SINGULAR EVENT. 17 
manifests how perfectly insensible the human frame 
may be to pains and afflictions in peculiar circumstan- 
ces; and that which would be torture if endured in 
general, may be experienced at other times without any 
sense of suffering. A travelling man one winter’s even- 
ing laid himself down upon the platform of a lime-kiln, 
placing his feet, probably numbed with cold, upon the 
heap of stones, newly put on to burn through the night. 
Sleep overcame him in this situation; the fire gradually 
rising and increasing until it ignited the stones upon 
which his feet were placed. Lulled by the warmth, the 
man slept on; the fire increased until it burned one 
foot (which probably was extended over a vent-hole) 
and part of the leg above the ankle entirely off; con- 
suming that part so effectually, that a cinder-like frag- 
ment was alone remaining ; and still the wretch slept 
on ! and in this state was found by the kiln-man in the 
morning. Insensible to any pain, and ignorant of his 
misfortune, he attempted to rise and pursue his journey, 
but missing his shoe, requested to have it found ; and 
when he was raised, putting his burnt limb to the 
ground to support his body, the extremity of his leg- 
bone, the tibia, crumbled into fragments, having been 
calcined into lime. Still he expressed no sense of pain, 
and probably experienced none, from the gradual ope- 
ration of the fire, and his own torpidity, during the 
hours his foot was consuming. This poor drover sur- 
vived his misfortunes in the hospital about a fortnight ; 
but the fire having extended to other parts of his body, 
recovery was hopeless. 
Residences upon limestone soils have generally been 
considered as less liable than other situations to infec- 
tious and epidemic disorders ; and such places being 
usually more elevated, they become better ventilated, 
and freed from stagnated and unwholesome airs, and by 
the absorbing principle of the soil are kept constantly 
dry. All this seems to favor the supposition that they 
are healthy ; but if exempted from ailments arising 
from mal-aria, inflammatory complaints do not seem ex- 
cluded from such situations. When the typhus fever 
prevailed in the country, we were by no means exempt- 
B 2 
