The Lives of the Poets of Great Britain and Ireland (1753) Volume IV.Cibber, Theophilus
General
The Lives of the Poets of Great Britain and Ireland (1753) Volume IV.
Cibber, Theophilus
Poets, English -- Biography -- Early works to 1800; Poets, Irish -- Biography -- Early works to 1800
'In April 1711 the patient swallowed the middle bone of the wing of
a large fowl, being above three inches long; she had the end in
her mouth, and speaking hastily it went forcibly down in the act of
inspiration. After the first surprize, feeling no pain she thought no
more of it; in a few days after, she complained what she eat or drank
lay like a stone in her stomach, and little or nothing pass'd through
her. After three weeks obstruction, she fell into a most violent
bloody flux, attended with a continual pain at the pit of her stomach,
convulsions, and swooning fits; nor had she any ease but while her
stomach was distended with liquids, such as small beer, or gruel:
She continued in this misery, with some little intervals, till the
Christmass following, when she was seized with a malignant fever, and
the convulsions encreased to so high a degree, that she crowed like a
cock, and barked like a dog, to the affrightment of all who saw her,
as well as herself. Dr. Colebatch being called to her relief, and
seeing the almost incredible quantity of blood she voided, said it
was impossible she could live, having voided all her bowels. He was
however prevailed with to use means, which he said could only be by
fetching off the inner coat of her stomach, by a very strong vomit;
he did so, and she brought the hair-veel in rolls, fresh and bleeding;
this dislodged the bone, which split length ways, one half pass'd off
by siege, black as jet, the cartilaginous part at each end consumed,
and sharp on each side as a razor; the other part is still lodged
within her. In this raw and extream weak condition, he put her into a
salivation, unknown to her mother or herself, to carry off the other
part, which shocked them to such a degree, that they sent for Dr.
Garth, who with much difficulty, and against his judgment, was
prevailed on to take it off, and using a healing galenical method,
she began to recover so much strength as to be turned in her bed,
and receive nourishment: But she soon after was seized with the Iliac
Passion, and for eleven days, her excrements came upwards, and no
passage could be forced through her, till one day by Dr. Garth,
with quick-silver. After a few weeks it returned again, and the same
medicine repeated, upon which she recovered, and for some months was
brought to be in a tolerable state of health, only the region of
the spleen much swelled; and at some times, when the bone moved
outwards, as it visibly did to sight and touch, was very painful.--In
July 1713, on taking too strong a purge, a large imposthume bag came
away by stool, on which it was supposed, the cystus, which the bone
had worked for itself, being come away, the bone was voided also; but
her pains continued so extraordinary, she willingly submitted to the
decree of four surgeons, who agreed to make an incision in the left
side of the abdomen, and extract the bone; but one of the surgeons
utterly rejecting the operation, as impracticable, the bone being
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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