Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1890-01-22
GAN LIGHT HIS BREATH.
The Strange Case of william jackson. NJ
AIiddlebury. VT


The Strange Case of william jackson. OF
Middlebury. VT.
The strange case of William Jackson.
whose breath was infiammable, excited
. great deal of interest in medical and
scientific circles two years ago. At that
time, says the Albany On. W Journal.
Mr.. jackson was a photographer in
Fayetteville, N. Y. More recently he
has been engaged in this same business
In Middlebury, VT. One evening at ten
o'clock he lighted lamp with a match.
Then with a breath of air sought to
"blow out the match" Instantly his
breath took fire with slight explosion.
jackson 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 mus
tache, eyebrows and the hair above his
eyebrows were singed to a marked de-
gree. The man was at first badly
frightened, and his wife, who was a
witness of the occurrence, screamed
with alarm.
After waiting an hour to See If there
would be repetition of the phenom-
enon, Jackson went to bed. The next
morning he consulted his physician,
DR.. I. Z. Quinby, who recognized the
case as singular one, and engaged the
writer Of this article to report it for the
medical journals. The truth of the re-
ports was at first questioned on all
sides, but, after the matter was thor
oughly investigated, it was admitted
that such a case might possibly occur.
Then In 1874 it was learned
tha.. Iaropean medical journal
lad published report of SINH
lar phenomenon, and musty scien-
tific tones were searched, and one
item discovered that substantiated the
present. Then jackson discovered that
he could reproduce the phenomenon al
most 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 theory to explain the
freak. They came to the conclusion
that 1t was not the breath from Jack
sons lungs, but air belched from his
stomach, that would take fire. The
patient had never been drinking man,
80 the gas was not rendered inham-
mable by the presence OF alcoholic
vapor, but for years he had suffered
from a peculiar kind of dyspepsia. DIR.
William Manlius Smith, professor OF
chemistry in the Syracuse Medical Col
lege, after careful study concluded that
food in Jackson's stomach underwent q
butyrio acid fermentation, one of the
products Of which was light carbureted
hydrogen, sometimes called ''marsh
gas" the "firedamp" of mines. Jack
son understood little about chemistry
and one day he AID the writer went t,
an old, stagnant pond and collected a
bottleful of marsh gas" When
| lighted it exploded, and burned pre-
cisely as did Jackson's breath. The
gas was collected by holding the bottle
under the surface of the pond, stirring
up the mud in the bottom of the pond,
and catching in the bottle the bubbles
of gas as they arose. Jackson is about
thirty years old and genuine Yankee.
He is bright humorist, and as genial a
fellow as one ever has the pleasure of
meeting. He has been a newspaper
man, Indian fighter, photographer and
half dozen other things. He is also
an artist of no mean ability. His wife
was formerly his school-teacher.