Combustion of the Human Body, produced by the long immoderate Use of Spirituous Liquors. From the Journal de Physique, Pluviose, Year 8 : written by Pierre Aime Lair.

In natural as well as civil history, there are facts presented to the meditation of the observer, which, though confirmed by the most convincing testimony, seem, on the first view, to be destitute of probability. Of this kind is that of people consumed without coming into contact with common fire, and of bodies being thus reduced to ashes. How can we conceive that fire, in certain circumstances, can exercise so powerful an action on the human body as to produce this effect? One might be induced to give less faith to these instances of combustion, as they seem to be rare. 1 confess, that at first they appeared to me worthy of very little credit; but they are presented to the public as true, by men whose veracity seems unquestionable. Bianchini, Mossei, Rom, Le Cat, Vicq. d'Azyr, and several men distinguished by thei learning, have given certain testimony of the facts. Besides, is it more surprising to experience such incineration than to void saccharine urine, or to see the bones softened, or of the diabetes mellitus. This marbific disposition, there-fore, would be one more scourge to afflict humanity; but in physics, facts being always preferable to reasoning, I shall here collect those which appear to me to bear the impression of truth; and, lest I should alter the sense, I shall quote them just as they are given in the works from which I have extracted them.

We read in the transactions of Copenhagen, that in 1692, a woman of the lower class, who for three years had used spirituous liquors to such excess that she would take no other nourishment, having sat down one evening on a straw chair to sleep, was consumed in the night-time, so that next morning no part of her was found, but the skull, and the extreme joints of the fingers; all the rest of her body, says Jacobeus, was reduced to ashes.

The following extract of the memoir of Bianchini, is taken from the Annual Register for 1763: - The Countess Cornelia Bandi, of the town of Cesena, aged 62, enjoyed a good state of health. One evening, having experienced a sort of drowsiness, she retired to bed, and her maid remained with her till she fell asleep. Next morning, when the girl entered to awaken her mistress, she found nothing but the remains of her mistress, in a most horrid condition. At the distance of four feet from the bed was a heap of ashes, in which could be distinguished the legs and arms untouched. Between the legs lay the head, the brain of which, together with half the posterior part of the cranium, and the whole chin, had been consumed; three fingers were found in the state of a coal; the rest of the body was reduced to ashes, and contained no oil; the tallow of two candles was melted on a table, but the wicks still remained, and the feet of the candlesticks were covered with a certain moisture. The bed was not damaged; the bed-clothes and coverlid were raised up and thrown on one side, as is the case when a person gets up. The furniture and tapestry were covered with a moist kind of soot, of the colour of ashes, which had penetrated the drawers and dirtied the linen. This soot having been conveyed to a neighbouring kitchen, adhered to the walls and the utensils. A piece of bread in the cupboard was covered with it, and no dog would touch it. The infectious odour had been communicated to other apartments. The Annual Register states, that the Countess Cesena was accustomed to bathe all her body in camphorated spirits of wine. Bianchini caused the detail of this deplorable event to be published at the time when it took place, and no one contradicted it: it was also attested by Sapio Maffei, a learned contemporary of Bianchini, who was far from being credulous : and, in the last place, this surprising fact was confirmed to the Royal Society of London, by Paul Rolli. The Am. ual Register mentions also two other facts of the same kind, which occurred in England; one at Southampton, and the other at Coventry.

An instance of the like kind is preserved in the same work, in a letter of Mr. Wilmer, surgeon : - " Mary Clues, aged 50, 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, the distance from it 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 after five in the morning, a smokewas seen issuing through the window; and the door being speedily broken 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, or 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 to the chimney, had suffered the most; the wood of it was slightly burnt, 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."