THE Emperial Magazine; OR, COMPENDIUM OF RELIGIOUS, MORAL, & PHILOSOPHICAL KNOWLEDGE. FEBRUARY.] "PERIODICAL LITERATURE IS THE GERM OF NATIONAL LEARNING." MEMOIR OF XAVIER CHABERT. Including Authentic Particulars relative to his Surprising EXPERIMENTS. (With a Portrait.) FEW persons in the present day have obtained a greater share of public notoriety than the extraordinary individual, whose likeness is prefixed to the present number of the Imperial Magazine. The philosophical nature of his experiments, joined to their astonishing character, has excited an intense interest, that must render the subsequent account acceptable to readers at large. Armed with strong and efficacious antidotes, and inured by progressive efforts to the action of intense heat, this celebrated operator defies the malignity of the most subtle and deadly poisons, and exposes himself fearlessly to the terrible element of fire. Whether any essential benefits to society may result from these bold essays, it might be somewhat premature at present to assert. They will probably serve, at least, to direct the attention of the faculty to the consideration of poisons, and may eventually lead to discoveries of the first importance in medical science. XAVIER CHABERT, better known by the appellation of the FIRE KING, is a native of Avignon, in the south of France. His family have served in arms under Napoleon; and the subject of the present memoir had the honour to hold a lieutenancy under that great captain of modern times. He accompanied the French army into Russia, and was there detained a prisoner. Whilst in that empire, he suffered from the ill-treatment of a native officer; when the Emperor Alexander strongly manifested his sense of public justice, by settling on him a pension, and by sentencing the offender to banishment in Siberia,-where, to the best of Monsieur Chabert's knowledge, he remains to the present day. During the revolution, Chabert's father concealed in his house five Catholic priests, and eventually succeeded in preserving them from the fury of democratic power. From one of these, Monsieur Chabert, the present experimentalist, received some information on the capabilities of the human body to sustain heat, which gave the first 134.-VOL. XII, 1830. impulse to his essays. The hints derived from the priest, however, only served as the foundation of a series of progressive efforts, that have at length enabled the exhibiter to bear an intensity of heat, rising, we are informed, from 600 to 800 degrees. His daring experiments with phosphorus, prussic acid, and other powerful poisons, are entirely his own. He began with determining the best antidote, and then proceeded with caution from a very small dose to a large one. His powers of bearing heat and of swallowing poisons, are it seems still in a state of progression; as he states that he can have no fear of rivalry, since the attempts of the present day may be far exceeded by something which he shall perform on the next. Monsieur C, has travelled in Africa, and in nearly all the countries of the European continent; and exhibited before the most illustrious personages of the different nations through which he has passed. He is now about 39 years of age, and twelve years have elapsed since his first arrival in England. Previous to his engagements at the Argyll Rooms, he gave specimens of his singular talents before every member of our Royal Family, with the exception of his present Majesty. In the neighbourhood of Waterloo Bridge, Monsieur Chabert's wife and family reside; and we believe it is his intention to continue in this country. He refuses to reveal the secret relative to the nature and management of his antidotes, for a less sum than £10,000. Whether it will answer the purpose of any one to give so high a premium for these philosophical arcana, is perhaps very questionable. The following particulars extracted from the "Times" of the 24th September, 1829, will enable the reader to judge of the daring nature of Monsieur Chabert's experiments. It will be recollected (says the Times) by many of our readers, that an advertisement appeared a few days ago in our journal, in which a Mr. J. Smith, after insinuating that M. Chabert, the Fire King, practised some juggle when he appeared to enter into an oven heated to 500 de H 115 Memoir of Monsieur Chabert. grees, and to swallow 20 grains of phos- | To those who are acquainted with the various shapes in which ambition clothes itself, it will not appear surprising, that the "Fire King's soul was all on fire" to answer the daring defiance which he had received from an adventurous calumniator; and in consequence he publicly accepted Mr. J. Smith's challenge for £50, requesting him to provide the poisons himself, and offering, with true chivalric courtesy, to allow him the same conveniences which he used himself whilst he remained in the oven. This unexpected retort appeared to make Mr. J. Smith feel that it was necessary for him to be more magnificent in his promises than he had hitherto shown himself; for in his rejoinder to Mr. Chabert, he informed him that he would meet him in the Argyll Rooms, at his ordinary hour of performance, and would then "enter the oven with him, and perform his other feats." Yesterday was mutually fixed upon as the day on which the two contracting parties to this extraordinary challenge were to try their merits by the ordeal of fire, and on which they were to submit their powers of resisting poison