These men are generally styled "human salamanders," and must not be confounded with the "fire-eaters," who, as a rule, are simply jugglers.

Martinez, the so-called "French Salamander," was born in Havana.

As a baker he had exposed himself from boyhood to very high temperatures, and he subsequently gave public exhibitions of his extraordinary ability to endure heat.

He remained in an oven erected in the middle of the Gardens of Tivoli for fourteen minutes when the temperature in the oven was 338 degrees F.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.