|
An
intense flame on a man's leg:
On Spontaneous Combustion
From an Essay Read
at the Last Annual Meeting of the Med. Society of Tennessee
JAMES
OVERTON, M.D. Boston Med Surg J 1835 (in The Boston Medical and Surgical
Journal, Volumes 13-14, 1836)
Ali instance of what has been esteemed partial
spontaneous combustion, has recently occurred in the city, of
Nashville—it has given origin to the character of this essay—and as its
phenomena as detailed by tile subject of it, and its effects as
exhibited to the observation of others after its subsidence, are
corroborative of the truth of the history just given, we deem it worthy
of record, and to he submitted to your present contemplation, in
connection with cases of a like character which have occurred at a
distance from us.
The subject of the following observation is a
gentleman about thirty-five years of age, middle size, light hair, hazel
eyes, sanguineo-lymphatic temperament, of habits entirely temperate in
the use of stimulating drinks of any kind, fermented or alcoholic, with
a constitution considerably enfeebled from long and zealous devotion to
the sedentary and exhausting labor of scientific investigation. In early
life he was very subject to derangements in the stomach and bowels ; and
at the present time suffers frequently from different modifications of
these maladies, as costiveness, occasional diarrhea, acidity of the
stomach, heart-burn, &c. &c., with their usual train of sympathetic
affections, involving parts of the organism at a distance from the
primary seats of disease into a participation of their suffering.
At
the time of the occurrence of the accident, he was afflicted with
acidity of the stomach, and by an unusual and irritating quantity of the
matter of urea in tile secretion kidneys; for the relief of which, he
was in the habitual use of aperients, ant-acids, &c.
Mr. H.,
Professor of Mathematics in the University of Nashville, was engaged as
usual in his recitation room, in attendance upon the morning exercises
of his class, till 11 o'clock in the forenoon. He then buttoned his
surtoot coat close around him, and walked briskly thus clothed to his
residence, a distance of about three-fourths of a mile, taking exercise
enough to produce a glow low of warmth on the surface of his body,
without inducing fatigue, but feeling at the same time his usual acidity
of the stomach for which he resolved to take some soda as a remedy
within a short time. Having arrived at his lodging, he pulled off his
over-coat and kindled a fire, by placing a few pieces of dry wood on
three burning coals which he found in the fire-place, of the magnitude
of two inch cubes each; and immediately left the fire, and retired to a
remote part of the room and made his observation, on the weight and
temperature of the atmosphere as indicated by the barometer and
thermometer, which were suspended in that situation. He then took the
dew-point by the thermometer. These operations, together with the
registration of their results, occupied about thirty minutes. This
having been accomplished, he went immediately into the open air, made
observations of the hygrometer, and was beginning his observations upon
the velocity and direction of the winds. He had been engaged in this
latter process about ten immures, his body all the while sheltered from
the direct impression of the wind, when he felt a pain
as, if produced by the pulling of a hair, on the left leg, and which
amounted in degree to a strong sensation. Upon applying his hand to the
spot pained, the sensation suddenly increased, till it amounted in
intensity to a feeling resembling the continued sting of a wasp or
hornet. He then began to slap the part by repeated strokes with the open
hand, during which time the pain continued to increase in intensity, so
that he was forced to cry out from the severity of his suffering.
Directing his eyes at this moment to the suffering part, he
distinctly saw a light flame of the extent at its base of a ten
cent piece of coin, with a surface approaching to convexity, somewhat
flattened at the top, and having a complexion which nearest resembles
that of pure quicksilver. Of the accuracy in this latter feature in the
appearance of the flame, Mr. H. is very confident, notwithstanding the
unfavorable circumstances amidst which the observation must have been
made. As soon as he perceived the flame, he applied over it both his
hands open, united at their edges, and closely impacted upon and around
the burning surface. These means were employed by Mr. H. for the purpose
of extinguishing the flame by the exclusion of the contact of the
atmosphere, which he knew was necessary to the continuance of every
combustion. The result was in conformity with the design, for the flame
immediately went out. As soon as the flame was extinguished, the pain
began to abate in intensity, but still continued, and gave the sensation
usually the effect of a slight application of heat or fire to the body,
which induced him to seize his pantaloons with one of his hands and to
pinch them up to a conical form over the injured part of the leg,
thereby to remove them from any contact with the skin below. This
operation was continued for a minute or two, with a design of
extinguishing any combustion that be present in the substance of his
apparel, but which was not visible at the time. At the beginning of the
accident, the sensation of injury was confined to a spot of small
diameter, and in its progress the pain was still restricted to this
spot, increasing in intensity and depth to a considerable extent, but
without much if any enlargement of the surface which it occupied at the
beginning. A warmth was felt to a considerable distance around the spot
primarily affected, but the sensation did not by any means amount to the
degree of the feeling of pain. This latter sensation was almost, if not
entirely, confined to the narrow limits which bounded the seat of the
first attack, and this sensation was no otherwise modified during the
progress of the accident, than by its increasing intensity and deeper
penetration into the muscles of the limb, which at its greatest degree
seemed to sink an inch or more into the substance of the leg.
