SPONTANEOUS COMBUSTION OF DRUNKARDS.
Whether such a quantity of hydrogen may accumulate in the bodies of
drunkards as to sustain combustion, is not easy to determine. This
subject is, indeed, one which has never been satisfactorily investigated;
and notwithstanding the cases brought forward in support of the
doctrine, the general opinion seems to be, that the whole is fable, or
at least so much involved in obscurity as to afford no just grounds for
belief. The principal information on this point, is in the _Journal
de Physique_, in an article by Pierre-Aimé Lair, a copy of which was
published in the sixth volume of the _Philosophical Transactions_,
by Mr. Alexander Tilloch. A number of cases are there given: and it
is not a little singular that the whole of them are those of women
in advanced life. When we consider that writers like Vicq d’Azyr, Le
Cat, Maffei, Jacobæus, Rolli, Bianchini, and Mason Good, have given
their testimony in support of such facts, it requires some effort to
believe them unfounded in truth. At the same time, in perusing the cases
themselves, it is difficult to divest the mind of an idea that some
misstatement or other exists, either as to their alleged cause or their
actual nature—and that their relaters have been led into an unintentional
misrepresentation. The most curious fact connected with this subject is,
that the combustion appears seldom to be sufficiently strong to inflame
combustible substances with which it comes in contact, such as woollen
or cotton, while it destroys the body, which in other circumstances is
hardly combustible at all.[36] Sometimes the body is consumed by an
open flame flickering over it—at other times there is merely a smothered
heat or fire, without any visible flame. It is farther alleged that
water, instead of allaying, aggravates the combustion. This species of
burning, indeed, is perfectly _sui generis_, and bears no resemblance to
any species of combustion with which we are acquainted. In most cases it
breaks out spontaneously, although it may be occasioned by a candle, a
fire, or a stroke of lightning; but in every case it is wholly peculiar
to itself. M. Foderé remarks, that hydrogen gas is developed in certain
cases of disease, even in the living body; and he seems inclined to join
with M. Mere in attributing what is called spontaneous combustion to the
united action of hydrogen and electricity in the first instance, favoured
by the accumulation of animal oil, and the impregnation of spirituous
liquors. In the present state of our knowledge, it is needless to hazard
any conjectures upon this mysterious subject. The best way is to give a
case or two, and let the reader judge for himself.
CASE OF MARY CLUES.—“This woman, aged fifty, was much addicted
to intoxication. Her propensity to this vice had increased
after the death of her husband, which happened a year and a
half before: for about a year, scarcely a day had passed in the
course of which she did not drink at least half a pint of rum
or aniseed water. Her health gradually declined, and about the
beginning of February, she was attacked by the jaundice and
confined to her bed. Though she was incapable of much action,
and not in a condition to work, she still continued her old
habit of drinking every day, and smoking a pipe of tobacco.
The bed in which she lay stood parallel to the chimney of the
apartment, at the distance from it of about three feet. On
Saturday morning, the 1st of March, she fell on the floor, and
her extreme weakness having prevented her from getting up, she
remained in that state till some one entered and put her to
bed. The following night she wished to be left alone: a woman
quitted her at half-past eleven, and, according to custom,
shut the door and locked it. She had put on the fire two large
pieces of coal, and placed a light in a candlestick on a chair
at the head of the bed. At half-past five in the morning,
smoke was seen issuing through the window, and the door being
speedily broke open, some flames which were in the room were
soon extinguished. Between the bed and the chimney were found
the remains of the unfortunate Clues; one leg and a thigh were
still entire, but there remained nothing of the skin, the
muscles, and the viscera. The bones of the cranium, the breast,
the spine, and the upper extremities were entirely calcined,
and covered with a whitish efflorescence. The people were much
surprised that the furniture had sustained so little injury.
The side of the bed which was next the chimney had suffered
most; the wood of it was slightly burned, but the feather-bed,
the clothes, and covering were safe. I entered the apartment
about two hours after it had been opened, and observed that the
walls and every thing in it were blackened; that it was filled
with a very disagreeable vapour; but that nothing except the
body exhibited any strong traces of fire.”
This case first appeared in the _Annual Register_ for 1773, and is a
fair specimen of the cases collected in the _Journal de Physique_. There
is no evidence that the combustion was spontaneous, as it may have been
occasioned either by lightning, or by contact with the fire. The only
circumstance which militates against the latter supposition, is the very
trifling degree of burning that was found in the apartment.
