The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1892-03-21
A MARVELLOUS CASE.
BE Could Swallow Nothing Solid for
over Two Years
From the AuoustG tGG. } Herald.


From the AuGustd Ca Herald.
In Tuesdays Herald we pub lished piece
from the New Haven Register Of peculiar
case in that city.
A man by the nsme of r. H. Allen had
lived for thirty years there entirely on liquid
food.
The oesophagus or valve that carries the
food from the mouth to the stomach had
been strictured and would not admit the
passage Of liquid food.
Yesterday afternoon q Herald reporter
saw DIR. ID. &. Himrod on the streeG and
asked him II he had noticed the piece.
He said that he had, and had read it with
great deal of interest. as a similar case
had been treated by him in Augusta.
This was quite a surprise, and the re-
porter found that he had struck big item.
The story told by DR.. Himrod is as fol-
lows:
On Jan. 5, 1892, John M. Gregory, aged
81, a wood sawyer living in Harr sburg,
came to him complaining of difficulty In
swallowing which Lad troubled him for ten
years past.
Mr. Gregory's general health was good,
and, besides this trouble, was as hale and
hearty as any man OF his age in Augusta or
elsewhere In the country.
He gave the following history Of his case:
vi hhlCA w. AOOO, WLllo lu COul6Q6TdL9
service, no received a gunshot wound in the
right side, the ball entering the chest little
above and to the left Of the right nipple,
passing through the right lung and emerg-
ing beneath the scapular edge and In close
proximity to the spinal column. The wound
healed nicely and without trouble.
In 1867, during the month of June, after
a hard days work, sense of soreness was
felt along the track of the wound and ex
tended forward TO the sterum or breast
bone. This continued more or less severe
until July, 1890. when IL became exceed
ingly painful and an abscess formed, dis-
charging into the oesophagus, the matter en-
tering the stomach and was discharged
through the bowels. The point Of discharge
into the oesophagus was about the center
OF STERN, or about half way between the
stomach and mouth, which remained sore
and tender on pressure.
Soon after the discharge Of the abscess he
began to notice contraction of this oesoph.
agus and a difficulty in swallowing, which
had steadily increased until the time he
came to me.
He could swallow no solid food or cold
drinks, and his diet consisted of hot SOUP or
warm teas and milk. and these must be
taken in small quantities-a teasppoonful at
time-which he said lodged at the point
Of contraction and entered the stomach q
drop at time.
All solids of any kind, even soft bread,
would lodge at the contracted point, giving
great distress until brought up. He could
not by any force, by effort of mind err
drinking water. force anything through the
contracted eSophagus, but let it remain
there until it passed through drop at a time.
1t required fun half hour to drink cup
of thin Cruel or milk. placed this patient
on the remedy | have found so efficient in
structures of other parts Of the body, and
was rewarded in ten days to learn he could
see decided improvement. He could feel
peroeptihle enlargement Of the strictured
oritce. He could swallow a spoonful of
milk quite easily.
On Feb. s he reported that for three days
past he had been enabled to swallow readily
large mouthfuls of hot teas and Cruel, and
even meat and baked potatoes--a thing be
had not done before for two years. Soon
after he moved to Edgefield and from there
to some interior town in South Carolina,
and have lost sight Of him.
The cases, it will be seen, are very similar,
the only difference being that the New
Haven man could ges some sorts of solid
food In his stomach by swallowing water
just after it, while DIR. Himrod's patient
could take nothing except hot teas, gruels,
etc. which passed through the oesophagus
drop by drop.