Believing the combustion to have been extinguished by by means just
noticed, and the pain having greatly subsided, leaving only the feeling
usually the effect of a slight burn, he untied and pulled up his
pantaloons and drawers, for the purpose of ascertaining the condition of
the part that had been the seat of his suffering. He found a surface on
the outer and upper part of his left leg, reaching front the femoral end
of the fibula in an oblique direction, towards the upper portion of the
grastrochnemii muscles, about three fourths of all inch in
width, and three inches in length, denuded of the scarfskin,
and this membrane gathered into a roll at the lower edge of the
abraded surface. The injury resembled very exactly in
appearance an abrasion of the skin of like extent and depth, often the
effect of slight mechanical violence, except that the surface of
it was extremely dry, and bad a complexion more livid than that
of wounds of a similar extent produced by the action of mechanical
causes.
The condition of the pantaloons and drawers was next
carefully inspected. The left leg of the drawers, at a
point exactly corresponding with the part of the leg which had suffered
injury, and at a point accurately correspondent, to the abraded surface,
were burnt entirely through their substance.
They were not in the slightest degree scorched beyond this limit, the
combustion appearing to have stopped abruptly, without the
least injury to any portion of the drawers which had not been totally
consumed by its action. The pantaloons were not burnt at all. But their
inner surface opposite to and in contact with the burnt portion of
the drawers, was slightly tinged by a thin frostwork of a dark yellow
bile. The material of this color, however, did not penetrate the texture
of the pantaloons, which were made of broadcloth, but seemed to rest
exclusively upon the extremities of the fibres of wool which were the
materials of its fabric. The coloring matter was entirely scraped off
with the edge of a penknife, without cutting the woolly fibres, after
which there remained upon the garment no perceptible trace of the
combustion, with which they had been in contact. The pantaloons may be
said, with entire propriety, to have suffered no injury of any kind from
the accident. The drawers, which were composed of a mixture of silk and
wool, were made tight and close at the ankle, and tied with tape over a
pair of thick woolen socks, in such manner as to prevent even the
admission of air to the leg through their inferior opening. Considering
the injury not to be of a serious character, Mr. H. bestowed upon its
treatment no particular care or attention, but pursued his usual
avocations within doors and in the open air, which was very cold, until
the evening of the succeeding day. At this time the wound became
inflamed and painful, and was dressed with a salve, into the composition
of which the rosin of turpentine entered in considerable proportion.
This treatment was continued for four or five days, during which time
the wound presented tile usual aspect of a burn from ordinary causes,
except in its greater depth and more tardy progress towards
cicatrization, which did not take place till after thirty-two days from
the date of the infliction of the injury. The part of the ulcer which
healed last, was the point of the inception and intensity of the pain at
the time of attack, and which point was evidently the seat of deeper
injury than any other portion of the wounded surface.
About the fifth
day of the accident, a physician was requested to take charge of the
treatment, and the remedies employed were such chiefly as are usual in
the treatment of burns from other causes, except that twice a week, the
surface of the ulcer was sprinkled over with calomel, and a dressing of
simple cerate applied above it. In the space between the wound and the
groin there was a considerable soreness of the integuments to the touch,
which continued during the greatest violence of the effects of the
accident, and then gradually subsided. The cicatrix is at this time,
March 24th, entire ; but its surface is unusually scabrous, and
has a much more livid aspect than that of similar scars left after the
infliction of burns from common causes. The dermis
seems to have been less perfectly regenerated than is usual from burns
produced by ordinary means, and the circulation through the
part is manifestly impeded, apparently in consequence of atony
of its vessels, to an extent far beyond anything of a similar nature to
be observed after common burns. Since the wound has healed the
health of the patient has been as perfect as usual, and while the wound
continued open, his ordinary occupations were interrupted by a week's
confinement only to his chamber. The accident occurred on the fifth of
January of the present year, the day intensely cold and the thermometer
standing at only eight degrees above zero, sky clear and calm and the
barometrical of the atmosphere being 29.248. Such is the history of the
case of partial spontaneous combustion, which has recently occurred in
this city. The facts have been stated as nearly as practicable in the
words of the sufferer himself, and are consequently entitled to all the
credit attributable to any statement of a similar character, which is or
can be supplied by the annals of the profusion. The character of the
accident bears a striking similitude to the case of partial spontaneous
combustion already noticed, and may hence, to future investigators,
contribute not unimportant aid in the discussion or the subject which is
the object of this essay.
[Some of Dr. O.'s remarks on the causes of
spontaneous combustion, will be given in a future number.]
Source:
The Boston Medical and Surgical Journal, Volumes 13-14, page 25-28
|
