I'm looking for a short story that gives a pseudo-scientific explanation for the biblical story of Lot's wife getting turned into a pillar of salt when fleeing Sodom and looking back.
I think the premise that the author was accidentally invited to speak at a science conference, for which he wrote the story as a medical case study of an extreme case of dehydration and electrolyte imbalance, caused by the shock the poor victim experienced by seeing her old home and city being destroyed. The case study ends with a quote of Genesis 19:26.
But Lot's wife looked back, and she became a pillar of salt.
Only then we learn the story is about the wife of Lot.
The story then concludes with something along the lines of
Needless to say, I was laughed out of the room.
I thought it was written by Asimov, but I can't find it in lists of his short stories. It may have been a collection compiled by him.
I read it in the mid-nineties, but it's probably older, as I'm pretty sure I read in a book that belonged to either my uncle or my grandfather.
Of course I've turned to Google, but to no avail.