DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.70302#0410
368 ANIMALS, &C. IN THE HUMAN STOMACH,
intervals, that extraordinary hunger; and having nothing
to appease it, he swallowed every thing that came in his
way.
It appears that he had contracted this habit by degrees,
that he had at first accustomed himself to swallow
small bodies which passed by the ordinary way, and
unfortunately persuaded himself, that larger would do the
same. Though it is extremely easy to demonstrate, that
the complaints with which he was afflicted were a neces-
sary consequence of what was discovered after his death,
it is just as impossible to conceive and explain, why
the symptoms he experienced were not much more acute,
alarming and decided ; and in particular, how he could
possibly swallow a piece of wood, eighteen inches long,
without any rupture of the pharynx and wind-pipe, and
without choaking himself. It would be in vain to attempt
to account, by reasonings, for a fact so wonderful and in-
comprehensible.
We shall conclude these observations, with a pheno-
menon less striking than the preceding; but which like-
wise overthrows the most firmly established theories.
Every one knows that verdigris is one of the most power-
ful poisons with which we are acquainted ; that when
taken in very small quantities, it sometimes occasions
the most fatal accidents, unless immediate assistance be
obtained. From the fact we are about to relate, which
is extracted from the memoirs of the academy of Co-
penhagen, it however appears, that a quantity of this
substance remained for a considerable time in the sto-
mach of a man without producing any sensible inconve-
nience.—A poor day-labourer having put into his mouth
two small pieces of copper coin which he had just re-
ceived, one of the pieces accidentally slipped down his
throat. It remained a long time in the middle of the
wind-pipe, where it occasioned violent pains, with spit-
ting
intervals, that extraordinary hunger; and having nothing
to appease it, he swallowed every thing that came in his
way.
It appears that he had contracted this habit by degrees,
that he had at first accustomed himself to swallow
small bodies which passed by the ordinary way, and
unfortunately persuaded himself, that larger would do the
same. Though it is extremely easy to demonstrate, that
the complaints with which he was afflicted were a neces-
sary consequence of what was discovered after his death,
it is just as impossible to conceive and explain, why
the symptoms he experienced were not much more acute,
alarming and decided ; and in particular, how he could
possibly swallow a piece of wood, eighteen inches long,
without any rupture of the pharynx and wind-pipe, and
without choaking himself. It would be in vain to attempt
to account, by reasonings, for a fact so wonderful and in-
comprehensible.
We shall conclude these observations, with a pheno-
menon less striking than the preceding; but which like-
wise overthrows the most firmly established theories.
Every one knows that verdigris is one of the most power-
ful poisons with which we are acquainted ; that when
taken in very small quantities, it sometimes occasions
the most fatal accidents, unless immediate assistance be
obtained. From the fact we are about to relate, which
is extracted from the memoirs of the academy of Co-
penhagen, it however appears, that a quantity of this
substance remained for a considerable time in the sto-
mach of a man without producing any sensible inconve-
nience.—A poor day-labourer having put into his mouth
two small pieces of copper coin which he had just re-
ceived, one of the pieces accidentally slipped down his
throat. It remained a long time in the middle of the
wind-pipe, where it occasioned violent pains, with spit-
ting