Spontaneous Decompcsitiofi of a Fabric of Silk. pS 



the evolution of much caloric while it was goino- on ; for 

 eVery thing in contact with the stockings was turned to 

 coal or cinder. Beside the slipper before mentioned, the 

 garter-was burned. It had fallen partly on the carpet, and 

 partly on and between the stockings. As far as it touched 

 the stockings it was perfectly disorganized and carbonatt-d, 

 and nnmediatcly beyond that limit was as sound as ever. The 

 part of the carpet, with its fringe^ which la) between the 

 .stockings and the floor, was in like manner totally destroyed, 

 just as far as it was covered by the stockings, and no further* 

 The w ooden plank, which was of pitch-pnicj was also con- 

 siderably scorched ; and beneath the place where the thick- 

 est folds of the stockings had lain was converted to char- 

 coal or lamp-black to a considerable depth. In throwing 

 down the stockings when they were pulled off, it happened 

 that about a third part of the length of one of them foil not 

 v>pon the carpet, but upon the bare floor. This part of the 

 stocking was decomposed like the rest, and the floor very 

 much scorched where it had lain. 



There was very little fire on the hearth, and the littler 

 there was was eight or nine feet distant. The candle had 

 been carefully extinguished, and stood on a table in another 

 direction, and about equally distant. Indeed, no applicatioi^ 

 of burning coals or of lighted candles could have produced 

 the eflects whicli have been described. It would seem that 

 the combustion, if it may be so called, proceeded fromoa 

 surcharge of caloric, or electricity, in the silk, accumulated 

 by means not well understood; and that, not being refera- 

 ble to any known external agent, it may, fin the present 

 state of our information, be termed sj)ontaneous. 



The substances chiefly consumed were leather, wool, silk, 

 and resinous wood. The linen lining of the slipper was 

 indeed destroyed as far as the leather it touched was de- 

 stroyed. But where it did not come in contact, it escaped, 

 and the fire show ed no disposition to burn even the hnea 

 beyond the boundaries prescribed to it on the leather. 



What is the theory of this phnenwmenon ? 'With what 

 other facts is it immediately connected ? AVhatever men of 

 science may detemiine on these points, one thing seems to 

 be evident, that if spontaneous combustion can happen thus 

 to bodies so little inflanuTiablc as leather, silk, and wool, 

 that instances of its occurrence in bodies easier to burn an- 

 more frequent than is generally supposed. 



A\TTqiiITII '^. 



