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Wonders of chemistry—Origin, progress, and objects of alchemy—Art of breathing fire—Employed by Barchochebas, Eunus, &c.—Modern method—Art of walking upon burning coals and red-hot iron, and of plunging the hands in melted lead and boiling water—Singular property of boiling tar—Workmen plunge their hands in melted copper—Trial of ordeal by fire—Aldini’s incombustible dresses—Examples of their wonderful power in resisting flame—Power of breathing and enduring air of high temperatures—Experiments made by Sir Joseph Banks, Sir Charles Blagden, and Mr. Chantrey
227
Spontaneous combustion—In the absorption of air by powdered charcoal—and of hydrogen by spongy platinum—Dobereiner’s lamp—Spontaneous combustion in the bowels of the earth—Burning cliffs—Burning soil—Combustion without flame—Spontaneous combustion of human beings—Countess Zangari—Grace Pett—Natural fire-temples of the Guebres—Spontaneous fires in the Caspian Sea—Springs of inflammable gas near Glasgow—Natural light-house of Maracaybo—New elastic fluids in the cavities—of gems—Chemical operations going on in their cavities—Explosions produced in them by heat—Remarkable changes of colour from chemical causes—Effects of the nitrous oxide or Paradise gas when breathed—Remarkable cases described—Conclusion
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LETTERS
ON
NATURAL MAGIC;
ADDRESSED TO
SIR WALTER SCOTT, BART.