The Worthington advance. [volume] (Worthington, Minn.) 1874-1908, 1875-10-29

her having caught fire from anything j,
her room, and "the extraordinary circum
stance of no part Of the room being burn
except the center Of it, through which
she had falleE, added to the we'll authen
ticated circumstance of her recent diabol
'cai imprccations and lies, obliged every
observer to resolve so awful an event into
the visitation Of Gods judgment in TIE
punishment of daring and pcrscvering
When any flame is observed about
these spontaneously burning bodies, il
appears like the flame of alcohol, blue,
hlckering, very difficult to extinguisb by
water, and not readily communicated to
other bodies, even when they arc intlam
mablc. Often, indeed, extraordinary tc
relate, the PERSONS clothing has beer
found wholly uninjured, while the per
son inside the clothing was burnt to a
cinder. The body itself is usually en-.
tirely consumed, while the head and
some portions Of the limbs are sometimes
left untouched. The maid of Cornelia
Bandi. an elderly Italian countess, went
into her mistress room one morning to
wake her. She found no mistress, but
upon the floor, little distance from the
bed, lay heap Of ashes, and in this
dreadful heap of ashes some parts of the
head, eyes and arms Of the unhappy
countess. This lady had been constantly
In the habit Of bathing her body with
camphorated spirit of wine.
All over the room and furniture where
the Countess had been consumed there
was greasy, sooty deposit. This moist,
disagreeab!e deposit Of SCOT, and an often.
sive odor of burnt meat, always attend
and result from the spontaneous combus-
ton Of human body. An examination
o. the blood of these unfortunates--that
is, where there is any blood left to exam.
lnc-shows that considerable quantity
is mingled with the watery part of the
blood.
Rev. Mr.. Ferguson, of Dublin, relates
that in the family Of one of his parisho
ners resided an old woman who, with her
daushte was in the habit of going to bed
in state Of intoxication every night.
The two slept in the same bed. The old
woman, for some days, had been drinking
much more ardent spirits than usual,
when one morning the family were
awakened by horrible smelling smoke.
They hastened to the apartment of the
two women, and found the body of the
old woman bla>k as cinder, and SIN ok
ing all over. he was quite dead when
they reached her, and almost entirely
while neither her daughter,
who was beside her, nor any of the bed
was injured in the slightest
One poor lady was awfully overtaken
III the midst Of a matrimonial squabble.
One night her husband came home late
from party, and the two quarreled vio-
lently, both being in state of intoxica.
ton. The wife insisted upon sitting up,
the husband upon going to bed. The
lady persisted in her determination,
her husband vowed that if
she would sit up, she should sit up in the
dark, and so took her candle away AMI
left her.
Next morning the maid servant, OPEN
ing the windows of the back parlor, per.
ceived ''something' in her mistress arm
chair. She thought at first it had been
put there by her mistress son as scare.
crow to frighten her. Going nearer, how
ever, she was suddenly horror-struck to
find that this awful ''soEething" was the
remains of her hapless mistress. The
trunk of her body was entirely consumed,
while her upper and lower extremities
were not injured. The trunkless
head, with the hair in curl
papers, was still leaning upon
the right hand and against the wall. The
face was slightly scorched, but neither
the hair nor the curl papers we're burnt
in the least. The room was full of the
offensive burnt odor before mentioned. It
was only with the greatest difficulty that
the medical profession were able to reach
the facts Of this case, since the family OF
the dead woman used every means in
their power to hush the affair up. No
wonder!
When human being takes fire inside
and burns up Of himself, how does he do
ite The world, especially the medical
part Of it, having outgrown the theory Of
the visitation Of God on this subject, it
became necessary to account for sponta-
ncous combustion on rational principles.
This theory and that have been held by
different persons, but the most plausi.
BILE one seems to be that the com.
bustion is caused by the explosion of in
aammable gases generated in diseased
and depraved organization. The body
Of \ patient who died in = hospital in
France was examined, and when perfora.
tions were made in various parts Of it, 4
gas issued therefrom which took fire from
the fame of candle.
The body of living human being
sometimes becomes so diseased that its
sccretions are depraved and per-
verted. In this state it is supposed that
certain infammable gases are generated,
which, mingling with air and oxygen,
form explosive mixtures inside the human
body. The generation of these gases is
with heat, and off young drunk
ard goes, pop and nothing is left Of him
but greasy smoke and heap Of ashes.
The Dead Heroes and the National
Cemeteries.
The report Of the officer in charge Of
the National cemeteries will be sent to
Congress with the message and docu.
ments. 1t will be very interesting pa.
per, and will give the condition of the
various cemeteries, now numbering be-
tween IS and 80, in the country. A cor
rect statement Of the number of inter.
ments in these cemeteries has never be-.
fore been made, and there has always
been = doubt as to the number. 1t is