WONDERS OF CHEMISTRY. 297 



LETTER XII. 



Wonders of chemistry Origin, progress, and objects of 

 alchemy Art of breathing fire Employed by Barcho- 

 chebas, Eunus, &c. Modern method Art of walking 

 upon burning coals and red-hot iron, and of plunging the 

 hands in melted lead and boiling water Singular pro- 

 perty of boiling tar Workmen plunge their hands in 

 melted copper Trial of ordeal by fire Aldini's incom- 

 bustible dresses Examples of their wonderful power in 

 resisting flame Power of breathing and enduring air of 

 high temperatures Experiments made by Sir Joseph 

 Banks, Sir Charles Blagden, and Mr. Chantrey. 



CHEMISTRY has from its infancy been pre-emi- 

 nently the science of wonders. In her laboratory 

 the alchemist and the magician have revelled un- 

 controlled, and from her treasures was forged the 

 sceptre which was so long and so fatally wielded 

 over human reason. The changes which take 

 place in the bodies immediately around us are too 

 few in number and too remote from observation to 

 excite much of our notice ; but when the sub- 

 stances procured directly from nature, or formed 

 casually by art, become objects of investigation, 

 they exhibit in their simple or combined actions 

 the most extraordinary effects. The phenomena 

 which they display, and the products which they 

 form, so little resemble those with which we are 

 familiar, that the most phlegmatic and the least 

 speculative observer must have anticipated from 

 them the creation of new and valuable com- 



