Litchfield enquirer. [volume] (Litchfield, Conn.) 1829-current, 1858-05-20
TaE WOMAN WHO LIVES WITHOUT EAr,xe

THE WOMAN WHO Lives WITHOUT EArISG.-
We lave published several letters respect
ing this extraordinary case of suffering they
are important to scicntif: men, and painfully
interesting to all The following is written by
Rev S. r Williams to the Christian Adyo.
cate =
Mrs. Hayes is not yet dead And after
reading all that has appeared III the Advocate
in regard to her, ! venture to communicate d
few thoughts upon her case Before she pass
ed into this peculiar and affective condition,
her health was for some length Of time ex-
tremely poor. She ate but little, and that lit
tie occasioncd a considerable amount of suf-
fcring Sometimes it threw her into spasms.
For nearly a year before she ceased to take
refreshments altogether, she Lived wholly, or
nearly SO, ..noon the juice Of dried rasbnrres,
until that became source of suffering. Then.
for time, she took occasionally u small quail
tity of cold water; and it is now nearly
year since she swallowed any liqaid, to the
knowled OF any one. Indeed have no doubt
that teaspoonfnl Of liqlid put. inf q hcr mouth
would be the cause Of her dean unless the
spasmodic action Of her throat should expel it.
Any person to see her ten minutes must be sat-
isfied that there is no deception in her case
Her head and shou ldcrs, one OF the other, are
in perpetual motion. She is frequently thrown
forward, until she is nearly doubled together,
and then the head thrown back, and her neck
literally doubled, and the body forced back,
and Whole face, chin and all entirely buried in
the pillow. This is done several times success
lively in less time than take in writing it
The last time i'll the series the face will remain
nearly buried iu the pillow, and she does not
breathe for ten or fifteen minutes Once she
remained sixty-two Minutes without breathing
When this is over, and the spasin passes of,
she struggles for breath, and her head is roll
ed from side to side almost with the yelosity
81 lightning for a moment or two; the face
becomes red with the rush Of blood to the
head, and the skin quite moist with perspira-
ten Then the spasm subsidies iuto gentle
motion of the jaw and shoulder, keeping time,
as one would think, with the action of the
heart, Her skin about the face, neck, chest
and hands is delicate and healthy assthe skin
of an infant. The pnlsations OF her blood
about the chest, neck, head and arms, though
exceedingly delicate, are quite regular Her
hair does not grow, nor is it worn of her head
as one would naturally suppose, except a little
just upon the crown The action of the liver
is entirely suspended, of course The action
and state Of the lungs are perfectly healthy
They have been thoroughly examined by skill
full physicians with the aid of q stethoscope,
and are supposed to be perfect Her ncurish-
ment is wholly from the atmosphere. The last
nutriment indeed the last swallow of water
she was known to take, was in the last Of
June, 1857. The last time she was known to
be conscious was last December. When she
comes out of these long spasms she seems to
cry for moment, ike an infant in distress
At such times her husband thinks she may be
conscious. 1t is most distressing to hear it.
She is not above the ordinary laws Of disease.
She has recently had thorough case of the
nlumps, precisely as others have them. Her
nails upon her fingers, like her hair, do not
grow at ALL" *.ss