Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1889-12-13
ARTIST JACksoNs EXPERIENCE

| An 10 UHCNSON . ENPEHIENCE.
The following story, told in an Albany
dispatch to the st. Louis Globe-Demo-
crat, is vouched for as true by the patient,
now resident of this town: "The
strange case of William jackson, whose
breath was inflammable, excited great
deal of interest in medical and scientific
circles two years ago. At that time Mr.
jackson was photographer in Fayette-
willie n. Y. More recently he has been
engaged in the same business in Middle
bury, Vt. One evening at 10 o'clock he
lighted lamp with match. Then,
with breath of air, sought to "blow
out the match" Instantly his breath
took fire with "A slight explosion. Jack
son gasped with fright, and the flame of
the combustible air entered his mouth
and blistered his tongue. His lips and
face also suffered, and his mustache, eye
brows and the hair above his eyebrows
were singcd to marked degree. The
man was at first badly frightened and his
wife, who was witness of the occur
renee, screamed with alarm.
"After waiting an hour to see if there
would be repetition of the phenomenon
Jackson went to bed. The next morning
he, consulted his ply stefan, DR.. r. +.
Qulnby, who recognized the case as IA
very singular one, and engaged the writ
er of this article to report it f)r the medi-
cal Journals. The truth of the reports
were at first questioned on all sides, but
after the matter was thoroughly investi-
gated it was admitted that such case
might possibly occur. Then in 1874 it
was learned that a European medical
journal had published report of sim
liar phenomenon. and musty scientific
tones were searched, and one item dis
covered that Snhs t.p 10 taI IN.
Then jackson discovered that he could
reproduce the phenomenon almost at will,
but as the experiment sometimes resulted
in unpleasant burns he would exhibit his
popularity only on special occasions.
AT last medical men figured out a
theory to explain the freak. They came
to the conclusion that it was not the
breath from Jackson's lungs but air belch-
ed from his stomach that would take fire.
The patient had never been a drinking
man, so the gas was not rendered nflanl-
mabie by the presence of alcoholic vapor.
but for years he had suffered from IL pc
culiar kind of dyspepsia DR.. William
Manlius Smith. professor of chemistry in
the Syracuse Medical college, after care
full study concluded that food in Jack
sons stomach underwent butyric acid
fermentation, one of the products of
which was light carburetted hydrogen,
sometimes called 'marsh gas" the "fire
damp" of mines. jackson understood Il
little about chemistry, and one day he
and the writer went to an old stagnant
pond and collected a bottleful of ''marsh
gas" When lighted it exploded and
burned precisely as did Jackson's breath
The gas was collected by holding the
bottle under the surface of the pond, stir
ring up the mud in the bottom of the
pond, and catching in the bottle the bub-
bles of gas as they arose. Jackson i:
about 30 years old and genuine Yankee
He is bright humorist, and AS genial {
fellow as one ever has the pleasure Of
meeting. He has been newspaper man
Indian fighter, photographer and half ,
dozen other things. He is also an arts
j of no mean ability. His wife was form
erly his school teacher
! jackson became afflicted with dyspep
STA in peculiar way. He didn't get it by
living too much on the fat of the lane
| and rare old WHISTLES and wines but h,
got it on the plains of the far West. HI
/ was out with a party of hunters. One
i day he became separated from his friends
and all efforts to find them were futile
| At last he gave up the search. anC
4 started out for the nearest settlement
/ He had used all his ammunition befor,
i realizing that he was lost, and it wa
! impossible for him to kill any wild game
= He was about ten days reaching a settle
/ ment, during which time he subsistet
/ upon II few berries, leaves, grasses, ant
! roots. His health for a long time wa
very miserable as Il result of the priva
! tions he suffered. but he at last recover
ed, with the exception of his stomach
That was completely ruined, and wa
| bound never again to do good work."