Despite every advantage of stature, constitution, and heredity,
David Waller was through life, from his cradle to his grave, the
victim of what is possibly a unique idiosyncrasy of constitution.
In his own words he declared: "Of two equal quantities of tartar
and wheat flour, not more than a dose of the former, he would
rather swallow the tartar than the wheat flour." If he ate flour
in any form or however combined, in the smallest quantity, in two
minutes or less he would have painful itching over the whole
body, accompanied by severe colic and tormina in the bowels,
great sickness in the stomach, and continued vomiting, which he
declared was ten times as distressing as the symptoms caused by
the ingestion of tartar emetic. In about ten minutes after eating
the flour the itching would be greatly intensified, especially
about the head, face, and eyes, but tormenting all parts of the
body, and not to be appeased. These symptoms continued for two
days with intolerable violence, and only declined on the third
day and ceased on the tenth. In the convalescence, the lungs were
affected, he coughed, and in expectoration raised great
quantities of phlegm, and really resembled a phthisical patient.
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