ALDINl's INCOMBUSTIBLE DRESSES. 305 



by art, and in order to ascertain the result of the 

 ordeal, his hands were covered up and sealed 

 during the three days which preceded and fol- 

 lowed the fiery application; and it has been 

 plausibly conjectured by Beckmann, that during 

 the first three days the preventive was applied to 

 those whom they wished to acquit, and that the 

 last three days were requisite to bring back the 

 hands to their natural condition. In these and 

 other cases, the accused could not have availed 

 himself directly of the use of asbestos gloves, 

 unless we could suppose them so made as to 

 imitate the human skin at a distance; but the 

 fibres of that mineral may have been imbedded 

 in a paste which applied itself readily to all the 

 elevations and depressions of the skin. 



In our own times the art of defending the 

 hands and face, and indeed the whole body, from 

 the action of heated iron and intense fire, has 

 been applied to the nobler purpose of saving 

 human life, and rescuing property from the 

 flames. The revival and the improvement of 

 this art we owe to the benevolence and the in- 

 genuity of the Chevalier Aldini of Milan, who 

 has travelled through all Europe to present this 

 valuable gift to his species. Sir H. Davy had 

 long ago shown that a safety lamp for illuminat- 

 ing mines, containing inflammable air, might be 

 constructed of wire-gauze alone, which prevented 

 the flame within, however large or intense, from 

 setting fire to the inflammable air without. This 

 valuable property, which has been long in prac- 

 tical use, he ascribed to the conducting and 

 radiating power of the wire-gauze, which carried 

 off the heat of the flame, and deprived it of its 

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