Litchfield enquirer., 1837-03-23
FFoa e PRaadslphis RssIie LsIgs'. EXTRAORDINARY CASE.

existing in the stomach Of man. when a' bout fifteen years ofage, he stopped to drink at spring in field, and while drinking, fel . sensation resembling that produced by . solid substance gliding down his throat. | caused no pain or uneasiness at the time, anC he supposed it to be bit of grass or some other harmless substance. About six weeks afterwards, he felt a singular sensation in the stomach, resembling the movement oi nv
 ing animal, and sometimes attended with uLl- pleasant irritation or titillation, esPeclaIly
 inst before meals, and when he had been . 2 long time without food. Immediately, ana for Several hours after full neal all uh- pleasant sensations subsided: Inese sysmIRI
 toms continued to increase till the tnn' .I.. completed: he suffering almost constant un- easiness, and sometimes excruclatlng pam. His anpetite was very irregular, being some- times so small that he would not consume
 more than an ounce of solid food daily for a
 weeE !. and other times it was so voracious, that he would eat five pounds of beef daily for a month. One remarkable symptom was that during these periods of abstemiousness, he gained flesh at the rate of ten pounds weekly, and during the periods of voracity, he lost it in still greater degree, and was sometimes exceedingly emaciated. While gaining flesh under this loss of appetite ms pulse was irregular, the digestive organs gS much deranged, his sleep disturbed, ana sometimes entirely suspended for forty.elght hours. He suffered severely from pain m the
 occ;nital region of the head, in the shoulder
 HIa5eS inc thumb of the left hand, and the oreat toe ofthe right foot. His complexion was of A cadaverous paleness, and he was subject, nightly, to profllse colllquatlve sweats. But while losing flesh under Vora- cious appetite, all the functions were pertor- med with regularity, his pulse was regular his sleep sound, and his complexion was or
 healthy hue, inclined to be forld. m ne meantime the abdomen increased greatly Tn s;ze. and motion like that of cat in bag, | was annarent to the hand when laid upon the Ynoion off the stomach. But he was at all
 times subject to fainting fits of peculiar kind. Sometimes he dropped down sudden | lv, without sense or motion. At other times he nearly fell, but recovered immediately, | though always attended with prostration of strength for some hours afterwards. The sensation, as he described it, was that of vi- olont blow within the stomach, and very much like that produced by an electric shock, excepting in being more local.
 Such extraordinary symptoms denoted some extraordinary cause of disturbance.-- He had been for ten years under the care ot his family physician, and had been subject ed to various modes of treatment, without a. nv abatement of these symptoms. He had taken the most active ernetics, and the most drastic cathartics, without any good effects. When arterial action was high, he was bled copiously, sometimes losing sixteen ounces daily for three days excessively. When 1t was low, the most powerful stimulants were administered; opium, ether, brandy, bark, being sometimes exhibited, each in sufficient quantities to kill man of ordinary health and strength. All the while he insisted that soine living animal was in his stomach, and related the incident at the spring, and his subsequent sensations. His physician was things, but did not consider any case well authenticated, or believe that an animal could resist the solvent power of the gastric
 fluids in the human stomach. The patient, finding every unpleasant symptom increas-
 ing, resolved to seek additional aid, and a
 consultation was ordered. Five of our most
 eminent physicians attended, and after mi- mute examination, came tothe conclusion that the conjecture of the patient was probable; for though neither of them had ever witnes- sed case of living animal in the human stomach, yet several cases were recorded which they considered authentic. They al-
 so said that comparative anatomy furnished analogies; for living frogs, toads, and fishes 1 had been found in the stomachs of snakes, many hours after they had been swallowed, and that this proved the power of the vital
 principle in resisting, to some extent, the sol vent power of the gastric fluids.
 Having assumed this hypothesis as proba- ble, they next proceeded to act upon it. They rejected all medicines, very properly con-
 cluding that If the vital principle could resist
 the solvent powers of the stomach, it would resist the action of any substances which the stomach was able to bear; and concluding also that as powerful medicines had already failed, it was not philosophical to repeat them.
 They ordered entire abstinence from all
 food; and accordingly, the patient took none for five days. During this period the pain in
 the stomach was excruciating, and the motion
 violent resembling that of spiral revolution of rope upon cylinder. The pain becom- ing too intense to bear, for the patient was in raving delirium, the physicians suggested that opium might act upon the nerve of the stomach, without affecting the animal, if it were one, and that in search of food, 1t might force its way through the osophagus. This was tried and with success; the patient be- ing thrown into disturbed sleep while the
 motion in the stomach increased in violence.
 He was then held in recumbent position, with the face downward, and the body incli- ned to an angle of forty-five degrees. the head being lowest In about ten minutes. the cause of the difficulty was manifest. A snake, of dark brown color, and large size, protruded full eight inches from the mouth,
 with it's eyes bright and glaring with every
 manifestation of rage: One of the physi-
 clans immediately seized it by the neck,
 with the intention of drawing it out, but sud-
 denly fell fiat upon the aoor. without sense
 or motion, as if struck by lightning! Like
 the conger eel, the torpedo. and several oth-
 or species of marine animals. the reptile was
 slectric, and thus were the fainting fits of the