to the test of experiment. Accordingly, at two o'clock, the hour appointed for the combat, a number of gentlemen were attracted to the arena in which it was to take place; and as they entered, care was taken to inform them that the money had been regularly posted, and that Mr. Smith was ready. At a little before three o'clock the Fire King made his appearance near his oven, and as some impatience had been exhibited, owing to the non-arrival of Mr. J. Smith, he offered to amuse the company with a few trifling experiments, which he said any of them might perform with the greatest ease. He then made a shovel red hot and rubbed it over his tongue, a trick for which no credit, he said, was due, as the moisture of the tongue was sufficient to prevent any injury arising from it. He 'next rubbed it over his hair and face, de. claring that any body might perform the same feat by first washing themselves in a mixture of spirits of sulphur and of alum, which, by cauterizing the epidermis, hardened the skin to resist the fire. He then 116 put his hands into some melted lead, took a small portion of it out, placed it in his mouth, and gave it in a solid state to some of the company. This performance, according to his account, was also very easy; for he seized only a very small particle, which, by a tight compression between the finger and thumb, became cool before it reached the mouth. The challenger being on the ground, the time for trifling was now over, and M. Chabert forthwith prepared himself for mightier undertakings. A cruise of oil was brought forward and poured into a saucepan, which was previously turned upside-down, to show that there was no water in it. The alleged reason for this step was, that vulgar conjurors, who profess to drink boiling oil, place the oil in water, and drink it when the water boils, at which time the oil is not warmer than an ordinary cup of tea. He intended to drink the oil when any person might see it bubbling in the saucepan, and when the thermometer would prove that it was heated to 360 degrees. The saucepan was accordingly placed upon the fire, and as it was acquiring the requisite heat, the Fire King challenged any man living to drink a spoonful of the oil at the same temperature as that at which he was going to drink it. In a few minutes afterwards he sipped off a spoonful with the greatest apparent ease, although the spoon, from contact with the boiling fluid, had become too hot for ordinary fingers to handle. "And now, Monsieur Smith," said the Fire King, "now for your challenge. Have you prepared yourself with phosphorus, or will you take some of mine, which is laid on that table?" Mr. Smith, who is a thickset man of middle size, walked up to the table, and pulling a vial bottle out of his pocket, offered it to the poison-swallower. The Fire King.-I ask you, on you ho. nour as a gentleman, is this genuine unmixed poison? Mr. Smith. It is, upon my honour. The Fire King.-Is there any medical gentleman here, who will examine it? [Speaking to a gentleman near him.] Will you try it for me, sir? The gentleman declined: he believed that the Fire King was a better judge of phosphorus than he was. A person in the room requested that Dr. Gordon Smith, one of the medical professors in the London University, would examine the vial, and decide whether it contained genuine phosphorus. The learned professor went to the table, 117 Memoir of Monsieur Chabert. on which a formidable collection of poisons | -such as red and white arsenic, hydro-cyanic acid, morphine, and phosphorus was placed, and examining the vial, declared, that to the best of his judgment it was genuine phosphorus. This did not content several gentlemen in the room; they desired to see whether it would ignite by friction. The experiment was made, and a small piece soon set the paper in which it was wrapped into a blaze. The same experiment had been tried on the Fire King's own phosphorus; and if we may judge from the volume of flame which it sent forth, his phosphorus was stronger than that provided by Mr. Smith. The reality of the poison being thus ascertained, M. Chabert asked Mr. Smith with great politeness how many grains he wished to commence his first draught with. Mr. Smith.-Twenty grains will do as a A The poisons were now prepared. wine glass contained the portion set aside for the Fire King-a tumbler the portion reserved for Mr. Smith. It would be difficult to say whether the challenger or the challenged at this moment showed the greater composure. This may be safely said they were at this moment the two least agitated persons in the room. The Fire King.-—I suppose, gentlemen, I must begin. Well, then, to convince you that I do not juggle, I will first of all take off my coat, and then, as another precaution, I will trouble you, Doctor (speaking to Dr. Gordon Smith,) to tie my hands together behind me. Here a loud cry was set up that it was unnecessary to have the Fire King bandaged in this manner. The Fire King.