His
pulse on entering was 76 and on coming out 130. He often
duplicated this feat before vast assemblages, though hardly ever
attaining the same degree of temperature, the thermometer
generally varying from 250 degrees F. upward. Chamouni was the
celebrated "Russian Salamander," assuming the title of "The
Incombustible." His great feat was to enter an oven with a raw
leg of mutton, not retiring until the meat was well baked. This
person eventually lost his life in the performance of this feat;
his ashes were conveyed to his native town, where a monument was
erected over them. Since the time of these two contemporaneous
salamanders there have been many others, but probably none have
attained the same notoriety.
In this connection Tillet speaks of some servant girls to a baker
who for fifteen minutes supported a temperature of 270 degrees
F.; for ten minutes, 279 degrees F.; and for several minutes, 364
degrees F., thus surpassing Martinez. In the Glasgow Medical
Journal, 1859, there is an account of a baker's daughter who
remained twelve minutes in an oven at 274 degrees F. Chantrey,
the sculptor, and his workman are said to have entered with
impunity a furnace of over 320 degrees F.
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