Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1861-01-12
THE HERALD.
from the Boscobel Express.1
ost A1orte1n Exa1nlnation.

Mr.. john TYLER died on the 9th Of
December, about 0 o'clock in the forenoon.
BY request of his friends, post-mortem
examination was held. 1t was the opinion
Of competent physicians that bis disease was
of tire stomach, mainly; others, less COM
petent to Judge, fancied other things to be
the matter; the deceased, during the last
stage Of his illness, thought he was afflicted
by the presence of an animal in his stom-
ach-his opinion was that it was snake.
The particular object of the examination
was to satisfy his friends and the commu.
nifty in reference to his real disease. About
three weeks previous to his death, / was
called to see him. lie at that time had
not taken any food for about week. He
was extremely emaciated, beng literally
nothing but skin and bone. He told me
he had a snake In him which he had been
feeding for long time, and he had come
to the conclusion TO starye it to death. He
thought the snake was then sufficiently
starved to be induced to come out Of his
mouth, II it could be assured of good
meal ! endeavored to persuade him that
there was no snake or other animal in his
stomach or bowels, but all to no purpose.
Nothing would do but to broil piece oil
fresh meat and hold it to his mouth, while
he lay on the bed with his head over the
edge, and his mouth wide open. After le-
manning ia this position until he was tired,
he came to the conclusion that the snake
was not sufficiently starved. | endeayored
10 persuade nm to relinquish the idea Of
any animal being in his stomach OF bowels
and to commence a careful course OF diet,
in hopes that he might gradually get bet
ter, but without avail. He continued fast
ing for about three weeks longer, and final
" died at the time above stated, after hay-
ING gone twenty-seyen days without taking
anything into his stomach but little salt
and water, and thirty-seyen days without
having a passage from his bowels. The
time during which life can be supported
without food or drink, as laid down by
psychologists, is from eight to fifteen days.
DR.. Wilton records the case of a young
man who laid sixty days without taking
nourishment, except little orange juice
{ Carpenters Physiology, page 397.
The outside of the stomach appeared
quite natural. Upon making an incision
through its coats, it was found to contain
about an ounce and half of yellow bile in
a fluid state. The stomach was in per-
fectly collapsed condition and very much
contracted. The mucus membrane lay in
rug0, in longitudinal direction, and was
considerably thickened and altered in color,
and somewhat softened-not single par
ticle of the mucus membrane being in a
healthy condition; the most healthy APP
pcarance being about the entrance Of the
oesophagus, the color at this place being of
a somewhat dingy red, which color gra(,li-
ally darkcned toward the plyorus, for some
extent above which it was Of a dark brown.
There were no alterations of the mucus
membrane. Ny attention was drawn to
number Of little dopressions in the mem
brane, which at the time appeared like Ill
cerations, but, upon close examination, /
discovered were not. ] consider the whole
of this mans suffering and death as Deepen
dent solely upon the disease ofhis stomach,
viz: chronic inflammation Of the stomach
coming under the particular head oil
Gdstorrhoea. The lungs, heart, liver,
spleen and intestines, all presented healthy
appearance. The bowels contained very
moderate quantity Of feces.
D. w. CARLEY, M. d.