pfoduced by the Ufe of Spirituous Liquors. I39 



Was faid to have been burnt, T made the following obfen'a- 

 tlons : — The body lay with the crown of the head refting 

 againft one of the andirons, at the diftance of eighteen inches 

 from the fire ; the remainder of the body was placed obliquely 

 before the chimney, the whole being nothing but a mafs of 

 afhes. Even the moft folid bones had loft their form and 

 confiftence ; none of them could be diftinguiflied except the 

 coronal, the two parietal bones, the two lombar vertebrae, 

 a portion of the tibia, and a part of the omoplate ; and thefe, 

 even, were fo calcined, that they became duft by the leaft 

 preflTure. The right foot was found entire, and fcorched at 

 its upper junction ; the left was more burnt. The day had 

 been cold, but there was nothing in the grate except two or 

 three bits of wood, about an inch in diameter, burnt in the 

 middle. None of the furniture in the apartment was da- 

 maged. The chair on which Mademoifelle Thuars had been 

 fitting, was found at the diftance of a foot from her, and ab- 

 folutely untouched. I muft here obfcrve, that this lady was 

 exceedingly corpulent ; that (he was above fixty years of age, 

 and much addifted to fpirituous liquors j that the day eVen 

 of her death fhe had drunk three bottles of witie and about 

 a, bottle of brandy ; and that the confumption of the body 

 had taken place in lefs than feven hours, though, according; 

 to appearance, nothing around the body was burnt but the 

 clothes." 



The town of Caen affords feveral other inftatices of the 

 fame kind. I have been told by many people, and parti- 

 cularly a phyfician of Argentan, named Bouffet, author of 

 an Eflay on Intermittent Fevers, that a woman of the lower 

 clafs, who lived at Place ViUars, and who was known to be 

 much addifted to ftrong liquor, had been found in her houfe 

 burnt. The extremities of her body only were fpared, but 

 the furniture was very little damaged. 



A like unfortunate accident happened alfo at Caen to an- 

 other old woman addifted to drinking. I was afllirsd by 

 thofe who told me the faft, that the flameS which proceeded 

 from the body could not be cxtinguifhed by water; but I 

 think it needlefs to relate the particulars of this and of an- 

 other fimilar event which took place ia the fame town, be- 

 T 2, caufe. 



