178 Scientific Intelligence — MecJimrical Philosophy. 



feet, and all parts of the body — openings being left for the eyes, nos- 

 trils and mouth, but defended probably by metallic gauze. 



The municipal authorities of several of the Italian cities having ap- 

 proved of these useful contrivances, the council of Geneva applied to 

 Aldini for a complete assortment^ of his apparel ; he stopped at that 

 city on his way to Paris, and having given suitable instructions to the 

 firemen selected for the experiments, the following trials were made 

 in presence of the magistrate, professors, and a large concourse of 

 citizens, on the 20th of August last. 



1st. A fireman, having his hand covered with a double glove of 

 asbestus, and a piece of pasteboard of the same substance over the 

 palm, seized a red-hot piece of iron, carried it with a moderate step 

 one hundred and fifty feet, set fire with it to a heap of straw, and 

 brought it immediately back. His hand sustained no injury. 



2d. A fire of shavings was maintained on a vast chafing-dish, sup- 

 ported about breast high. A fireman, with his head covered with 

 the asbestus cap (covering also a mask on his face) and metallic cui- 

 rass, and a buckler in front, plunged his head into the midst of the 

 flames, holding his face next the grate, and repeated the operation 

 during more than a minute. The experiment was repeated more 

 than once, and those who submitted to it aJffirraed that they felt no 

 oppression or pain in the act of breathing, a thing well worthy of re- 

 mark. 



3d. Two ranges of faggots supported on bars of iron, and mingled 

 with straw, with a passage between them thirty feet long and six 

 wide, were set on fire. A fireman with the whole dress on, passed 

 backwards and forwards between this double column, the flames ris- 

 ing ten feet high and meeting over his head. He walked with a 

 measured step six or eight times, each passage occupying from fif- 

 teen to twenty seconds, being thus exposed to the constant action 

 of the flame from one and a half to two minutes or longer. 



The fireman then carried on his back a fire-proof basket, in which 

 was a child with its head covered with an asbestus cap and protected 

 by metallic ganze. These trials were made by four firemen, and in 

 neither case was there any difficulty in breathing. An abundant 

 perspiration ensued, but the skin was not injured. They received 

 the reiterated plaudits of the numerous spectators, from whom they 

 were sometimes entirely concealed by the double hedge of flame. 

 That a man can breathe in the midst of flame with this covering is 

 very remarkable. The triple metallic tissue must of course so re- 



