produced by the Use of Spirituous Liquors . 167 
woman was found consumed on the 20 th of February, 
1725, at the distance of a foot and a half from the hearth 
in her kitchen. A part of the head only, with a portion 
of the lower extremities and a few of the vertebrae, had 
escaped combustion. A foot and a half of the flooring 
under the body had been consumed, but a kneading- 
trough and a powdering-tub, which were very near the 
body, had sustained no injury. M. Chretien, a surgeon, 
examined the remains of the body with every juridical 
formality. Jean Millet, the husband, being interrogated 
by the judges who instituted an inquiry into the affair, 
declared, that about eight in the evening on the 19th of 
February he had retired to rest with his wife, who, not 
being able to sleep, had gone into the kitchen, where he 
thought she was warming herself; that, having fallen 
asleep, he was wakened about two o’clock by an infec- 
tious odour, and that, having run to the kitchen, he found 
the remains of his wife in the state described in the re- 
port of the physicians and surgeons. The judges hav 
mg no suspicion of the real cause of this event, prose 
cuted the affair with the utmost diligence. It was very 
unfortunate for Millet that he had a handsome servant- 
maid, for neither his probity nor innocence was able to 
save him from the suspicion of having got rid of Ms wife 
by a concerted plot, and of having arranged the rest of 
the circumstance in such a manner as to give it the ap 
pearance of an accident. He experienced, therefore, the 
whole severity of the law ; and though, by an appeal to 
a superior and very enlightened court, which discovered 
the cause of the combustion, he came off victorious, he 
suffered so much from uneasiness of mind, that he was 
obliged to pass the remainder of his melancholy days in 
an hospital.” 
Le Cat relates another instance, which has a most per- 
fect resemblance to the preceding “ M, Boinneau, cure 
