Dickens defended spontaneous human combustion in his writings

In February 1853, Dickens found himself at odds with George Henry Lewes who published two open letters in the Leader to contest the spontaneous human combustion killing Krook in chapter 32. The writer replied with two long missives containing references he deemed irrefutable, before repeating this argument in his September 1853 preface. Paul Schlicke subsequently noted that, despite his scientific errors, most readers saw in this death a work of pure imagination.