A THEORY OF SPONTANEOUS HUMAN COMBUSTION.

A THEORY OF SPONTANEOUS HUMAN COMBUSTION. Charles Dickens had a character in BLEAK HOUSE die by spontaneous combustion. The possibility of this occurring has been debated—and fore the most part rejected—ever since. This wikipedia article says that there have been about 200 claimed occurrences in the last 300 years. Amanda Foreman in the Wall Street Journal (Sept. 7-8) reports on a new theory as to how spontaneous human combustion could occur. The proponent is Brian Ford, a research biologist at Cambridge University. Ford’s experiment used belly pork soaked in acetone, which is highly flammable. The liver of someone with ketosis can produce toxic levels of ketones, which contain acetone. The theory is that a tiny spark can set off a fire in a person with ketosis.