NEWSPAPER FOLK LORE.
(Vol. vi., pp. 221. 338. 466.; Vol. ix., pp. 29. 84. 276)
Is it quite certain that "no animal can live in the alimentary canal but the parasites which belong to that part of the animal economy?" Being ignorant of the matter I give no opinion, but would bring before your readers' notice the following seemingly well-authenticated instance. I quote from Insect Transformations, 1830, p. 239., a work put forth by the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge.
"That insects are, in some rare cases, introduced into the human stomach, has been more than once proved, though the greater number of the accounts of such facts in medical books are too inaccurate to be trusted.[[3]] But one extraordinary case has been completely authenticated, both by medical men and competent naturalists, and is published in the Dublin Transactions, by Dr. Pickells of Cork.[[4]] Mary Riordan, aged twenty-eight, had been much affected by the death of her mother, and at one of her many visits to the grave seems to have partially lost her senses, having been found lying there on the morning of a winter's day, and having been exposed to heavy rain during the night. When she was about fifteen, two popular Catholic priests had died, and she was told by some old women that if she would drink daily, for a certain time, a quantity of water mixed with clay taken from their graves, she would be for ever secure from disease and sin. Following this absurd and disgusting prescription, she took from time to time large quantities of the draught; some time afterwards, being affected with a burning pain in the stomach (cardialgia), she began to eat large pieces of chalk, which she sometimes also mixed with water and drank.
"Now, whether in any or in all these draughts she swallowed the eggs of insects, cannot be affirmed; but for several years she continued to throw up incredible numbers of grubs and maggots, chiefly of the churchyard beetle (Blaps mortisaga). 'Of the larvæ of the beetle,' says Dr. Pickells, 'I am sure I considerably underrate, when I say that not less than 700 have been thrown up from the stomach at different times since the commencement of my attendance. A great proportion were destroyed by herself to avoid publicity; many, too, escaped immediately by running into holes in the floor. Upwards of ninety were submitted to Dr. Thomson's examination; nearly all of which, including two of the specimens of the meal-worm (Tenebrio molitor), I saw myself thrown up at different times. The average size was about an inch and a half in length, and four lines and a half in girth. The larvæe of the dipterous insect, though voided only about seven or eight times, according to her account, came up almost literally in myriads. They were alive and moving.' Altogether, Dr. Pickells saw nearly 2,000 grubs of the beetle, and there were many which he did not see. Mr. Clear, an intelligent entomologist of Cork, kept some of them alive for more than twelve months. Mr. S. Cooper cannot understand whence the continued supply of the grubs was provided, seeing that larvæ do not propagate, and that only one pupa and one perfect insect were voided[[5]]; but the simple fact, that most beetles live several years in the state of larvæ, sufficiently accounts for this. Their existing and thriving in the stomach, too, will appear the less wonderful from the fact that it is exceedingly difficult to kill this insect; for Mr. Henry Baker repeatedly plunged one into spirits of wine, so fatal to most insects, but it revived, even after being immersed a whole night, and afterwards lived three years.[[6]]
"That there was no deception on the part of the woman, is proved by the fact that she was always anxious to conceal the circumstance; and that it was only by accident that the medical gentlemen, Drs. Pickells, Herrick, and Thomson, discovered it. Moreover, it does not appear that, though poor, she ever took advantage of it to extort money. It is interesting to learn that, by means of turpentine in large doses, she was at length cured."
Edward Peacock.
Bottesford Moors, Kirton-in-Lindsey.
Footnote 2:[(return)]
In the Bibliotheca Grenvilliana the tract De Apostasia is not included, although the compilers say, "The present is a complete Collection of his Tracts, including the folding sheet."
See Good's Nosologia, Helminthia Alvi, and Study of Medicine, vol. i. p. 336.
Trans. of Assoc. Phys. in Ireland, vols. iv. viii. and v. p. 177. 8vo: Dublin, 1824-1828.
Cooper's edition of Good's Study of Medicine, vol. i. p. 358.
Philosophical Transactions, No. 457.