THE PHENOMENON OF FIRE-WALKING

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Issue 131, 19 June 1937, Page 15

THE PHENOMENON OF FIRE-WALKING

Indian Magician Amazes Gathering of Scientists by Walking Through Four Yards of Red Hot Cinders Not an Illusion But an Act of F aith.

JNDIA is a land of the miraculous, and I liave aeen fire-walking several times in that country, but always at night, interspersed with displays of nautch girls, jugglers, or fighting elephants, says F. YeataBroWn in the Listener. At such parties, what with the darkness, and confusion, and the effort of making conversation to one's host when one's mouth is full of limeleaves and betel nut, it is difiicult to adopt a detached attitude. But in a garden in the suburbs of London, whither I was invited by Mr. Hurry Price, of the University of London 's Council for Psychical Investigation, I found everything prepared for an exact scientific experiinent. Ahmed Hussain, the new fire-walker, successor to- Kuda Bux, stood at the end of a trench in Mr. Dribbell's lawn at Carshalton, invoking the protection of Allah on his transit through four yards of red hot cinders. ( One heard the click of a camera and the whirr of a movie, otherwise the spectators were silent and expectant. Sir Bichard Gregory was there; and Dr. G. B. Brown and Professor C. E. M. Joad, and other doctors and scientists, including Professor C. A. Pannett and Dr. Newcooib, the two latter being the official investigators who had examined Ahmed Hussain 's feet and tested his "reactions. " Here was this little Moslem from Cawnpore, a magician by profession, engaged on no illusion now, but an act . of faith, about to go through the fire for us. Still he prayedj with cupped hands before him, while the rainy wind fluttered his flowered silk coat and his white jodhpur breeches, and f anned the trench to a white heat. There was no doubt whatever about the genuinene'ss of the performance, though it has definitely disposed of the idea, in my mind at least, that there is anything supernatural about it. Ahmed Hussain 's feet are normally soft. In ordinary life he always wears shoes, as is evident' by the shape of his toes, especially his little toes. He attrihutes his powers to faith in God. He told cne that he could walk a fire trSnch of double the length of the one prepared, but no further. I asked why no further? but his answer was vague. \ Nor was there any doubt about the fire which Mr. Dribbell had so kindly allowed to be made in his lawn. It was 12 foot long, by 5 broad, and 15 inches deep, in which had been burned four tons of oak Jogs, with a top-dressing of charcoal. Physicists probed the wood substratum"ith a ' ' thermo-couple, " and laid a thing like a tuning fork on the glowing charcoal above. The surface was over 1,000 deg. Fahrenheit, and of course the fire was much hotter below. A wooden rake passed over the trench burst into flaikes almost instantly. It seemed impossible that any human being could walk over those coals unscathed, • Ahmed Hussain stepped on to the white hot embers and sank down in them up to the instep. One, two, three, and he was over. The time was just under one and a half seeonds, less than half a seeond— mueh less — for eaeh step. Immediately, tbe dnctors exhmined his soles and took their tem

perature. They were much cooler thau they had been before his walk*, and they were unburned. Now three vuluntcers came forward and stood before the buming fiery furnace, like Skadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego. With them was Ahmed Hussain, who guaranteed them a safe-conduct provided that they trusted in him, and kept in step. He prayed again. The first voiunteer heid .Ahmed Hussain 's belt, and the other two joined hands with him. Ahmed Hussain gave a signal, aud stepped into the trench: the others followed close behind, in single file. One of them eried, "Oh, it's hotj" Again t,h.e doetors examined their feet, but no marks of burning were immediately visible. The voiunteer who had complained of the heat had taken four steps instead of three, because there was a slight block in front • of him. He said that he felt a tingling in his feet, no thing more. None of the amateur walkers was conscious of any spell or influence laid on them by Ahmed Hussain.

They had been told to try not to think of the fire while they were crossing it, and had suceeeded in doing so. Two more volunteers were now ready to go down the fire-walk without the help of the professional. Before they started I examined the readlng on the thermocouple, thinking that the charcoal on the surface might have cooled. Far from having done so, however, the wind had increased its temperature by ten degrees. Both these brave volunteers were heavier than Ahmed Hussain. I felt sorry for them, and sure that I would see them leap away from that terrific heat, scorched and sizzling. On the contrary, the first voiunteer walked across in three steps just as confidently and calmly as had Ahmed Hussain. The other took four steps. Examination showed that the second voiunteer had cortainly scorched himself. At the time of writing I. have not the

statisticai data collected by the scientists, nor do I know whether the experiments to bo made later will reveal any new features. But one thing seems to be obvious and indisputa^tee. The fire-walk ^ looks far oiore dangerous than it really is. _ This is not to say that Ahmed Hussain s performance is not remarkable. It is. H© can walk through flre better than the average man, because he has the courage^ born of faith and practiee. Medical opinion is that his feet were not in any way injured by the walk, whereas all the volunteers had blisters. The two who took four steps instead of three were more blistered than the others, as was to be expected. But the volunteers who walked by themselves were no more damaged than those who went in Ahmed Hussain 's company; and this seems to diapose of the idea that any hypnotic iniluence is exerted by the professional. All that ho does, I believe, is to give the walkers a certain (ahd variable) measure of coniidence in themselves. It seemed to me that anyone could do the fire-walk, if he believed he would come through the ordeal safely. He might get some small burns, but these would not be visible until an hour or more later. That nothing would induce me to try -the experiment myself is beside the point. I have seen Moslems in India who could stab themselves through the cheek and tongue with skcwers, and have been told by doetors that anyone can do it, given sufiiicent faith. I have not suifieient faith. We have 'still to account for- the undoubted fact that Ahmed Hussain femained entirely immune from bad efifects, whereas four of the volunteers were (as I understand, although I have not seen the medical report) slightly scorched, and one badly burnt. Here Sir Leonard Hill's theory about Kuda Bux must surely apply to Ahmed Hussain — that is, that the professional fire-walker 's coniidence in himself prevents nervous sweating in the soles of his feet, and therefore renders Mm less . liable to burning than a beginner would be. This must be the explanation, coupled with the possibility that practiee may mahe perfect, even in fire-walking. But I would add that Ahmed Hussain 's faith is fibt in himself, but in the Mercy of Allah. Tho average Englishman has little conception of how great is the average Moslem's trust in the immediate presence of God. What Ahmed Hussain was proving to us was that if a man has sufficient trust in tho Almighty he can go safely through a fire which will scorch those of lesser faith. In saying this I do not, of course, impugn the faith of the volunteers. They were probably not thinking of the Deity at all. And, in any event, the feat is not miraculous, for it is strictly limited to a few steps — I believe ten at most. What it is, is one more proof of the power of mind over matter. *No doubt they were cooler because he had been standing for some time in bare feet. •fOn this occasion Ahmed Hussain Teceived five small blisters on the left foot and there was a sign of blistering on the right foot.