ted as demonstrated. As to the method by which
the results are attained, whether by a chemical preparation, or by the
influence of a certain mental condition, or by thickness of skin, or
whether all the witnesses fable with a singular unanimity (shared by
photographic cameras), I am unable even to guess. On May 21, in
Bulgaria, a scientific observer might come to a conclusion. At present I
think it possible that the Jewish 'Passing through the Fire' may have
been a harmless rite.

Conclusion as to Fire-walk

In all these cases, and others as to which I have first-hand evidence,
there are decided parallels to the Rite of the Hirpi, and to Biblical and
ecclesiastical miracles. The savage examples are _rites_, and appear
intended to secure good results in food supplies (Fiji), or general well-
being, perhaps by expiation for sins, as in the Attic Thargelia. The
Bulgarian rite also aims at propitiating general good luck.

Psychical Research

But how is the Fire-walk done? That remains a mystery, and perhaps no
philologist, folk-lorist, anthropologist, or physiologist, has seriously
asked the question. The medicamentum of Varro, the green frog fat of
India, the diluted sulphuric acid of Mr. Clodd, are guesses in the air,
and Mr. Clodd has made no experiment. The possibility of plunging the
hand, unhurt, in molten metal, is easily accounted for, and is not to the
point. In this difficulty Psychical Research registers, and no more, the
well-attested performances of D. D. Home (entranced, like the
Nistinares); the well observed and timed Miracle du Cierge at
Lourdes--Bernadette being in an ecstatic condition; the Biblical story of
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in the fiery furnace; the researches of
Iamblichus; the case of Madame Shchapoff, carefully reported, {175} and
other examples. There is no harm in collecting examples, and the
question remains, are all those rites, from those of Virgil's Hirpi to
Bulgaria of to-day, based on some actual but obscure and scientifically
neglected fact in nature? At all events, for the Soranus-Feronia rite
philology only supplies her competing etymologies, folk-lore her modern
rural parallels, anthropology her savage examples, psychical research her
'cases' at first-hand. Anthropology had neglected the collection of
these, perhaps because the Fire-walk is 'impossible.'

THE ORIGIN OF DEATH

Yama

This excursus on 'The Fire-walk' has been introduced