144 ^" i^'^ Comlufiion of the Human Bodj, 



the ftomach of perfons in a ftate of intoxication. Three 

 noblemen of Courlajid having laid a bet which of them 

 could drink moft fpirits, two of them died in confequence of 

 fuffocation by the flames which iflued with great violence 

 from their flomachs. We are told by Thomas Bartholin*, 

 on the authority of Vorftius, that a foldier, who had drunk 

 two glafles of fpirits, died after an eruption of flames from 

 his mouth. In his third century Bartholin mentions an- 

 other accident of the fame kind after a drinking-match of 

 ftrong liquor. 



It now remains to decide, from thefe inftances, refpefting 

 the accidental or fpontaneous caufes which produce combuf- 

 tion. Nature, by afluming a thoufand different forms, feems 

 at firft as if defirous to elude our obfervation ; but, on mature 

 refleftion, if it be found eafy to prove accidental combuftion, 

 fpontaneous combuftion appears altogether improbable ; for, 

 even admitting the inftances of people fuffocated by flames 

 which iflued from their mouths, this is ftill far from the 

 combuftion of the whole body. There is a great difference 

 between this femi-combuftion and fpontaneous combuftion 

 fo complete as to reduce the body to afties, as in the cafes 

 above mentioned, As the human body has never been feen 

 to experience total combuftion, thefe affertions feem rather 

 the produdions of a fervid imagination than of real obferva- 

 tion ; and it too often happens that Nature in her mode of 

 aftion does not adopt our manner of feeing. 



I (hall not extend further theft' obfervations on the com- 

 buftion of the human body, as I flatter myfelf that after this 

 examination every perfon muft be ftruck with the relation 

 which exilts between the cauie of this phenomenon and the 

 effcfts that enfue. A fyftem embelliftied with imaginary 

 charms is often feducing, but it never prefents a perfeft 

 whole. We have feen fadls juftify reafoning, and reafoning 

 ferve afterwards to explain fadls. The combuftion of the 

 human body, which on the firft view appears to have in it 

 fomething of he marvellous, when explained, exhibits no- 

 thinff but the utmoft fimplicity : fo true it is, that the won- 

 derful i$ often produced by eftedts which, as they rarely ftrike 



* firft century. 



our 