CASE OF GRACE PITT.—“Grace Pitt, the wife of a fishmonger in
the parish of St. Clement, Ipswich, aged about sixty, had
contracted a habit, which she continued for several years, of
coming down every night from her bed-room, half dressed, to
smoke a pipe. On the night of the 9th of April, 1744, she got
up from her bed as usual. Her daughter, who slept with her,
did not perceive she was absent till next morning when she
awoke, soon after which she put on her clothes, and going down
into the kitchen, found her mother stretched out on the right
side, with her head near the grate; the body extended on the
hearth, with the legs on the floor, which was of deal, having
the appearance of a log of wood, consumed by a fire without
apparent flame. On beholding this spectacle, the girl ran
in great haste and poured over her mother’s body some water
contained in two large vessels in order to extinguish the fire;
while the fœtid odour and smoke which exhaled from the body,
almost suffocated some of the neighbours who had hastened
to the girl’s assistance. The trunk was in some measure
incinerated, and resembled a heap of coals covered with white
ashes. The head, the arms, the legs, and the thighs, had also
participated in the burning. This woman, it is said, had drunk
a large quantity of spirituous liquors in consequence of being
overjoyed to hear that one of her daughters had returned from
Gibraltar. There was no fire in the grate, and the candle had
burned entirely out in the socket of the candlestick, which was
close to her. Besides, there were found near the consumed body,
the clothes of a child and a paper screen, which had sustained
no injury by the fire. The dress of this woman consisted of a
cotton gown.”
This case is to be found in the _Transactions of the Royal Society of
London_, and is one of the most decided, and least equivocal instances of
this species of combustion to be met with. It was mentioned at the time
in all the journals, and was the subject of much speculation and remark.
The reality of its occurrence was attested by many witnesses, and three
several accounts of it, by different hands, all nearly coincide.
CASE OF DON GIO MARIA BERTHOLI.—“Having spent the day in
travelling about the country, he arrived in the evening at the
house of his brother-in-law. He immediately requested to be
shown to his destined apartment, where he had a handkerchief
placed between his shirt and shoulders; and, being left alone
betook himself to his devotions. A few minutes had scarcely
elapsed when an extraordinary noise was heard in the chamber,
and the cries of the unfortunate man were particularly
distinguished: the people of the house, hastily entering the
room, found him extended on the floor, and surrounded by a
light flame, which receded (_à mesure_) as they approached,
and finally vanished. On the following morning, the patient
was examined by Mr. Battlaglia, who found the integuments of
the right arm almost entirely detached, and pendant from the
flesh; from the shoulders to the thighs, the integuments were
equally injured; and on the right hand, the part most injured,
mortification had already commenced, which, notwithstanding
immediate scarification, rapidly extended itself. The patient
complained of burning thirst, was horribly convulsed, and
was exhausted by continual vomiting, accompanied by fever
and delirium. On the fourth day, after two hours of comatose
insensibility, he expired. During the whole period of his
sufferings, it was impossible to trace any symptomatic
affection. A short time previous to his death, M. Battlaglia
observed with astonishment, that putrefaction had made so much
progress, the body already exhaled an insufferable odour;
worms crawled from it on the bed, and the nails had become
detached from the left hand.
“The account given by the unhappy patient was, that he felt a
stroke like the blow of a cudgel on the right hand, and at the
same time he saw a lambent flame attach itself to his shirt,
which was immediately reduced to ashes, his wristbands, at the
same time being utterly untouched. The handkerchief which, as
before-mentioned, was placed between his shoulders and his
shirt, was entire, and free from any trace of burning; his
breeches were equally uninjured, but though not a hair of his
head was burned, his coif was totally consumed. The weather on
the night of the accident, was calm, and the air very pure; no
empyreumatic or bituminous odour was perceived in the room,
which was also free from smoke; there was no vestige of fire,
except that the lamp which had been full of oil, was found dry,
and the wick reduced to a cinder.”
This case is from the work of Foderé, and is given as abridged by Paris
and Fonblanque, in their excellent treatise on Medical Jurisprudence. It
occurred in 1776, and is one of the best authenticated to be met with.
I am not aware that the subject of it was a drunkard; if he were not,
and if the facts be really true, we must conclude that spontaneous
combustion may occur in sober persons as well as in the dissipated.
CASE OF MADAME MILLET.—“Having,” says Le Cat, “spent several
months at Rheims, in the years 1724 and 1725, I lodged at the
house of Sieur Millet, whose wife got intoxicated every day.
The domestic economy of the family was managed by a pretty
young girl, which I must not omit to remark, in order that
all the circumstances which accompanied the fact I am about
to relate, may be better understood. This woman was found
consumed on the 10th of February, 1725, at the distance of a
foot and a half from the hearth in her kitchen. A part of the
head only, with a portion of the lower extremities, and a few
of the vertebræ, had escaped combustion. A foot and a half of
the flooring under the body had been consumed, but a kneading
trough and a powdering tub, which were very near the body,
sustained no injury. M. Chriteen, a surgeon, examined the
remains of the body with every judicial formality. Jean Millet,
the husband, being interrogated by the judges who instituted
the inquiry into the affair, declared, that about eight in the
evening, on the 9th of February, he had retired to rest with
his wife, who not being able to sleep, went into the kitchen,
where he thought she was warming herself; that, having fallen
asleep, he was awakened about two o’clock by an infectious
odour, and that, having run to the kitchen, he found the
remains of his wife in the state described in the report of the
physicians and surgeons. The judges, having no suspicion of the
real cause of this event, prosecuted the affair with the utmost
diligence. It was very unfortunate for Millet that he had a
handsome servant-maid, for neither his probity nor innocence
were able to save him from the suspicion of having got rid
of his wife by a concerted plot, and of having arranged the
rest of the circumstances in such a manner as to give it the
appearance of an accident. He experienced, therefore, the whole
severity of the law; and though, by an appeal to a superior
and very enlightened court, which discovered the cause of the
combustion, he came off victorious, he suffered so much from
uneasiness of mind, that he was obliged to pass the remainder
of his days in an hospital.”
