Waterbury evening Democrat., 1890-01-06
CAN LIGHT HIS BREATH.
Tho Stra Case of William Jackson, of
 Middlebury, Vt.

The strange case of William Jackson, whose breath was inflammablo, excited great deal of interest in medical and scientific circles two years ago. At that time, says the Albany (N. Y.) Journal, Mir. Jackson was photographer in Fayetteville, N. Y. More recently he has been engaged in this same business in Middlebury, Vt. One evening at ten o'cloc.l 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 8 marked de- gree. The man was at first badly frightened, and his wife, who was 8 witness of tho occurrence, screamed with alarm.
 After waiting an hour to see if there would be a repetition of the phenom- enon, Jackson wont to bed. Tho next morning ho consulted his physician, Dr. T. E. Quinby, who recognized tho case as singular ono, and engaged the writer of this article to report it for tho 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 case might possibly occur. Then in 1874 it was learned that European medical journal had published report of sirni- lar phenomenon. and musty scien titic tonnes were searched, and ono item discovered that substantiated tho present. Then Jackson discovered that he could reproG zee tho phenomenon al most at will, 3ut as tho experiment. somet:-;cs resri ted in unpleasant burns he woull cxhi! t his peculiarity 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 Jack
 sons lungs, but air belchcd from his stomach, that would take fire. Tho patient had never bcen 8 drinking man, So the gas was not rendered inflam- mable by the presence of alcoholic vapor, but for years he had suffered from peculiar kind of dyspepsia. Dr. William Manlius Smith, professor of chemistry in the Syracuse Medical Col lege, after careful study concluded that food in Jackson'S stomach underwent a butyric acid fermentation, one of tho 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 and the writer went t,
 an old, stagnant pond and collected 8 | bottleful of ''marsh gas." When
 lighted it exploded, and burned pre- | cisely as did Jackson's breath. Tho | gas was collected by holding tho bottle
 under the surface of the pond. stirring
 up the mud in the bottom of tho pond,
 and catching in the bottle tho bubbles
 of gas as they arose. Jackson is about
 thirty years old and 8 genuine Yankee.
 He is bright humorist, and as genial a
 fellow as one ever has tho pleasure of
 meeting. He has been Q 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.