MONTHLY 
No. 105. | 
SEPTEMBER 1, 1803. 
THE 
MAGAZINE. 
| (2, of Vor. 16 
——~» 
—s 
° 
ORIGINAL COMMUNICATIONS, 
To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. 
SIR, 
bE etc has for fome days rung with 
relations of the wonderful ex- 
ploits of a Spaniard in that city, who is 
endowed with qualities by which he refifts 
the aétion of very high degrees of heat, 
as well as the influence of the» ftrong 
chemical re-agents. Many hiftories of the 
trials to which he has been fubmitted be- 
fore a commiffion of the Inftitute and Me. 
dical School, have appeared in the public 
papers; but the public wait with impa- 
tience for the report to be made in the 
name of the commiffion by ProfefforPineL. 
Until this report, which will contain a 
variety of details on the mode of conduc- 
ting the experiments, be made known, 
your Correfpondent fends fome of the 
more remarkable circumStances, of which 
he has been himfelf a witnefs. 
The fubjeét of thefe trials isa young 
man, anative of Toledo in Spain, 2.3 years 
of age, and free of any apparent pecu- 
liarities which can announce any thing 
remarkable in the organization of the fkin; 
after examination, one would be rather 
difpofed to conclude a peculiar foftnefs 
than that any hardnefs or thicknefs of the 
cuticle exifted, either naturally or from me- 
chanical caufes. Norwas there any circum. 
ftance to indicate that the perfon had been 
previoufly rubbed with any matter capable 
of refitting the operation of the agents with 
which he was brought in contaét. 
» This man bathed for the {pace of fix 
minutes, and without any injury either to 
his fenfibility or the furtace of the {kin, 
his legs in oil, heated at 97° of Reau- 
mur, (2504 degrees of Fahrenheit* ;) and 
with the fame oil, at the fame degree of 
heat, he wafhed his faceand fuperior extre- 
mities. He held for the fame {paceof time, and 
with as little inconvenience, his legs in a 
folution of muriate of foda, heated to roz of 
the (ame {cale,(2613 Fahr.) He flood on and 
_tubbed the foles of his feet with a bar of 
- avon heated to a white heat; in this (tate he 
* As the method of converting the degrees 
_©n Reaumur’s thermometer to thofe on Fah- 
Tenheit is not generally known, we infert the 
Tule: multiply the number on Reaumur 
by 2%, and add 32 to the produét. The 
~ heat of boiling water is 212° of Fahrenheit. 
Editor. 
-, Monruty Mac. Ne. 205, 
held the iron in his hands and rubbed the 
furface of his tongue. 
He gargled his mouth with concentrated 
fulphuric and nitric acids, without the 
finalleft injury or difcoloration; the nitrous 
acid changed the cuticle to a yellow co- 
lour ; with the acids in this ftate he rubbed 
his hands and arms. Ali thefe experiments 
were continued long enough to prove their, 
ineficiency to produce any impreflion. 
It is faid on unquettionable authority, that 
he remained a confiderable time in an oven 
heated to 65 or 70°, (178 —189 Fahr.) and» 
from which he was with difficulty induced 
to retire, fo comfortable did he feel that 
high temperature. 
It may be proper to remark, that this 
man feems totally uninfluenced by any 
motive to miflead, and, it is faid, he has re= 
fufed flattering offers from fome religious 
feétaries of turning to emolument his fin- 
gular qualities ; yet on the whole it fkems 
to be the opinion of moft philofophical 
men,that this perfon muft poffefs fome mat. 
ter which counteracts the operation of 
thefe agents. Too fuppofe that nature has 
organized him differently,would be unphi, 
lofophic: by habit he might have blunted 
his fenfibility againft thofe impreffions 
that create pain under ordinary circum- 
ftances ; but how to explain the power by 
which he refifts the aétion of thofe agents 
which are known to have the ftrongeft af- 
finity for animal matter, is a circumitance 
difficult to comprehend. It has not failed 
however to-excite the wonder of the ig- 
norant, and the inquiry of the learned 
at Paris. 7... 
Paris, Aug. 1803. 
iiee, ode 
Ta the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. 
SIR, 
HE following account of an Irifh 
gt Rebellion, in 1641, bears all the 
features of the late infurreétion, and it 
may be curious to the intelligent reader 
to compare this account with the late 
tranfactions there. That the Irith, ge- 
nerally from principles of religious bigotry, 
and fometimes from political feelings, 
have too often experienced the rancour of 
national antipatny, the philofopher will 
lament, while the politician may perhaps 
yet devife means by which our fellow-{ub» 
ject may become our brothers. 
This 
