of) radiated heat. This very remarkable
property of such bodies; that is, that they
absolutely refuse to take in caloric from
without, unless communicated by actual
contact, confirms the bold hypothesis of the age;
namely, that which Herschel first put forth
respecting the temperature and physical
constitution of the sun, almost proving that
our great central globe of fire is habitable by
beings like ourselves.

All bodies are capable of assuming the
spheroidal state.

There is no contact between bodies in the
spheroidal state and the surface which throws
them into that condition. The light of a
candle and the electric spark are visible, of
course, in a darkened room, between the
spheroid and the heated metal plate. Azotic
acid in the spheroidal state, however
concentrated, does not attack the hot silver
surface on which it rests, although it would
immediately corrode a slip of cold silver
presented to it. The fact of non-contact can
be further illustrated by an experiment
which may almost be called astronomical.
A nearly plane-bottomed silver capsule is
heated, and on it is poured a quantity of
water, sufficiently considerable to form a very
flattened ellipsoid. An iron, or, better, a
solid silver cylinder of something less than
half an inch in diameter, is brought to a
white-heat and plunged into the middle of
the ellipsoid, which (contact being impossible)
forms around the cylinder a ring, which has
been compared, rightly or wrongly, to the
ring of Saturn. Maupertuis broached the
opinion that the ring of Saturn consisted of
congealed water, which was received in its
day as a great absurdity. With the silver
cylinder (to avoid the oxide which clings to
an iron surface) and with water deeply
coloured black or blue, the results of this
experiment became still more precise and
remarkable.

By another experiment, as simple as it
sounds strange, M. Boutigny resolves the
paradoxical problem: Given a vessel (a
small, very thick, hollow, hemispherical
bowl of silver), to fill it with water without
wetting it, and to make the water boil by
cooling the vessel which contains it!

The brilliant experiment of the combustion
of iron in oxygen gas is a common spectacle
at lectures on chemistry. In it, the globules
of melted oxide are observed to traverse the
water contained in the jar, and to become
incrusted in the very substance of the glass.
In explanation of this phenomenon, it is
generally stated that the temperature of the
globules is so exceedingly high, that, after
passing through the stratum of water, they
still retain sufficient heat to eat into the glass,
which they cause to suffer a partial fusion.
Now, it is quite true that the temperature of
these globules of oxide of iron is very high;
and it is so, because they pass through the
water without being wetted by, or coming in
contact with, it; and that is the reason why
they are able to penetrate the glass by melting
it. If the hot drops of oxide of iron were
made to pass through a deeper stratum of
water, they would become wetted during
their course, of which fact notice would be
given by a peculiar hissing sound, and they
would fall to the bottom of the jar like leaden
shot.

Those common learned toys, Prince Rupert's
drops, or the "larmes Bataviques," whose
sudden disruption on the pressure of their
tails is so curious and startling to young
beginners, are globules of melted glass thrown
into a vessel of cold water. These Batavian
tears remain incandescent, for a certain time,
without the water's giving any sign of ebullition,
at least at the commencement of the
experiment.

Blacksmiths are fond of making a display,
which consists in throwing a few drops of
water upon a mass of glowing metal, and then
striking it forcibly with their hammer at the
spot where those drops are lodged. The
consequence is a violent detonation. It is certain
that the blow establishes a contact between
the iron and the water. The detonation is
probably caused by the sudden transformation
of the spheroidal water into steam; and the
iron itself is polished clean, as if its oxide
were mechanically removed by the exploding
vapour.

There are feats performed even by villagers,
such as licking a red-hot poker with the
tongue, or taking the heated end in the hand
without being burnt, which are inexplicable,
unless recourse be had to the properties of
bodies in the spheroidal  state. But the theory
of such phenomena is very simple, and accords
with the laws which have been already
detailed. The moisture of the tongue or hand,
passing into the spheroidal state, prevents all
actual contact between the metal and the
flesh. That fact may be considered as positively
established. If there be no real contact,
a burn can only be made by radiated heat,
which must be confessed to have enormous
power in the cases of which we are speaking.
But if radiated heat is thrown off by reflection
from bodies in a spheroidal state (which it is),
the result is as if it did not exist at all, and
the operator escapes without injury. Perhaps
also the vital force may have some influence
in the  preservation of organic living tissues;
for, there exists between animated nature and
bodies in the spheroidal state this very
remarkable affinity, namely, the invariability of
their temperature, or their stable equilibrium
in respect to caloric. The list of similar
surprising phenomena is far from being
exhausted. It is impossible, in the limited
space allowed to this article, to do more than
indicate the innumerable and extraordinary
tricks which spheroidalised materials can
play. Moreover, these sort of experiments
are not always without danger. For instance,
if you were to plunge your finger into