The Theosophists, according to Hargrave
Jennings in ``The Rosicrucians,'' called the
soul a fire taken from the eternal ocean of
light, and in common with other Fire-Philosophers
believed that all knowable things, both
of the soul and the body, were evolved out of
fire and finally resolvable into it; and that fire
was the last and only-to-be-known God.

In passing I might call attention to the fact
that the Devil is supposed to dwell in the same
element.

Some of the secrets of heat resistance as
practiced by the dime-museum and sideshow
performers of our time, secrets grouped under
the general title of ``Fire-eating,'' must have
been known in very early times. To quote
from Chambers' ``Book of Days'': ``In ancient
history we find several examples of people who
possessed the art of touching fire without being
burned. The Priestesses of Diana, at
Castabala, in Cappadocia, commanded public
veneration by walking over red-hot iron. The
Herpi, a people of Etruria, walked among
glowing embers at an annual festival held on
Mount Soracte, and thus proved their sacred
character, receiving certain privileges, among
others, exemption from military service, from
the Roman Senate. One of the most astounding