(Vol. vii., p. 286.)
Leaving the philosophy of this question for the _savans_, I beg to add the
following to the alleged cases already referred to. Dr. Lindsley has
compiled a table of nineteen instances, from the _Dictionnaire de
Médecine_,--not, however, of _spontaneous_ combustion exactly, but of
something akin to it; namely, the rapid ignition of the human body (which
_per se_ is not combustible) by contact with flame, as a consequence of the
saturation of its tissues by alcohol:
===========================================================================
| Date of Occurrence | Age of Individual. | | |
==================| | ======================= | |
| | | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | | |
|No| Works in | | |Extent of |Immediate| Habit |Situation |
| | which | | | the | Cause | of | of the |
| | they are | | |Combustion.| when | Life. | Remains, |
| | reported. | | | | Known. | | &c. |
| | | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | | |
| | By Whom. | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | | |
===========================================================================
| | Actes de | | | The whole | | | |
| | Copenhague | | | body, | | | |
| | | | | except | | | |
| | | | | the skull | | Abuse of | Upon a |
| 1| |1692| -- | and last | -- |spirits for | chair. |
| | | | | joints of | |three years | |
| | | | | the | | | |
| | Jacobeus | | | fingers | | | |
+--+--------------+----+----+-----------+---------+------------+----------+
| | Annual | | | Except | |Indulged in | |
| | Register | | |the skull, |Took fire| frequent | |
| | | | | a part of | through |fomentations| Upon the |
| 2| |1763| 62 | the face, | sitting | of | floor. |
| | Blanchin de | | | and three | near a |camphorated | |
| | Verone | | | fingers | lamp | spirits | |
+--+--------------+----+----+-----------+---------+------------+----------+
| | Ibid. | | | | A light | | |
| | | | | Except | upon a | |Upon the |
| 3| | -- | 50 | thigh and | chair |Took a pint |floor near|
| | | | | one leg |near the |of rum daily| the bed. |
| | Wilmer | | | | bed | | |
+--+--------------+----+----+-----------+---------+------------+----------+
| 4| Ency. Method.| -- | 50 | Except a | -- | Habitually | |
| | -- | | | few bones | | drunken | |
+--+--------------+----+----+-----------+---------+------------+----------+
| | Acta Medica | | | Except the| | She drank | |
| 5| | -- | -- | skull and | -- | brandy as | |
| | | | | fingers | | her only | |
| | -- | | | | | drink | |
+--+--------------+----+----+-----------+---------+------------+----------+
| | Mem. on | | | Except a | A pipe | | |
| | Spon. Com. | | | part of |which she| |Near the |
| 6| |1744| 60 | the head | was | A drunkard | chimney. |
| | Lecat | | | and limbs | smoking | | |
+--+--------------+----+----+-----------+---------+------------+----------+
| | Ibid. | | | | | Habitually | Upon the |
| 7| |1745| -- | Ibid. | A fire | drunken | hearth. |
| | Ibid. | | | | | | |
+--+--------------+----+----+-----------+---------+------------+----------+
| | Ibid. | | | | | |Sitting on|
| | | | | A charred | Fire of |Drank brandy| a chair |
| 8| |1749| 80 | skeleton | the | only for | near the |
| | Ibid. | | | only left | hearth | many years | fire. |
+--+--------------+----+----+-----------+---------+------------+----------+
| | Jour. de | | | Except a |A foot- | | |
| 9| Méd. |1779| -- |few bones, |stove | A drunkard | |
| | | | |a hand, |under her| | |
| | -- | | |and a foot |feet | | |
+--+--------------+----+----+-----------+---------+------------+----------+
| | Ibid. | | | |A fire of| | Upon the |
|10| |1782| 60 | Ibid. | the | Ibid. | hearth |
| | -- | | | | hearth | | |
+--+--------------+----+----+-----------+---------+------------+----------+
| | Revue | | |Except the | | Abuse of | |
|11| Médicale |1820| 90 | skull and |A candle |wine and Eau| In bed. |
| | | | | a portion | | de Cologne | |
| | Julia | | | of the | | | |
| | Fontenelle | | | skin | | | |
+--+--------------+----+----+-----------+---------+------------+----------+
| | Ibid. | | | | | | In the |
| | | | | Except the| | |same bed. |
|12| |1830| 66 | right leg | Ibid. | Ibid. |Both burnt|
| | Ibid. | | | | | | together |
+--+--------------+----+----+-----------+---------+------------+----------+
| | -- | | | Almost | | | |
|13| Gen. William | -- |Very| wholly |A lighted| -- | Upon the |
| | Kepland | |old | consumed | pipe | | floor |
+--+--------------+----+----+-----------+---------+------------+----------+
| | Journal de | | | Skin of | | | Upon the |
| | Florence | | -- | right arm | -- | -- |floor. He |
|14| |1786| | and right | | |lived four|
| | Joseph | | |thigh only | | | days |
| | Battaylia | | | burnt | | | after. |
+--+--------------+----+----+-----------+---------+------------+----------+
| | Revue Méd. | | |Combustion | | Abuse of | Upon a |
|15| |1799| -- |incomplete | -- | brandy | bench. |
| | Robertson | | | | | | |
+--+--------------+----+----+-----------+---------+------------+----------+
| | Ibid. | | | Hand and | | | |
|16| | -- | -- |thigh only | -- | -- | Cured. |
| | M.Marchand | | | burnt | | | |
+--+--------------+----+----+-----------+---------+------------+----------+
| | Journal | | |One finger | | | |
|17| Hosp. Hamp. | -- | 17 | of right |A candle | -- | Cured. |
| | | | |hand only | | | |
| | -- | | | burnt | | | |
+--+--------------+----+----+-----------+---------+------------+----------+
| | -- | | |Muscles of | | | |
| | | | | thighs, | | | |
|18| |1829| 51 | superior |A foot- | Abuse of | Upon a |
| | | | |extremities| stove | spirits | chair. |
| | Alph. | | | and trunk | | | |
| | Devenge | | | burnt | | | |
+--+--------------+----+----+-----------+---------+------------+----------+
| | Dic. de | | |Combustion |A foot- | | Upon the |
|19| Médecine | -- | -- | almost | stove | Ibid. | floor. |
| | -- | | | complete | | | |
===========================================================================
The following case is related, on the authority of Dr. Schofield, Upper
Canada, in the _Journal of the American Temperance Union_ for March,
1837:--A young man, aged twenty-five, had been an habitual drunkard for
many years. One evening at about eleven o'clock he went to a blacksmith's
shop: he was then full of liquor, though not thoroughly drunk. The
blacksmith, who had just crossed the road, was suddenly alarmed by the
breaking forth of a brilliant conflagration in his shop. He rushed across,
and threw open the door, and there stood the man, erect, in the midst of a
widely-extended silver-coloured flame, bearing, as he described it, exactly
the appearance of the wick of a burning candle in the midst of its own
flame. He seized him by the shoulder, and jerked him to the door, and the
flame was instantly extinguished. There was no fire in the shop, and no
articles likely to cause combustion within reach of the individual. In the
course of a short time a general sloughing came on, and the flesh was
almost wholly removed in the dressing, leaving the bones and a few of the
large blood-vessels standing. The blood nevertheless rallied round the
heart, and life continued to the thirteenth day, when he died, a loathsome,
ill-featured, and disgusting object. His shrieks and cries were described
as truly horrible.
Some information will be found in Nos. 44. and 56. of an old magazine
called _The Hive_,--a book which may be found in the British Museum. Two
cases have occurred recently, one in 1851 at Paris, {459} and one last year
somewhere in the north. Both may be found by reference to the newspapers.