The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1826-09-21 00:00:00

EXTRAORDINARY CASE.

[From the Danifsica Courier.]
The farm of Gillespie, in the parish of Glenioce. skirts the shore,
is about six miles frit n (ilenluce, on the Port ‘Viiham road, and is
manager by a grieve, who has several families of cotters under Irian,
mostly Irish, and who live in small cottages adjoining each other.
On Friday the Ist current, a Ltd of about 18 years of age (eldest
son of James Martin, one of the cotters.) discovered on the tea
beach the body of a young calf, which, to all appearance, had been
washed in by the morning's tide. The said yout't skinned the ani-
mal, and took the skin home ; and although there was plenty of
other victuals in the house, his mother carried away a portion of
the flesh, washed it well, put it into a pot whit fresh water, and, on
going to bed, allowed the cements to simmer over tine tire till the
Saturday fiallowin,r. As the dinner hour approached, the flesh was
carefully separated. from the bones, minced small, and fried with
butter, salt, and pepper, in a pan matte of pot metal. Of this
meal, James Martin, his wife, anti six of their family, partook, one
child only refusing to taste it, as also four children belonging to
John Smith, •Ito lodges under the same roof, and a little girl,
daughter of another cotter, a ;Mettle:l'We daughter, named Temple-
ton, and an old woman from Olenluee, alt ate (though the hot two
rather sparingly) of the veg. Indeed the shepherd's daughter only
took a few tea spoonfuls, while the old woman's pOrlitni of the pu-
trid mess tlitl not, she says. exceed the first joint of her thumb in
hulk. As no bad consequences were apprehended, the grown per-
sons went to work, and the children to play : but in the course of
three hours or so, James Martin was seized with pain in the
stomach, severe diarrhwa, great desire to votnitond other symptoms
indicating complete exhaustion of body. Martin had caws. freely
of the veal, and he died about nine o'clock the same night. All the
others became similarly affected ; anti the debility and narcotic ef-
fects were so great, that when the surgeons arrived, they found them
in a comatose state—their countenances pale and livid—pulse small,
and in some of the patients scarcely discernible. Before strong
emetics of sulphas eiuei could be administered, the patients had to
be shaken repeatedly with the view of rousing them; and when left
to themselves, they immediately relapsed into a lethargic state.
Emetics, with warm water to promote their action, were given to
all, save poor Martin, who died just as the surgeons arrived ; and
plenteous vomiting was farther incited byiintroducing a feather into
the oesophagus. Strong purgatives followed the emetics, and
although they took effect in every case, the patients next day
exhibited such heaviness and prostration of strength, that brandy
and water was administered in pretty free doses, with tha
view of stimulating and restoring the nervous energy. During
the first night, persons were employed to keep the patients from
sleeping—as sleep seemed to be to each the forerunner of death—
and by the third day, all, with the exception of the girl and the old
woman Miller. were able to rise and walk about ; and although
these individuals are still confined to bed, their ultimate recovery
is not doubted. The patients, when at the worst, looked wild and
stupid on being roused and shaken as it were into consciousness,
and, independently of a deadly cadaverous hue, there was some-
thing almost indescribable in the expression of their countenances.
The poor children, as they became affected, laid themselves down
wherever they happened to be playing at the time; torpor, in this
situation, soon over:ook them, and two of them, who were missing,
were found after dark in a potato field, locked in one another's
arms, as if fast asleep. The remains of James Martin were in-
terred early on Monday morning. Weed his body became so soon
putrid after death, that a coffin had to be made for it on Sunday.
On examining part of the mess of food, nothing remarkable was
distinguished, save blackness anti fteter, but the uncooked veal
had a white and shining appearance like glass, and was evidently
in such a mortified state, that its smell alone went far to occasion

nausea and fainting. Appearances, however, must have been very
different whtn the veal was newly taken out of the sea, if we may
credit the testimony of the woman who cooked it, who persists in
mating that it had then no smell whatever. If a portion of it. as
,:een on Sunday, hail been applied to a fresh wound, the probability
is that death would have ensued ; and it appears that putrid animal
food, when taken into the stomach, products narcotic effects on the
nervous system, similar to those superinduced by a poisonous dose
of opium or hemlock. Bleeding, which was resorted to in some
instances, appeared to have an excellent effect, and particularly in
the case of 51artin's son, the young man who found the calf.
When life was nearly extinct, and even after the emetics and ca.
tharticx had been tried, the bleeding had stimulated the action of
the heart, and restored the pulsation. The brandy, too, was sin-
gularly efficacious; and it may be said, in conclusion, that the
above is one of the most extraordinary cases that ever occurred in
this part of the united kingdom.
J. lIEWET9OII, Surgeon.
A. AVCIACIEN, Surgeon.
Glenluce, Sept. 5, 11126.