THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.--A ``WONDERFUL
PHENOMENON.''--``THE INCOMBUSTIBLE
SPANIARD, SENOR LIONETTO,'' 1803.
--JOSEPHINE GIRARDELLI, 1814.--JOHN
BROOKS, 1817.--W.C.HOUGHTON, 1832.
--J.A.B.CHYLINSKI, 1841.--CHAMOUNI, THE RUSSIAN SALAMANDER, 1869.-- PROFESSORREL MAEUB, 1876.--RIVALLI (died 1900).
In the nineteenth century by far the most distinguished heat-resister was Chabert, who deserves and shall have a chapter to himself.He commenced exhibiting about 1818, but even earlier in the century certain obscurer performers had anticipated some of his best effects.Among my clippings, for instance, Ifind the following.I regret that I cannot give the date, but it is evident from the long form of the letters that it was quite early.This is the first mention I have found of the hot-oven effect afterwards made famous by Chabert.
WONDERFUL PHENOMENON
A correspondent in France writes as follows: ``Paris has, for some days, rung with relations of the wonderful exploits of a Spaniard in that city, who is endowed with qualities by which he resists the action of very high degrees of heat, as well as the influence of strong chemical reagents.Many histories of the trials to which he has been submitted before a Commission of the Institute and Medical School, have appeared in the public papers;but the public waits with impatience for the report to be made in the name of the Commission by Professor Pinel.
The subject of these trials is a young man, a native of Toledo, in Spain, 23years of age, and free of any apparent peculiarities which can announce anything remarkable in the organization of his skin; after examination, one would be rather disposed to conclude a peculiar softness than that any hardness or thickness of the cuticle existed, either naturally or from mechanical causes.Nor was there any circumstance to indicate that the person had been previously rubbed with any matter capable of resisting the operation of the agents with which he was brought in contact.
This man bathed for the space of five minutes, and without any injury to his sensibility or the surface of the skin, his legs in oil, heated at 97 degrees of Reaumur (250degrees of Fahrenheit) and with the same oil, at the same degree of heat, he washed his face and superior extremities.He held, for the same space of time, and with as little inconvenience, his legs in a solution of muriate of soda, heated to 102 of the same scale, (261 1/2 degrees Fahr.) He stood on and rubbed the soles of his feet with a bar of hot iron heated to a white heat; in this state he held the iron in his hands and rubbed the surface of his tongue.
He gargled his mouth with concentrated sulphuric and nitric acids, without the smallest injury or discoloration; the nitric acid changed the cuticle to a yellow color; with the acids in this state he rubbed his hands and arms.All these experiments were continued long enough to prove their inefficiency to produce any impression.It is said, on unquestionable authority, that he remained a considerable time in an oven heated to 65 degrees or 70degrees, (178-189 degrees Fahr.) and from which he was with difficulty induced to retire, so comfortable did he feel at that high temperature.
It may be proper to remark, that this man seems totally uninfluenced by any motive to mislead, and, it is said, he has refused flattering offers from some religious sectaries of turning to emolument his singular qualities; yet on the whole it seems to be the opinion of most philosophical men, that this person must possess some matter which counteracts the operation of these agents.To suppose that nature has organized him differently, would be unphilosophic: by habit he might have blunted his sensibilities against those impressions that create pain under ordinary circumstances; but how to explain the power by which he resists the action of those agents which are known to have the strongest affinity for animal matter, is a circumstance difficult to comprehend.It has not failed, however, to excite the wonder of the ignorant and the inquiry of the learned at Paris.''
This ``Wonderful Phenomenon'' may have been ``the incombustible Spaniard, Senor Lionetto,'' whom the London Mirror mentions as performing in Paris in 1803 ``where he attracted the particular attention of Dr.
Sementeni, Professor of Chemistry, and other scientific gentlemen of that city.It appears that a considerable vapor and smell rose from parts of his body when the fire and heated substances were applied, and in this he seems to differ from the person now in this country.''
The person here referred to was M.Chabert.
Dr.Sementeni became so interested in the subject that he made a series of experiments upon himself, and these were finally crowned with success.His experiments will receive further attention in the chapter ``The Arcana of the Fire-Eaters.''
A veritable sensation was created in England in the year 1814 by Senora Josephine Girardelli, who was heralded as having ``just arrived from the Continent, where she had the honor of appearing before most of the crowned heads of Europe.'' She was first spoken of as German, but afterwards proved to be of Italian birth.
Entering a field of endeavor which had heretofore been exclusively occupied by the sterner sex, this lady displayed a taste for hot meals that would seem to recommend her as a matrimonial venture.Like all the earlier exploiters of the devouring element, she was proclaimed as ``The Great Phenomena of Nature''--why the plural form was used does not appear--and, doubtless, her feminine instincts led her to impart a daintiness to her performance which must have appealed to the better class of audience in that day.
The portrait that adorned her first English handbill, which I produce from the Picture Magazine, was engraved by Page and published by Smeeton, St.Martins Lane, London.
It is said to be a faithful representation of her stage costume and setting.
