the mouth, through 

 which the fresh airwould naturally rise,as the heated air escaped above. 

 There is little doubt that amianthus may easily be manufactured : 

 M. Aldini has succeeded in weaving a stout cloth of it, 9 feet 

 5 inches long, and 5 feet 3 inches wide, being nearly equal to the 

 celebrated one preserved in the Vatican. But the cost of this ma- 

 terial 



