Spontaneous combustion

[Drusilla]

I read that in the forthcoming BBC dramatisation of Bleak House, one of the main characters dies as a result of this occurence. Is this mere fantasy, as I suspect, or is there any scientific evidence to suggest spontaneous combustion is possible?

[vinhqwerty]

check this website out, it should explain it for you:

http://science.howstuffworks.com/shc.htm

[steveb]

or try this

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spontaneous_human_combustio n

[Drusilla]

Thanks vinhqwerty. I've just read the info. on the site you provided. Fascinating! Many thanks, again.

[Peter Pedant]

Isnt it Mr Crook ?

The description, and the discovery by Mr Guppy is so good that Dickens may well have spoken to someone who had witnessed this.

Good prog on the beeb on this - about ten years ago.

Dupuytren 1830 was the first to suggest the 'modern' explanation