SIR c. BLAGDEN 's EXPERIMENTS, ETC. 311 



riments above described ventured to expose them- 

 selves to still higher temperatures. Sir Charles 

 Blagden went into a room where the heat was 1 

 or 2 above 260, and remained eight minutes in 

 this situation, frequently walking about to all the 

 different parts of the room, but standing still 

 most of the time in the coolest spot, where the 

 heat was above 240. The air, though very hot, 

 gave no pain, and Sir Charles and all the other 

 gentlemen were of opinion that they could sup- 

 port a much greater heat. During seven minutes 

 Sir C. Blagden' s breathing continued perfectly 

 good, but after that time he felt an oppression in 

 his lungs, with a sense of anxiety, which induced 

 him to leave the room. His pulse was then 144, 

 double its ordinary quickness. In order to prove 

 that there was no mistake respecting the degree 

 of heat indicated by the thermometer, and that 

 the air which they breathed was capable of pro- 

 ducing all the well-known effects of such a heat 

 on inanimate matter, they placed some eggs and 

 a beef-steak upon a tin frame near the thermo- 

 meter, but more distant from the furnace than 

 from the wall of the room. In the space of 

 twenty minutes the eggs were roasted quite hard, 

 and in forty-seven minutes the steak was not 

 only dressed, but almost dry. Another beef- 

 steak, similarly placed, was rather "overdone in 

 thirty-three minutes. In the evening, when the 

 heat was still more elevated, a third beef-steak 

 was laid in the same place, and as they had 

 noticed that the effect of the hot air was greatly 

 increased by putting it in motion, they blew upon 

 the steak with a pair of bellows, and thus hastened 

 the dressing of it to such a degree that the 



