The San Francisco call., 1895-11-24
A vERAC|OUS ACCOUNT OF THE
MAN WITH A FLYING STOMACH,
BY w. Q. MORROW.


looked grotesque and, horrible. Had he
been better informed his sensations likely
would have been of a very different order.
That afternoon he saw Monroe, appa-
rently in a normal state, board a north
bound train for San Francisco. The next
morning he repeated exactly the perform
ance of the day before-swung safely from
the flying train repeated the assurance
that his stomach had gone on, and laughed
with one side of his face and looked sol
emn with the other when his flying stom-
ach had come back. The station agent
reported the matter to the town marshal.
That officer called upon the hermit and
found him i'll and in great pain.
''It is my stomach" explained the suf-
ferer ''For two days I have been Jump
ing off the fast train at this station, and
on both occasions my stomach kept on.
In that way it seems TO have acquired the
habit OF leaving my body at will. AT this
moment it is absent, and accordingly
have an appalling sensation of emptiness
within me. Therel Oh! 1 have it again.
Did you see it come in? But when it does
come back it is so much bigger than before
that it seems likely to burst me.'
His face for a moment was distracted
with pain, and in the next instant he was
laughing immoderately. The marshal
then saw what the station agent had seen
the man could laugh with only one side
OF his face.
To the marshal's unframed discernment
the case appeared to be one either of IN
sanity or the delirium of fever
"You ought to have a DOCTOR" he sug-
gested.
"What for?'
ITO fix your stomach in tight, so that it
can't get away"
That's so; that's so. Now l know a
doctor. Pis name is Hooper, and he is
very bright, sharp young man. If you
telegraph for him in care of the Chief of
Police of San Francisco the message will
reach him and he will come. Will your"
The marshal cheerfully agreed, and DR..
Hooper arrived at the sufferers bedside
that night. After a reasonable length of
time the stranger died and DR.. Hooper's
certificate assigned peritonitis as the cause
OF death. He took so much interest in the
case that he held an autopsy, but did not
invite any other physician to assist him.
In an article on appendicitis written by
him and published some time afterward in
medical paper these passages occurred:
"The opening into the appendix veri-
formis varies in size in different indi-
vlduals. In some cases an object fully
haIf-inch in diameter may enter the ap-
pendix and set up the fatal Inflammation.
1t is even possible to imagine that the
favor1te plan among thieves of swallowing
precious stones which they have stolen
may result IN appendicitis by the acci-
dental entry of the stone into the ap-
pendix. As appendicitis is apt to develop
quickly into peritonitis, it would be easy
to ascribe death to the latter cause
Peculiar and unexpected symptoms
may accompany peritonitis. 1t may hap
pen, for instance, that delusions and even
dellrium may ensue from the febrile dis
turbance accompanying the ailment, and
that as the alimentary canal suffers directly
the delusion will be turned in that direc-
ton. Thus, man in the incipiency of
febrile arrangement may imagine that his
stomach has flown away and that when it
returns it is distressingly large.
Again, local paralysis of various kinds
may supervene. A peculiar case was that
of a man who, while suffering from ap-
pendicitis which had not yet reached its
most acute stage, but who nevertheless
had hallucinations, was paralyzed in one
side OF his face, so that this side remained
perfectly composed while the other was
normally distorted with merriment
"To remove and examine the foreign
object which has produced appendicitis is
a matter OF more interest than impor-
tance.'
The article contained many other things
equally instructive, but they need not be
reproduced here. 1t may be said, how
ever, that DIR. Hooper suddenly quit his
practice of going among the police and
that he turned his attention 10 fashionable
society. AT very private and select gather
ing he wears a wonderful diamond in his
shirt frort-a gem whose value runs into
the thousands. On these occasions the
splendid stone is regarded as evidence of
the brisk young physicians prosperity in
his profession.