SPONTANEOUS COMBUSTION

literally means the process of catching fire as a result of heat generated by internal chemical action. Used as a humorous alteration of the term spontaneous generation, which is the theory, now discredited, that living organisms can originate in nonliving matter independently of other living matter. —Dianetics 55! Glossary (app 9.7.90)

literally means the process of catching fire as a result of heat generated by internal chemical action. Used as a humorous alteration of the term spontaneous generation, which is the theory, now discredited, that living organisms can originate in nonliving matter independently of other living matter.literally, the process of catching fire as a result of heat generated by internal chemical action. Used as a humorous alteration of the term spontaneous generation, which is the theory, now discredited, that living organisms can originate in nonliving matter independently of other living matter.