l^G O'l the Cmnhtjl'ion of the Human Body, 



clothes, and going down to the kitchen, found her mother 

 flretched out on the right fide, with her head near the grate ; 

 the body extended on the hearth, with the legs on the floor, 

 which was of deal, having the appearance of a log of waiod, 

 confumed by a fire without apparent flame. On beholding this 

 fpeftacle, the sjirl ran in great hade and poured over her mo- 

 ther's body foine water contained in two large veilels in order 

 to extinguilh the fire ; while the foetid odour and fmoke which 

 exhaled from the body almoft fuffbcated fome of the neigh- 

 bours who had haflened to the girl's aflifiancc. The trunk 

 was in fome mcafurc incinerated, and refembled a heap of 

 coals covered with white aflies. The head, the arms, the 

 legs, and the thigh., had alfo participated in the burning. 

 This woman, it is fiid, had drunk a large quantity of fpi- 

 rituons liquor in confequence of being overjoyed to hear that 

 one of her daughters had returned from Gibraltar. There 

 was no fire in the grate, and the candle had burnt entirely 

 out in the fockct of the candleftick, which vias clofe to her. 

 Befides, there were found near the confumed bofly the clothes 

 of a child and a paper fcreen, which had fullained no injury 

 by the fire. The drcfs of this woman confilted of a cotton 

 gown. 



Le Cat, in a memoir on fpontaneous burning, mentions 

 feveral other inltances of combuftion of the human body. 

 " Having," fays he, " fpent feveral months at Rheims in 

 the years 1724 and 17^5, I lodged at the houfe of Sieur 

 Millet, whofe wife got intoxicated every day. The domcftic 

 economy of the family was managed by a pretty young girl, 

 which I muft not omit to remark, in order that all the cir- 

 cumftances which accompanied the fail I am about to relate, 

 mav be better underftood. This woman was found con- 

 fumed on thii 20th of February 1725, at the diftance of a 

 foot and a half from t'/e hearth in her kitchen. A part of 

 the head onlv, with a portion of the lower extremities and 

 a few of the vertebrae, had efcaped combuftion. A foot and 

 a half of the flooring under the body had been confumed, 

 but a Icneading-trough and a powdering-tub, which were 

 very near the body, had fullained no injury. M. Chretien, 

 a funreon, examined the remains of the body with every 



juridical 



