CHAPTER SIX.
THE ARCANA OF THE FIRE-EATERS: THE FORMULA OF ALBERTUS MAGNUS .-- OF HOCUS POCUS .-- RICHARDSON'S METHOD .-- PHILOPYRAPHAGUS ASHBURNIENSIS .-- TO BREATHE FORTH SPARKS, SMOKE, AND FLAMES .-- TO SPOUT NATURAL GAS .-- PROFESSOR SEMENTINI'S DISCOVERIES .-- TO BITE OFF RED-HOT IRON .-- TO COOK IN A BURNING CAGE .-- CHABERT'S OVEN.

TO EAT COALS OF FIRE .-- TO DRINK BURNING OIL .-- TO CHEW MOLTEN LEAD .-- TO CHEW BURNING BRIMSTONE .-- TO WREATHE THE FACE IN FLAMES .-- TO IGNITE PAPER WITH THE BREATH .-- TO DRINK BOILING LIQUOR AND EAT FLAMING WAX.
The yellow thread of exposure seems to be inextricably woven into all fabrics whose strength is secrecy, and experience proves that it is much easier to become fireproof than to become exposure proof.

It is still an open question, however, as to what extent exposure really injures a performer.

Exposure of the secrets of the fire-eaters, for instance, dates back almost to the beginning of the art itself.

The priests were exposed, Richardson was exposed, Powell was exposed and so on down the line; but the business continued to prosper, the really clever performers drew quite fashionable audiences for a long time, and it was probably the demand for a higher form of entertainment, resulting from a refinement of the public taste, rather than the result of the many exposures, that finally relegated the Fire-eaters to the haunts of the proletariat.
How the early priests came into possession of these secrets does not appear, and if there were ever any records of this kind the Church would hardly allow them to become public.