Temperance prize essays / By Drs. Mussey and Lindsly.

Date:
1835
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Temperance prize essays / By Drs. Mussey and Lindsly. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    jl 158 SPONTANEOUS COMBUSTION - Speaking of cases of spontaneous combustion in drunkards he says—‘One happened under my own observation. It was the case of a young man about twenty-five years of age: he had been an habitual drinker for many years. I saw him about nine o’clock in the evening on which it happened. He was then, as usual, not drunk, but full of liquor. About eleven the same evening I was: called to see him. I found him literally roasted from the crown of his head to the soles of his feet. He was found in a blacksmith’s shop just across the way from where he had been, The owner all of a sudden discovered an extensive light in his shop as though the whole building was in one general flame. He ran with the greatest precipi- tancy, and on flinging open the door discovered a man standing erect in the midst of a widely extended silver-colored blaze, bearing, as he de- scribed it, exactly the appearance of the wick of a burning candle in the midst of its own flame. He seized him by the shoulder and jerked him to the door, upon which the flame was instantly extinguished. There was no fire in the shop, neither was there any possibility of fire having been communicated _ to him from any external source. It was purely a case of spontaneous ignition. A general slough- ing soon came on, and his flesh was consumed, or removed in the dressing, leaving the bones an a few of the larger bloodvessels standing. The blood nevertheless rallied around the eer ei! and maintained the vital spark until the thirteenth day, when he died, not only the most loathsome, ilt- featured, and dreadful picture that was ever pre-