FIRE DOES NOT BURN HIM.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVII, Issue 2431, 20 February 1909, Page 10 (Supplement)

FIRE DOES NOT BURN HIM.

MAN WHO CAN DISSOLVE INTO THIN AIR. One of the greatest puzzles ever offered to scientists has appeared in America in the person of a young mechanic named Frank E. Foskett, of Orange, Massachusetts, who, according to New York papers, has mystified a big committee of trained observers' with feats of “psychic magic.” Professor IJ.1 J . F. Hall, of Boston, invited to his house' Professor James, who holds the chair of Philosophy at Harvard, and a number of medical men and members of tho American Society of Psychical Research to witness an exposition of Foskett’s powers. All of them came away astonished by what they had seen, and stated that so far as they could tell science could offer no explanation of the mysteries exhibited. At Professor Hall’s house, in tho ring of observers, Foskitt sat in tho centre of tlie room before a small table, and performed every feat of a Hindu fakir. He went through the fire test. First he allowed tho flames from matches to curl round his fingers. Then he held both hands over a 'kerosene lamp until tho smoke completely blackened the chimney. The climax was reached when' ho poured a quart of alcohol into a basin, set it on fire, and bathed his hands in the flaming liquid for ten minutes, also spreading the. flaming alcohol over his face and arms.

After this performance several physicians examined Foskett, and could not find the slightest trace of a burn or blister. Foskett told them that the flames did not give him tlie slightest sensation of burning, and that he felt comfortably warm and pleasant, nothing more. Then he performed the greatest wonder of all—namely, that of molting into thin air before them and gradually resuming the substance of his body again. Those present were simply spellbound with astonishment. One scientist said Foskett was “absolutely and positively dentate ri alisecl. He seemed to dissolve into thin air as we watched him. He was gone for 41 seconds, and then materialised. It was so startling that I was afraid that we had lost sight of the test conditions. and we asked him to -appear before us again. It seems unbelievoablo, but it certainly seemed so. AVe hardly know what to think of it.” According to those present, Foskett seems in a passive state during the tests, and says he thinks of nothing in particular. Those who examined him discredit the hypnotic theory, and express tlie belief that he has some latent /‘psychic force” that has never been studied,,