"Not a bit of it," was the Doctor's reply.
"Then your palate must be copper-sheathed," said Johnson.
"Not at all, friends. I advise you to copy my example. Many persons, and I am one, can drink coffee at a temperature of 131°."
"131°?" said Altamont; "why, that is hotter than the hand could bear!"
"Of course it is, Altamont, for the hand could not bear more than 122°, but the palate and tongue are less sensitive."
"Well, I will convince you it is fact," returned Clawbonny, and taking up a thermometer, he plunged it into the steaming coffee. He waited till the mercury rose as high as 131° and then withdrew it, and swallowed the liquid with evident gusto.
Bell tried to follow his example, but burnt his mouth severely.
"You are not used to it," said the Doctor, coolly.
"Can you tell us, Clawbonny," asked Altamont, "what is the highest temperature that the human body can bear."
"Yes, several curious experiments have been made in that respect. I remember reading of some servant girls, in the town of Rochefoucauld, in France, who could stay ten minutes in a baker's large oven when the temperature was 300°, while potatoes and meat were cooking all round them."
"Well, there is another case, where eight of our own countrymen-- Fordyce, Banks, Solander, Blagdin, Home, Nooth, Lord Seaforth, and Captain Phillips--went into one as hot as 200°, where eggs and beef were frizzling."
"And they were Englishmen!" said Bell, with a touch of national pride.
"Oh, the Americans could have done better than that," said Altamont.
"They would have roasted," returned the Doctor, laughing. "At all events they have never tried it, so I shall stand up for my countrymen. There is one more instance I recollect, and really it is so incredible, that it would be impossible to believe it, if it were not attested by unimpeachable evidence. The Duke of Ragusa and
Dr. Jung, a Frenchman and an Austrian, saw a Turk plunge into a bath at 170°."
"But that is not so astonishing as those servant girls, or our own countrymen," said Johnson.
"I beg your pardon," replied Clawbonny; "there is a great difference between plunging into hot air and hot water. Hot air produces perspiration, which protects the skin, but boiling water scalds. The maximum heat of baths is 107°, so that this Turk must have been an extraordinary fellow to endure such temperature."