VOL. LXV.] PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS. 605 



body , and that the body in this situation, continues its own cold. The Abbe 

 Chappe d'Auteroche informs us, that the Russians use their baths heated to 

 60"* of Reaumur's thermometer, about 160 of Fahrenheit's, without taking 

 notice however of the heat of their bodies when bathing. With a view to add 

 further evidence to these extraordinary facts, and to ascertain the real effects of 

 such great degrees of heat on the human body. Dr. Fordyce tried the following 

 experiments. 



He procured a suite of rooms, of which the hottest was heated by flues in 

 the floor, and by pouring on it boiling water j and the 2d was heated by the 

 same flues, which passed through its floor to the 3d. The first room was nearly 

 circular, about 1 or 12 feet in diameter and height, and covered with a dome, 

 in the top of which was a small window. The 2d an»l 3d rooms were square, 

 and both furnished with a sky-light. There was no chimney in these rooms, 

 nor any vent for the air, excepting through crevices at the door. In the first 

 room were placed 3 thermometers ; one in the hottest part of it, another in the 

 coolest part, and a 3d on the table, to be used occasionally in the course of the 

 experiment: the frame of this last was made to turn back by a joint, so as to 

 leave the ball and about 2 inches of the stem quite bare, that it might be more 

 conveniently applied for ascertaining the heat of the body, and several other 

 purposes. 



Exper. 1. In the first room the highest thermometer stood at 120°, the 

 lowest at 110° ; in the 2d room the heat was from 90° to 85°; the 3d room felt 

 moderately warm, while the external air was below the freezing point. About 3 

 hours after breakfast. Dr. Fordyce having taken off all his clothes, except his 

 shirt, in the 3d room, and being furnished with wooden shoes, or rather sandals 

 tied on with list, entered into the 2d room, and staid 5 minutes in a heat of 90°, 

 when he began to sweat gently. He then entered the 1 st room, and stood in 

 the part heated to 1 10° ; in about -^ a minute his shirt became so wet that he was 

 obliged to throw it aside, and then the water poured down in streams over his 

 whole body. Having remained 10 minutes in this heat of 1 10°, he removed to 

 the part of the room heated to 1 20° ; and after staying there 20 minutes, he 

 found that the thermometer placed under his tongue, and held in his hand, 

 stood just at 100°, and that his urine was of the same temperature. His pulse 

 had gradually risen till it made 145 pulsations in a minute. The external circu- 

 lation was greatly increased ; the veins had become very large, and a universal 

 redness had diffused itself over the body, attended with a strong feeling of heat. 

 His respiration however was but little affected. Here Dr. Fordyce remarks, that 

 the moisture of his skin most probably proceeded chiefly from the condensation 

 of the vapour in the room on his body. He concluded this experiment in the 



» Voy. en Siberie, torn. i. p. 5). — Orig. 



