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Burning Questions: Spontaneous Human Combustion in Early Modern Europe

In: Gesnerus
Author:
Michael R. Lynn
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Online Publication Date:
06 Nov 2019
Free access

Spontaneous human combustion shocked and confused people in early modern France. Without a body to examine or eyewitness reports savants had diffi culty determining its causes. Nonetheless, people like Claude-Nicolas Le Cat and Pierre-Aimé Lair, sought to determine the causes of these events and provide a logical explanation for their appearance. This article analyzes the various arguments used by scholars to help rationalize a phenomenon that was simultaneously a medical conundrum and a holdover from the age of marvels and wonders.

Title:
Burning Questions: Spontaneous Human Combustion in Early Modern Europe
Article Type:
Research Article
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1163/22977953-07601002
Language:
English
Pages:
36–57
Keywords:
spontaneous human combustion; Claude-Nicolas Le Cat; Pierre-Aimé Lair; wonders; Enlightenment
In:
Gesnerus
In:
Volume 76: Issue 1
Publisher:
Brill
E-ISSN:
2297-7953
Print ISSN:
0016-9161
Subjects:
History of Medicine, History, History of Science

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