166 On the Combustion of the Human Body , 
Her daughter, who slept with her, did not perceive she 
was absent till next morning when she awoke, soon after 
which she put on her clothes, and going down to the 
kitchen, found her mother stretched out on the right side, 
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 wood, consumed by a 
fire without apparent flame. On beholding this specta- 
cle, the girl ran in great haste and poured over her mo- 
ther’s body some water contained in two large vessels in 
order to extinguish the fire ; while the foetid odour and 
smoke which exhaled from the body almost suffocated 
some of the neighbours who had hastened to the girl’s 
assistance. The trunk was in some measure incinerat- 
ed, and resembled a heap of coals covered with white 
ashes. The head, the arms, the legs, and the thighs, 
had also participated in the burning. This woman, it is 
said, had drunk a large quantity of spirituous liquor in 
consequence 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 socket of the candlestick, which was close to her. 
Besides, there were found near the consulted body the 
clothes of a child and a paper screen, which fiad sustain- 
ed no injury by the fire. The dress of this woman con- 
sisted of a cotton gown. 
Le Cat, in a memoir on spontaneous burning, mentions 
several other instances of combustion of the human body. 
66 Having,” says he, “ spent several months at Rheims 
in the years 17^4 and 1J25, I lodged at the house of 
Sieur Millet, whose wife got intoxicated every day. The 
domestic economy of the family was managed by a 
pretty young girl, which I must not omit to remark, in 
order that all the circumstances which accompanied the 
fact I am about to relate, may be better understood. This 
