At this time he was confined to his room with great weakness,
similar to that of a person recovering from an asthmatic attack.
The mere smell of wheat produced distressing symptoms in a minor
degree, and for this reason he could not, without suffering, go
into a mill or house where the smallest quantity of wheat flour
was kept. His condition was the same from the earliest times, and
he was laid out for dead when an infant at the breast, after
being fed with "pap" thickened with wheat flour. Overton remarks
that a case of constitutional peculiarity so little in harmony
with the condition of other men could not be received upon vague
or feeble evidence, and it is therefore stated that Waller was
known to the society in which he lived as an honest and truthful
man. One of his female neighbors, not believing in his infirmity,
but considering it only a whim, put a small quantity of flour in
the soup which she gave him to eat at her table, stating that it
contained no flour, and as a consequence of the deception he was
bed-ridden for ten days with his usual symptoms. It was also
stated that Waller was never subjected to militia duty because it
was found on full examination of his infirmity that he could not
live upon the rations of a soldier, into which wheat flour enters
as a necessary ingredient.
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