PHYSICAL PARADOXES. 



the sensitive nerves beneath. If, then, the 

 hand be removed before the heat has 

 had time to get through the layer of steam-gas 

 and the outer layer of the skin, no unpleasant 

 results will follow. 



Observe that for this experiment the .hands 

 must be moist. They must therefore be care- 

 fully cleansed from all greasy matter, so that 

 water afterwards may wet them well and adhere 

 to them all over. 



It is, perhaps, not necessary to add a further 

 caution against keeping the hand in the molten 

 lead too long. It will require, after all, a very 

 short time for the heat to get through the 

 vapour protection and produce destructive 

 effects. 



3. Walking over Red-hot Stones. 



Plate VI. illustrates a ceremony which has 

 its analogues in various parts of the world, 

 but has been especially developed in the islands 

 of the South Pacific. A personage with a semi- 

 sacred reputation, half medicine man, half 

 priest, seeks to maintain or add to his renown 

 as a possessor of supernatural powers by show- 

 ing what he can do. 



A shallow pit is dug, stones and wood are 

 collected, and the wood is kindled some hours 

 before the performance (see Plate V.) Some 

 of the stones become red-hot. They are poked 



156 