-Oh! gentlemen, I beg your pardon, it is necessary; for I want to show you that I do not juggle. After he had been bandaged in this manner, he planted himself on one knee in the centre of the room, and requested some gentleman to place the phosphorus on his 118 tongue, and pour the water down his throat. This was accordingly done, and the water and phosphorus were swallowed together. He then opened his mouth, and requested the company to look whether any portion of the phosphorus remained in his mouth. Several gentlemen examined his mouth, and declared that there was no phosphorus perceptible either upon or under his tongue. He was then by his own desire unbandaged. The Fire King then turned to Mr. Smith, and offered him the other glass of phosphorus with a ceremonious politeness which was highly entertaining→ "And now, my good sir, I shall have great pleasure in seeing you take off your glass too." Mr. Smith started back in infinite alarm "Not for worlds, sir, not for worlds; I beg to decline it." The Fire King.-Eh! mon Dieu; you decline it! Oh! dear sir; no, no; you will drink von little glass to oblige the company. Mr. Smith.-The company must excuse me. I don't often drink in a morning, and least of all such an ardent spirit as phosphorus. The Fire King.-Then why for did you send me a challenge? You have pledged your honour to drink it if I did. I have done it; and if you are a gentleman, you must drink it too. Mr. Smith.-No, no; I must be excused I am quite satisfied without it. Here several voices exclaimed that the bet was lost. Some said that there must be a confederacy between the challenger and the challenged, and others asked whether any money had been deposited? The Fire King called a Mr. White forward, who deposed that he held the stakes, which had been regularly placed in his hands, by both parties, before 12 o'clock that morning. The Fire King here asked Mr. Smith if he intended to go into the oven with him? Mr. Smith replied that he could answer that question better after he saw the Fire King come out. The Fire King. But, my good sir, that makes no matter, for you have lost your bet already, if you do not swallow the phosphorus. Are you satisfied on that head? Mr. Smith, after a very slight hesitation, admitted that he was. The Fire King here turned round with great exultation to the company, and pulling a bottle out of his pocket, exclaimed with great good feeling, "I did never see 119 Memoir of Monsieur Chabert. this gentleman before this morning, and I did not know but that he might be bold enough to venture to take this quantity of poison. I was determined not to let him fose his life by his foolish wager, and therefore I did bring an antidote in my pocket, which would have prevented him from suffering any harm. Le voila! Ah, ah! My good sir, you pay your £50 to see me take the phosphorus. Now you shall take three or four grains yourself. I will give you von little wine glass out of this bottle, and you shall be as well in a few minutes as you are now. Do, sir, oblige me by taking a few grains. Mr. Smith begged to be excused. His object was answered in seeing 20 grains of genuine phosphorus actually swallowed. He had conceived it impossible, as three grains were quite sufficient to destroy life. The Fire King then addressed the gentleman who had meted out the phosphorus -"Perhaps you, sir, will have the good- | ness to swallow a little bit, to amuse me. I pledge you £1000, I pledge you my life, that if you take a little of this bottle, it will not do you any harm.” The gentleman turned pale with affright. "I must beg to decline your polite invitation," he stammered out at last, "for in case of accident I am afraid the pledge of your life would not keep my wife and family." The Fire King. Now, gentlemen, I will prove to you by another little experiment that I have no phosphorus in my mouth. Attendez un peu. Put me a small piece of phosphorus on a knife point, and bring me a candle. 120 before the Duke of Norfolk, he took a teaspoonful of prussic acid; but that experiment he says he will never repeat again; for it is a poison, which not only requires the antidote to be taken first, but is also so rapid in its operation, that it may destroy life before the antidote can produce its effect. He said that he should never forget the feelings which came over him as soon as he had swallowed it. Every vein in his head appeared to swell, and "each particular hair," he said, stood erect, “like quills upon the porcupine." Immediately after Mr. Smith had declined to take the phosphorus, several gentlemen surrounded him, desiring to know why he had inserted such advertisements as he had done in the public papers, if he had no intention to perform the feats to which he had dared the Fire-King. To this he replied, that his object had been to ascertain beyond all doubt, whether it was possible for any person to take such a mass of poison and live-that he should not have risked such a sum of money of his own on such a challenge as that which he had given-but that he was acting as the representative of a number of scientific gentlemen, who had subscribed such a sum, as would enable him, if his challenge were accepted, to insist upon furnishing the poison himself, and upon seeing every step taken by the Fire-King before and while he swallowed it. He stated that he was now perfectly convinced that the phosphorus was actually swallowed. He likewise protested that there had been no collusion between him and the Fire-King. This protestation was subsequently repeated by the Fire-King himself, who added, in confirmation of it, that he could have no interest in drawing a large concourse of people to his room. He was paid a certain sum per week by Mr. Welsh, and whether there was one person in the room, or whether there were 20,000, was to him, as far as his own emolument was concerned, perfectly They were given to him accordingly. immaterial. We think it only justice to He took a small piece