The Disappearing Spoon: a science history podcast with Sam Kean · Sam Kean, Bleav
Hotter than the Dickens
May 20, 2025·18 min·1 clip
Skeptic George Lewis dismantled Dickens' belief in spontaneous combustion by citing experiments showing human organs, being 75% water, were too wet to burn.
As heard by us
A grisly London scene opens into the stories and science behind spontaneous combustion.
Spontaneous combustion is treated here as a meeting point for literary imagination, inherited authority, and medicine still finding its footing.
Why you'd press play
Press play if Dickensian hellfire and the history of blood circulation sound like a reasonable evening.
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