or the pretended Vhcenomenon of Incombustibility , 55 



It will not now be improper to show practically what 

 method should be adopted by any person wishing to become 

 in this sense incombustible. First of all, it is necessary to 

 be convinced from the beginning, that by frequent frictions 

 and practice on the skin, any one may become as able as 

 Serior Lionetto is at present to bear the action of fire, and 

 as he was the first time he attempted similar experiments. 

 In the second place it is necessary, that whoever undertakes 

 to practise such operations on his skin, should be informed 

 that he will not attain a certain perfection without at the 

 same time changing his nature, by becoming hardier and 

 consequently less sensible. 



1 would here premise, that. whoever desires to make simi- 

 lar experiments, should commence by rubbing themselves 

 with dilute sulphurous acid, or with the saturated solution 

 of alum, agitated or boiled as above. The more numerous 

 the frictions the more insensible the skin will become, and 

 also the more proper to sustain the action of fire ; and, as I 

 have before observed, the alum made to boil or ferment into 

 a spongy form acquires a greater force, and is therefore 

 preferable to the simple solution of alum. With this usage 

 alone,- after rubbing very often the part over which it is de- 

 signed to pass the red-hot iron, it will become capable of 

 bearing its action. But to attain this object by these means 

 a certain space of time is necessary. If any one wishes to 

 become capable of sustaining the action of fire, he must rub - 

 very often with one or other of the above liquids, and also 

 with a piece of hard soap slightly moistened, on the same 

 part, in order that it may acquire a slight incrustation. The 

 kind of plaster, of which I have before spoken, formed by 

 the trituration of soap in a mortar with a solution of alum, 

 will be the most proper means of rendering the part anoint- 

 ed insensible to the action of fire : a plate of red-hot iron 

 may then be^passed over it without occasioning any disagree- 

 able sensation. This mode, although sufficient for the ob- 

 ject desired, is easier discovered by others than that of touch- 

 ing the part rubbed with soap. 



With regard to the tongue- in order that it may be capa- 

 ble of bearing the passage of a perfectly red-hot iron, it is 



D 4 sufficient 



