An article taken from the Library of congress:
The Alleged Spontaneous Combustion of the
Human Body.
A year or so ago, as closely as we can approxi-
mate to the time from recollection, we were asked
to pass upon the credibility of the statement made,
on the authority of a reputable physician, that he
had been personally cognizant of the occurrence
of this remarkable phenomenon in the case of a
woman. We, at that time, denied the possibility
of such an occurrence, and gave reasons for our
doubt respecting the truth of the account above
referred to.
We note the following remarks on this same
subject in a lecture to workmen lately delivered
by Prof. Brian B. Lewes, in connection with the
meeting of the British Association at Nottingham.
They very admirably supplement our earlier re-
marks:
Having now discussed the more common cases
of spontaneous ignition, and seen that in every
case it is due to rise of temperature, brought about
by chemical action until the igniting point of the
substance is reached, we are in a position to un-
derstand the impossibility of spontaneous combus-
tion taking place in the human body.
The process of respiration by which the tissues
of the body used up in every action, voluntary or
involuntary, are got rid of by a process of slow com-
bustion, gives a normal temperature to the living
body, and it might seem, at first sight, possible by
preventing the escape of such temperature, to in-
crease it to a point at which ignition might be
possible; but we know by experience that the ef-
fect of swathing the body in non-conducting ma-
terials, so as to prevent the escape of heat from it,
results in profuse perspiration, and before the liv-
ing flesh could undergo combustion it would be
necessary to drive from it the whole of the moist-
ure which it contains.
The human body contains from 75 to 80 per
cent. of its weight of water, and in order to evap-
orate this amount, an enormous amount of heat
would be required, and life would have been im-
possible long before the necessary dryness, of the
mass bad been arrived at. In fact, the moisture
present in the body may be looked upon as its
great safeguard against the effect of heat, and it
is perfectly possible for a living man to remain in
an oven which would roast a steak or cook an egg;
the evaporation of water from the skin taking up so
much heat that the temperature of the living flesh
would never rise above a certain point until the
moisture was exhausted. It used to be supposed
that the cases of spontaneous combustion took place
in people whose intemperate habits had caused the
body to become saturated with alcohol, and that
it was this substance which caused its ready igni-
tion; but as Liebig pointed out, some forty years
ago, the presence of the alcohol could have no ef-
fect, as, if we take a sponge and soak it in spirits
of wine and ignite it, the alcohol burns away and
leaves the sponge untouched, and the same thing
would undoubtedly happen in the case of the liv-
ing flesh. ___________
