The morning call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1878-1895, 1891-05-10
WONDERFUL SURGERY.
A Girl With a Hair Eating Mania Saved From
Certain Death.

One of the most peculiar habits on record
was that of Mary Preston, q beautiful young
girl, who took the prize at the Cooper Insti-
tute Art School for the finest crayou sketch.
No one would ever dream that there was
anything eccentric in her composition, be-
cause she hid her peculiar practice under
the veil of secrecy. She began it when
she was little girl, continued it through
childhood, and only stopped when the sur
geon's knife got in its fue work. Her habit
was eating hair. 1t did not make any diff
ference whose hair 1t was or what the color.
According to her own story, she could not
have been more than years Of age when
she began to chew the ends of her long
curls. Her hair was beautiful shade of
auburn, sweet enough almost for any one to
eat; that is, If ones taste ran in that direc-
ton. Little Miss Preston chewed off her
curlS and swallowed the mouthtulS OF hair
with as much pleasure as the ordinary child
would piece OF candy.
She became very i'll on her return from
Europe about year ago. Probably foreign
hair did not agree with her cultivated taste.
She had a severe gastric trouble, and all
food that she took WAS rejected almost as
quickly a. it was swallowed. Her case puz-
lied the physicians. There was no evidence
of tumor. and the slightest symptom of can
Ger could not be detected. She was Starv-
ing to de ith, and to give her relief it was
decided by DR.. Arbuckle, the consulting
surgeon of ST. Luke's Hospital, TO make an
opening into the stomach from the side,
through which she could be fed.
Alter a special course of tonic treatment
she was placed upon the Operating-table
and given an anesthetic. The inclsion was
made in the left side, about five inches long,
and the stomach exposed. The most care
full examination of the stomach and other
organs externally failed to show the slight
est evidence of sarcOma, and there was
nothing TO warrant the continuance OF the
operation. The stomach was enlarged
somewhat, but nothing remarkable. The
wound was closed in the abdomen.
The patient was losing strength and
vitality every day. Something had to be
done for her. 1t was settled that there
must be another operation, though for
what purpose was not apparent. An in
cision was made in the median line OF the
abdomen, and the walls were held apart
with retractors.
The surgeon cautiously slit open the
stomach, and a remarkable discovery was
made. The whole interior was filled with a
long growth of hair. which grew from the
bottom Of the organ upward. There was
also lot OF loose hair. Such condition
had never been seen before, and the surgeon
did not know what to do. The hair when
touched had waving motion that was very
peculiar. Some of it was cut out, and on
bugs that seemed to be all legs. The bodies
were blue and heads red. 1t was an en-
tirely new addition to the bug tribe. Al1of
the hair was cut from the stomach aud the
bugs saved. Some was pulled out by the
roots, and produced an active hemorrhage.
The stomach was carefully sutured, the
abdominal wound closed and developments
awaited.
The patient was greatly improved, and
when the wonnd in the stomach had healed
was able 10 take nourishment. Her food
digested well, and it was thought that she
had been cured. She stopped eating hair,
but the hair in the stomach did not stop
growing. When it became long there was
the same interference with digestion as be-
fore, and there was another Grafton.
This time a radical cure was attempted.
The abdomen was opened, the stomach cut
the entire length. and the hair was shaved
close to the membrane. Then the section in
which the hairy growth originated was re-
moved with delicate pair of scissors. This
was used as a pattern to obtain from the
stomach Of a young pig piece exactly the
same size. This was removed from the pig
without giving an anesthetic, and, while
the membrane was pulsating with life, it
was quickly transferred TO the PATIENTS
body.
To suture it nicely was very difficult
task, because the membrane in the woman
and that in the pig were not the same
quality and elasticity. The sutures were
made with the finest silk, and sixty-seven
little knots were tied close together. 1t was
grand suecess-one of the boldest attem pts
in modern surgery to unite two differently
constructed membranes. The patient re-
manned in a critical condition for several
days, but. with close attention to nursing
and treatment, she became eonvalesclng.-
N. Y. Cor. Cincinnati Enquirer.