The above case has a peculiar importance attached to it, for it shows
that, in consequence of combustion, possibly spontaneous, persons have
been accused of murder. Foderé, in his work, alludes to several cases of
this kind.
Some chemists have attempted to account for this kind of combustion, by
the formation of phosphuretted hydrogen in the body. This gas, as is well
known, inflames on exposure to the air; nor can there be a doubt that if
a sufficient quantity were generated, the body might be easily enough
consumed. If such an accumulation can be proved ever to take place, there
is an end to conjecture; and we have before us a cause sufficiently
potent to account for the burning. Altogether I am inclined to think,
that although most of the related cases rest on vague report, and are
unsupported by such proofs as would warrant us in placing much reliance
upon them, yet sufficient evidence nevertheless exists, to show that
such a phenomenon as spontaneous combustion has actually taken place,
although doubtless the number of cases has been much exaggerated. Dr.
Mason Good, justly observes, “There may be some difficulty in giving
credit to so marvellous a diathesis: yet, examples of its existence, and
of its leading to a migratory and fatal combustion are so numerous, and
so well authenticated, and press upon us from so many different countries
and eras, that it would be absurd to withhold our assent.” “It can no
longer be doubted,” says Dr. Gordon Smith, “that persons have retired
to their chambers in the usual manner, and in place of the individual,
a few cinders, and perhaps part of his bones, were found.” Inflammable
eructations are said to occur occasionally in northern latitudes, when
the body has been exposed to intense cold after excessive indulgence
in spirituous liquors; and the case of a Bohemian peasant is narrated,
who lost his life in consequence of a column of ignited inflammable air
issuing from his mouth, and baffling extinction. This case, as well as
others of the same kind, is alleged to have arisen from phosphuretted
hydrogen, generated by some chemical combination of alcohol and animal
substances in the stomach. What truth there may be in these relations
I do not pretend to say. They wear unquestionably the aspect of a
fiction; and are, notwithstanding, repeated from so many quarters, that
it is nearly as difficult to doubt them altogether as to give them our
entire belief. There is one thing, however, which may be safely denied;
and that is the fact of drunkards having been blown up in consequence
of their breath or eructations catching fire from the application of
alighted candle. These tales are principally of American extraction;
and seem elaborated by that propensity for the marvellous for which our
transatlantic brethren have, of late years, been distinguished.
Upon the whole, this subject is extremely obscure, and has never been
satisfactorily treated by any writer. Sufficient evidence appears to me
to exist in support of the occurrence, but any information as to the
remote or proximate cause of this singular malady, is as yet exceedingly
defective and unsatisfactory.
In a memoir lately read before the Académie des Sciences, the following
are stated to be the chief circumstances connected with spontaneous
combustion.
“1. The greater part of the persons who have fallen victims to it, have
made an immoderate use of alcoholic liquors. 2. The combustion is almost
always general, but sometimes is only partial. 3. It is much rarer among
men than among women, and they are principally old women. There is but
one case of the combustion of a girl seventeen years of age, and that
was only partial. 4. The body and the viscera are invariably burnt,
while the feet, the hands, and the top of the skull almost always escape
combustion. 5. Although it requires several fagots to burn a common
corpse, incineration takes place in these spontaneous combustions without
any effect on the most combustible matters in the neighbourhood. In
an extraordinary instance of a double combustion operating upon two
persons in one room, neither the apartment nor the furniture was burnt.
6. It has not been at all proved that the presence of an inflamed body
is necessary to develop spontaneous human combustions. 7. Water, so far
from extinguishing the flame, seems to give it more activity; and when
the flame has disappeared, secret combustion goes on. 8. Spontaneous
combustions are more frequent in winter than in summer. 9. General
combustions are not susceptible of cure, only partial. 10. Those who
undergo spontaneous combustion are the prey of a very strong internal
heat. 11. The combustion bursts out all at once, and consumes the body
in a few hours. 12. The parts of the body not attacked are struck with
mortification. 13. In persons who have been attacked with spontaneous
combustion, a putrid degeneracy takes place which soon leads to gangrene.”
In this singular malady medicine is of no avail. The combustion is kept
up by causes apparently beyond the reach of remedy, and in almost every
case, life is extinct before the phenomenon is perceived.