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Canadian Journal of Anesthesia, Vol 10, 83-85, Copyright © 1963 by Canadian Anesthesiologists' Society

Internal Combustion

J. D. WHITBY M.A., M.B., F.F.A.R.C.S.1

1 Anaesthetist, Department of Neurosurgery, Newcastle General Hospital, Newcastle-on-Tyne, England

The inflammability of intestinal gases was demonstrated by Vulparious in the seventeenth century. The main gases incriminated are methane and hydrogen and their production is increased by a leguminous diet or by excessive fermentation in cases of pyloric stenosis with gross gastric stasis.

The passive or active regurgitation of these gases can, if it (coincides with exposure to a near-by flame or static spark, result in an internal explosion.

The curious case of the Countess of Cesena in the eighteenth century is described. The writer, Bianchini, the Prebendary of Verona, attributed her death to a spontaneous internal combusion following a heavy intake of spirits and quoted many recorded phenomena to support his contention.






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Copyright © 1963 by the Canadian Anesthesiologists' Society.