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"What's this we hear about the Record having an article?" Harrington asked. "Read it aloud, Professor, so we can all hear it." "'Spontaneous human combustion, or catacausis ebriosus," began Craig, "'is one of the baffling human scientific mysteries.
Victims of ordinary fire accidents rush hither and thither frantically, succumb from exhaustion, their limbs are burned, and their clothing is all destroyed. But in catacausis they are stricken down without warning, the limbs are rarely burned, and only the clothing in contact with the head and chest is consumed.
Others have attributed the combustion to alcohol. A toper several years ago in Brooklyn and New York used to make money by blowing his breath through a wire gauze and lighting it. Whatever the cause, medical literature records seventy-six cases of catacausis in two hundred years. "'The combustion seems to be sudden and is apparently confined to the cavities, the abdomen, chest, and head.
Gin is particularly rich in inflammable, empyreumatic oils, as they are called, and in most cases it is recorded that the catacausis took place among gin-drinkers, old and obese. "'Within the past few years cases are on record which seem to establish catacausis beyond doubt. In one case the heat was so great as to explode a pistol in the pocket of the victim.
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