BUR 



B i; R 



the rert are diflipated in form of vapour, or reduced to aflies. 



Sec CoMnUSTION. 



Burning is alfo applied to the aftion of divers things 

 vvliich are cold to tlie touch, or do not contain fire. 



In this fcnfe aqua fort'is is faid to burn cloth. There are 

 certnin fogs which burn or fcorch the corn. Virgil obfcrvcs 

 that fevere cold itfelf will burn, that is, have much the 

 fame effefts on the parts of the body as fire itfelf, in caufing 

 gangrenes. 



Burning, extraordinary cafes of. — We have inftances of 

 perfons burnt by fire kindled within their own bodies. A 

 woman at Paris, who ufcd to drink brandv in extefs, was 

 one night reduced to allies by a fire from within, all but her 

 head and the ends of her fingers. Novum Lumen I'hof- 

 phor. accenf. Amtt. 1717. 



Sie;nora Corn. Zangari, or, as others call her, Corn. 

 Bandi, a lady aged 61, of an unblemiflud life, near Cefena 

 in Romagna, underwent the fame fate in March, J "3 I. She 

 had retired in tlie evening into her chamber, fomewhat in- 

 difpoied, and in the morning was found in the middle of the 

 room, reduced to allies, all except her face, ikull, three 

 fingers, and legs, which remained entire, with the (hoes and 

 ftockings on. The aflies were light, and, on prefling be- 

 tween the fingers, vanifhed, leaving a grofs lUnking moillure 

 behind, with which the floor was fmeared ; the walls, and 

 furniture of the room, being covered with a moill cineritious 

 foot, which had not only itained the linen in the chclls, but 

 had penetrated into the clofet, as well as into the room 

 over-head, the walls of which were moiftened with the 

 fame vifcous humour. Mem. de Trev. an. 1731. p. 129,5. 



Sig. Mondini, Blanchini, and Maffei, have written dif- 

 courfes exprefs, to account for the caufe of fo extraordinary 

 an event : common fire it could not be, fince this would 

 likewifc have burnt the bed and the room ; befides that it 

 would have required many hours, and a large quantity of 

 fuel, to reduce a human body to aflies ; and, after all, a 

 confiderable part of the bones would have been left entire, 

 as they were anciently found after the fierceft funeral fires. 

 Sig. Mondini attributes this effeft to lightning. A philo- 

 fopher of Verona maintains, that fnch a conflagration might 

 have arifen from the inflammable matters wherewith the 

 human body naturally abounds. Sig. Bianchini accounts 

 for it from an internal fire, occnfionid by fpirit of wine 

 camphorated, which the lady ufed by way of bath or lotion, 

 when (he found herfclf out of order. Maffei's fyftem is a 

 combination of the three lafl; : he fuppofes it owing to 

 lightning, but lightning generated in her own body ; agree- 

 able to his doftrine, which is, that lightning does not come 

 from the clouds ; but is always produced in the place where 

 it is fcen, and its cff^efts perceivtd. The humours of her 

 body, naturally inflammable enough, were become preterna- 

 turally fo, by her putrid indifpofition ; and thefe, by per- 

 fpiration, had enveloped her body with an atmofphcre of 

 the fame kind, replete likewife with mineral matters, whereby 

 its aftivity was heightened. She had probably rifen in the 

 night to ufe her lotion, and, by the fritlion of her hand, had 

 helped to kindle the flame. 



We have various relations of feveral other perfons being 

 burnt to death in this unaccountable manner ; as Grace Pet, 

 of Ipfwich, aged 60, in J 744 ; who had pi-evioufly drank a 

 large quantity of fpitituous liquor, and the trunk of 

 whofe body was found incinerated, refembling a heap 

 of coals covered with white aflies, and emitting an extremely 

 fetid odour and fmoke ; and Mary Clues, of Coventry, 52 

 years of age, in 1772, who had been much addifted to in- 

 toxication, io that fcarcely a day parted in which flie did not 

 drink at leall apintof rumorannifeed water. In her cafe no- 



thing remained of the fl<in, tlie mufclcs, and the vifcera ; the 

 bones of the cranium, the brcail, the fpine, and tiic U|)per 

 extremities, were entirely calcined, and covered with a 

 whitifli cfiljrefctnce ; and the room ws filled with a very 

 dilagree.iblc vajjour. A fimilar inflaiice is mentioned by 

 Vicq. d'A/.yr, in the " Encyclopedic Methodiquc." A 

 woman, about the fame age, who indnlged to exccfs in fpi- 

 rituous liquors, and went to bed every night in a (late of 

 intoxication, was found entirely burnt, and reduced to aftes. 

