The Ohio Democrat. (Logan, O. [Ohio]) 1886-1906, 1894-07-28
HUMAN SWALLOWING POWERS.
SEVERAL Strange Cases in Tlmss Past 81
Unusual Articles Of Diet.

Unusual Articles OF Dict.
A man of the name of Owen Williams,
who made living by swallowing vari-
,us substances. such as leather, corks,
outlets and bits of iron, and who had
required local reputation as "the
human ostrich" died in London hos
pital recently from pcritonitis. Shortly
before his death, when questioned by
,ne of the hospital surgeons, he said
that he had been accustomed to ex-
aibiting himself and swallowing any
small articles that the spectators chose
20 give him, such, he said, as penny
pieces, hnlfpence, pieces of tin, parts of
newspapers, corlss. swivels, watch
.hains, keys, taclxs. nails and pieces of
-ibber."
| When an autopsy was performed upon
.he body the surgeons reported the
inding of the following remarkable
collection of articles which had been
swallowed:
Forty pieces of cork (cut bottle corlss).
Thirty pieces Of doubled tinfoil.
Nine pennies.
One iron ring (size of a penny.
Ten or twelve pieces of clay-pipe
stems.
A leaden bullet.
A rubber ring from a lemonade bottle.
Three pieces Of leather an inch square.
string, cotton, newspaper
A piece of leather, nine inches long,
with a stout hook at each end Zone OF
these hooks had been found in perfora.
tion).
A piece of string about foot long,
with tinfoil and corlss attached
A few other smaller things.
At the inquest, which was held after
the death of Williams, the keeper o1
the lodging house where he had lived
said that he was in the habit of wager
ing to eat the plate his food was on,
and then proceed to do it. He was also
known to have eaten bottles and other
articles.
The case has naturally aroused 6
great deal of discussion in medical cir
cles. 1t is pointed out that there are
two conditions or diseases known tt
science which might account for the
phenomenon, aside from mere igno
rance or recklessness. These are what
is called bulimy, or an inordinatc crav
ing for food, and polyphagism, or s
tendency to eat anything, a sort of uni
versal nervousness. Many stories are
told of the manifestations of these dis
eases, although the cases themselve!
are, comparatively speaking, very rare
Some of the feats which are on recort
as having been performed with i'm
punity are nothing less than astound
ing. Thus there are well authenti
Gated instances where men have de
voured the whole of a sheep or a pit
raw, and there is one case, that of 6
menagerie employe in Paris, who, it i
calmly asserted by the men of science
ate the whole of dead lion.
Another Partisan, of the name o
Tarrare, who made living by swal
lowing such things as corks, pebble
and whole apples, would OCCASIONAL,
eat live cat, and if the records are t.
believed, took to cannibalism.
A soldier of the seventeenth century
Francis Battalia by name, ate half
peck of small stones every day with hi
beer, and refused all other rations
This yarn is vouched for by several @
the leading men of his day, who seen
with reason, to have regarded the so
dier as remarkable curiosity.
To come nearer home, it is chronicle
that John Cummings, an America
) sailor who died in 1915 or Whereabouts
swallowed thirty-five clasp knives at
sitting, and lived for ten years aftel
ward, retaining number of the knive
in his stomach until the day of hi
death.-N. Y. Sun.