52 Memoir on the Incombustible Man $ 



preserved the same insensibility to the action of red-hot iron, 

 but had even become stronger than at first. I again rubbed 

 the same part with soap without wiping it with the cloth, 

 and passed over it the iron very red-hot, without feeling any 

 painful sensation, or even having the hair burned. Re- 

 membering the crust which I observed on Lionetto's tongue* 

 I determined to rub mine with the same soap ; in conse- 

 quence of which 1 it became equally insensible to the action 

 of fire. I began with pieces of iron slightly heated, raising 

 them gradually till they were perfectly red-hot. I made a 

 soft paste of soap triturated in a mortar, and water saturated 

 with acidulous sulphat of alumine and potash (alum), agi- 

 tated or boiled as above; and spreading this composition 

 on my tongue, the experiment succeeded completely. Still 

 more simple I found the process of first bathing the tongue 

 with sulphurous acid, and afterwards rubbing it often with 

 a piece of soap. The experiment succeeded still better if 

 after bathing the tongue with this acid, I covered it with a 

 thin stratum of sugar reduced to impalpable powder, and 

 rubbed it afterwards with the soap in the same manner. The 

 sugar in this case, like a mordant, made a greater quantity 

 of soap attach to the tongue, and adhere more solidly. 



By this mode of operating, the solution of alum, or of di- 

 lute sulphurous acid, may be adopted at pleasure to benumb 

 the nerves of the tongue, and the soap is a most efficacious 

 means of obstructing {rifrangere) the action of caloric, the 

 propagation of which it almost perfectly impedes. Of all 

 the known substances, indeed, soap is that which of all 

 others best merits the name of restrainer of caloric, as I shall 

 show on another occasion. 



From these experiments I proceeded to that with the boil- 

 ing oil, putting at first a very small drop considerably heated 

 • on the tongue, and afterwards increasing the dose and the 

 temperature. The effect corresponded precisely to my expec- 

 tation : the oil put on the tongue thus prepared made a 

 hissing noise, similar to that made by red-hot iron when 

 brought in contact with a humid body; after the hissing the 

 oil ceased to be hot, and was easily swallowed, perhaps in a 

 atate scarcely tepid. Thus furnished with facts, I now be- 

 lieved 



