50 Memoir on the Incombustible Man ; 



cied that Senor Lionetto's skin had hecome so insensible, 

 from the effect of repeated frictions with some substances 

 fit to produce such a change, by stimulating excessively the 

 nerves and the vessels of the skin, and by recent usage, 

 that it was capable of impeding in a certain degree the free 

 passage of caloric. Besides the action of such substances, 

 J thought that the force of habit must, always have added to 

 such a disposition, and that even the frequent impression 

 of the fire should have contributed not a little to produce 

 such insensibility in his skin : the experiment of the pin 

 which he put through it, was to me no light argument of 

 its hebetude. 



These opinions, however, were merely the effect of a 

 system dictated by reason, and a knowledge of the. laws of 

 animal life : but had I not known the means used to render 

 the skin incombustible, nor had any other knowledge of 

 the subject, I should not have been able to give a plausible 

 explanation of the more surprising phsenomena; such as the 

 red-hot iron which he so often passed over his tongue with- 

 out suffering any painful impression; and much less with 

 such a system could I account for the boiling oil which he 

 swallowed : neither could I imagine how he had prepared 

 the internal surface of the oesophagus or of the stomach ; and 

 in what manner he could suffer the action of almost red-hot 

 iron, which he put between his teeth, on the enamel of 

 which it is not possible to preserve any mixture. 



Instead therefore of uselessly wasting time in simple 

 conjectures, I resolved to adopt the best experimental art 

 which I knew, trying on myself the action of all the means 

 proper to benumb the cutaneous nerves, and to clothe the 

 skin with a substance which was a nonconductor of caloric. 

 Few substances belonging to chemical compositions, or to 

 other natural bodies, appeared to me proper for the pur- 

 pose which I had in view. The sharp sensation which 

 was excited by the vapour disengaged by the contact of the 

 fire with the incombustible membrane, and the chemical 

 reason, induced me first to have recourse to acid substances, 

 and to some of the acidulous salts. It would be too tedious 

 to relate in detail all the various substances and experiments 



which 



