Afterward the knife was abstracted from his
groin. Fabricius Hildanus cites a somewhat similar case.
Early in the century there was a man known as the "Yankee
knife-swallower," whose name was John Cummings, an American
sailor, who had performed his feats in nearly all the ports of
the world. One of his chief performances was swallowing a
billiard ball. Poland mentions a man (possibly Cummings) who, in
1807, was admitted to Guy's Hospital with dyspeptic symptoms
which he attributed to knife-swallowing. His story was
discredited at first; but after his death, in March, 1809, there
were 30 or 40 fragments of knives found in his stomach. One of
the back-springs on a knife had transfixed the colon and rectum.
In the Edinburgh Philosophical Journal for 1825 there is an
account of a juggler who swallowed a knife which remained in his
stomach and caused such intense symptoms that gastrotomy was
advised; the patient, however, refused operation.
Drake reports a curious instance of polyphagia. The person
described was a man of twenty-seven who pursued the vocation of a
"sword-swallower." He had swallowed a gold watch and chain with a
seal and key attached; at another time he swallowed 34 bullets
and voided them by the anus.
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