of the burning torch M. Chabert to state, that if there should on his fork, put it into his mouth, and be any collusion in this challenge, he apswallowed it. "And now, gentlemen, I pears to be without any motive for being a have done with the poison for to-day." party to it. How far that may be the case Having said this, he withdrew into another with his employer, is a question on which room for the professed purpose of putting we give no opinion. M. Chabert stated, on his usual dress for entering the oven, that after the pledge which Mr. Smith had but in all probability for the real purpose given the public in his advertisement, he of getting the phosphorus, by some anti- fully expected to have been put to a fair dote, from his stomach. Zinc is the usual trial of his powers in the course of the day, antidote for phosphorus; but he says that and that he had in consequence made preit is not the antidote which he uses, and parations and alterations in his course of declines to mention what is. action, which one way or another would On one occasion, when he was exhibiting cost him upwards of 201. A candle was brought him, and he lighted it with the phosphorus. Part of the phosphorus fell upon the ground, and was extinguished after some trouble. The Fire King.-Ah, Mr. Smith, you are very good to me. You bring me the very good phosphorus. I am much obliged to you, sir. Now give me a torch, and a fork. 2 no incarnated spirit can lift up this veil. 122 In conclusion we have only to remark, | have to learn when launched into eternity: that Monsieur Chabert still continues to exhibit at the Argyll Rooms, and that he intends very shortly to submit to the public a series of experiments entirely novel, and still more surprising than any which have preceded them. REFLECTIONS ON TIME. TIME receives entity as a period in eternity; for it does not exist independent of eternity. It is that portion of eternity in which the beings or things to which it relates exist:-its commencement must, therefore, be dated from their commencement, and its end from their end. In fact, time, as it passes away, is known by the changes of things which note its progress, and mete out portions in it, rather than in itself: for what is time but day and night, summer and winter, year and year, as meted out by the motions of the spheres which compose a system? In the begining, when God created the heaven and the earth, the evening and the morning were the first day. We behold the stars decorating the heavens, high aloft, on every side, and although numbers are now beneath our feet, when the revolutions of our sphere present us with the reversed face of the blue concave, we behold them in all their lustrous grandeur-the innumerable hosts of heaven, speaking forth the praises of the Illustrious Self-existent. "The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth His handy work. Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night sheweth knowledge. There is no speech nor language where their voice is not heard. Their line is gone out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world," Psalm xix. If these stars, or suns as we may presume they are, were severally created at distinct periods in eternity, what a rush of immensity whelms itself upon us-these periods carry us up into eternity to such a dazzling height, that eternity itself seems unveiled before us. What, if each of these stars is a sun; what, if each is the centre of revolving worlds, and these, by their unceasing revolutions, note out time; what, if all these, as it seems highly probable, were created before our system was called into existence; what, I say, must be the age of time? For time must have been born with the creation of the first At what period in eternity time began, who can inform us? It began to man, with the solar system, nearly six thousand years ago for then this system was created, and then the revolutions of the spheres therein began their periodical notations. But time, I conceive, began in other parts of space, by the creation of, and revolutions included in, other systems, at a much earlier period; for when Jehovah laid the foundations of this earth, "the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy," Job xxxviii. 7. The music of other spheres existed and was in exercise ere our spheres commenced their mystic dance, and, faith-head like the pure wool: His throne was ful to Him who created them, they united metaphorically in the joy of a new creation. When the Creator revealed to His faithful servant, Moses, the modes of creation, and told him when and for what purpose He made the sun in the centre of our system, Gen. i. 16. because this sun was similar to the stars, He informed him that all these exalted luminaries were also created by Him; but when He created them, is no where revealed to us. The most sanguine conjectures respecting the periods in eternity, when the stars were created, cannot possibly avail; the fact eludes the grasp of the most exalted genius; and unless the Infinite discloses it to man, this will be one of the many things which the disembodied spirit will system, and must continue until the end of the last. What ideas are launched upon us by these views; and how awfully and sublimely does all this burst forth in the vision of Daniel, vii. "I beheld till the thrones were cast down, and the Ancient of Days did sit, whose garment was white as snow, and the hair of His like the fiery flame, and His wheels as |