XIV CONTENTS. 



TAO 



for Charles V. Canms's automatic carriage made for 

 Louis XIV. Degeunes's mechanical peacock Vaucan- 

 son's duck which ate and digested its food Du Moulin's 

 automata Baron Kempeleu's automaton chess-player 

 Drawing and writing automata Maillardet's conjurer 

 Benefits derived from the passion for automata Examples 

 of wonderful machinery for useful purposes Duncan's 

 tambouring machinery Watt's statue-turning machinery 

 Babbage's calculating machinery . . . . ijl? 



LETTER XII. 



Wonders of chemistry Origin, progress, and objects of alchemy 

 Art of breathing fire Employed by Barchochebas, 

 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 property of boiling tar 

 Workmen plunge their hands in melted copper Trial of 

 ordeal by fire Aldiui's incombustible dresses Examples 

 of their wonderful power in resisting flame Power of 

 breathing and enduring air of high temperatures Experi- 

 ments made by Sir Joseph Bunks, Sir Charles Blagden, 

 and Mr. Chantry. . 346 



LETTER XIII. 



Spontaneous combustion In the absorption of air by powdered 

 charcoal, and of hydrogen by spongy platinum Dobe- 

 reiner's lamp Spontaneous combustion in the bowels of 

 the earth Burning cliffs Burning soil Combustion with- 

 out flame Spontaneous combustion of human beings 

 Countess Zangari Grace I'ett Natural fire temples of 

 the Guebres Spontaneous fires in the Caspian Sea 

 Springs of inflammable gas near Glasgow Natural light- 

 house of Maracaybo New elastic fluids in the cavities of 

 gems Chemical operation going on in their cavities 

 Explosions produced in them by heat Remarkable changes 

 of colour from chemical causes Effects of the nitrous 

 oxide or paradise gas when breathed Remarkable cases 

 described Conclusion ....... 360 



