3o6 Sponianeoui Combujllon of human Bodies, 



reducing the body of an animal to aihes, the time and quantity of wood this incineration 

 would require ; and elpecially when we take notice, as Cit. Lair has done, of the refemblances 

 which exifts between the circumftances which aimoft conftantiy precede and accompany 

 thefe Angular accidents. Thefe circumflauces may be reduced to the nine following iaSts. 



1. The perfons who have experienced thefe efFefls of combuftion were generally much 

 addi(9:ed to the drinking of extremely ftrong fpirituous Ijquors. It has accordingly been re- 

 marked, that the inhabitants of the Noith are moft fubjcd to thefe accidents. 



2. They were ufnally veryfat. 



3. This combuftion has happened more frequently in women. 



4. Thefe women were old. 



5. Their bodies did not appear to have been burned by a combuftion perfe£Hy fponta- 

 neous; but it appears that the fire had taken place in confequence of fome very flight external 

 caufe, fuch as the fire of a taper, candle, or a pipe. 



6. The extremities of their bodies, fuch as the legs, the hands, or the cranium, efcaped 

 the fire. 



7. Water, inftead of extinguifliing the fire of the burning parts of the body, gave it more 

 aftivity, as alfo takes place in tat that is burnt. 



8. The" fire very flightly damaged, and, in many inftances, did not injure, the combuftible 

 objeds which were in contact with the body at the moment it was burning. 



9. The combuftion of thefe bodies left a refidue of oily and fetid afhes, with a greafy foot 

 of a very penetrating and difagreeable fmell. 



The author afterwards endeavours to afcertain the caufe of fo furprizing a phenomenon. 

 We {hall not (lay the editors) follow him in the hypothefes he advances, as the fafts are 

 not futficiently numerous nor well known to eftablifli a fatisfaftory theory concerning the 

 fpontaneous combuftion of human bodies. We Ihall content ourfelvcs with remarking, that 

 the author appears to attribute this combuftion to a particular ftate of the fat produced by 

 fpirituous liquors, and he founds his opinion principa'ly on the perfons being very corpulent 

 who have fallen vidtims to thefe accidents, and on the obfervation that has been made, that 

 the parts which were not io fat, fuch as the extremities and the head, have efcaped. And, 

 laftly, he fupports his theory by the well-known fadl of the fpontaneous combuftion of a 

 mixture of animal loot and lintfeed oil, which is a mixture fimilar to that of a fat body con- 

 taining charcoal in a very minute ftate of divifion. 



VII. 



Remarks en the Conflagration of the Odeon. By B. G. Sage, Profeffor and Direiior of the 



firji School of Mines.* 



JL HE efFefts of conflagration depend upon the degree of fire; and this laft depends upon 

 the quantity a«d nature of the combuftible matters. A i.re is active, rapid, and unextinguiih- 



* jf ae Pajf. V. 534. 



able^ 