 Le Cat, in a memoir on f))ontaneous burning, mentions 

 feveral other inllancts of combuili(; ! of the human Ix.dy ; 

 and two other fads of a fimilar kind are pnblilhed iti the 

 " Journal de Medicine," (vol. lix. p. 440.) An attempt has 

 been made to ellabiilh the opinion, that thefe dedroying in- 

 ternal fires are caufed in the entrails of the body by en- 

 flamed e.'fluvia of the blood, by juices and fermentations in 

 the ftomach, by the many combullible matters which abound 

 in living bodies, for theufes of life, and, finally, by tli^- fiery 

 evaporations which exhale from the fettlings of fpiiit of 

 wine, brandies, and other hot liquors, in the liiiiica •villofa of 

 the (lomach, and other adipofe or fat membranes ; within 

 which tliufe fpirits engender a kind of camphor, which in 

 the night time, in flitp, by a full refplralion, arc put in a 

 ftronger motion, and are more apt to be fet on fire. See 

 Phil. TiMuf. N" 476. p. 4jj, ftq. Ijid. vol. Ixiv. part ii. 

 p. 340. . ■ 



Others afcribe the caufe of fuch perfons being fet on fire, 

 to lightning ; and their burning fo entirely, to the greater 

 quantity of phofphorus, and other combullible matter they 

 contained. 



M. Pierre Aime Lair commimicated to the " Philoma- 

 thic Society" at Pari.^ a memoir on the fubjeft of the ap- 

 parently fpontaneous combullion of living individuals of the 

 h\iman fpecies ; and in addition to the inllaiices already men- 

 tioned, and fome others which he recites, he informs u.^t, 

 that Dr. Suediaur related the cafes of fome perfons at War- 

 faw, who, having drank abundantly of malt fpirits, fell 

 down ill the (Ireet, with the fmoke i'Puing out of their 

 mouths ; and the people, v.lio came to their aiTillance, faid 

 they would take fire ; for preventing which, they made them 

 drink a great quantity of milk, or ufed a more Angular ex- 

 pedient, by cauling them to fvvallow urine immediately on 

 its evacuation. 'I'he circumftanccs colledled from the feve- 

 ral inllancts recited by M. Lair, are rtductdby him to the 

 nine following fa£ls : i. The perfons who ha>e experienced 

 thefe tfletts of combnftion, were generally much addicUd 

 to the drinking of extremely flrong fpirituous liqu<irs : and 

 accordingly it has been remarked, that the inhabitants of 

 the north are moil fubjcd to thefe accidents. 2. They 

 were ufually very fat. 3. This combullion has happened 

 more frequently in the cafe of women. 4. Thefe women 

 were old. 5. Their bodies did not appear to have been 

 burned by a combuftion perfeClly fpontantous ; but it ap- 

 pears that the fire had taken place in confequencc of fome 

 very (light external caufe, fuch as the fire of a taper, can- 

 dle, or pipe of tobacco. 6. The extremities of their bo- 

 dies, fuch as the legs, the hands, or the cranium, efcapid 

 the fire. 7. Water, inllcad of exjinguifliing the fire of the 

 burning parts of the body, gave it a greater velocity ; a 

 circumflance which alfo occurs in fat that is burnt. 8. The 

 fire very fliglitly damaged, and, in many inllaiices, did not 

 injure the combullible objefts which were in contaCl with 

 the body at the moment it was burning. 9. The combuf- 

 tion ol thefe bodies left a refiJue of oily and footid allies, 

 with a grcaiy foot of a very penetrating and difagreeable 

 fmell. After reciting thefe feveral circumllanct s, the au- 

 thor endeavours to afcertaiii the caufe of fo furpnfing a 



phcno- 



