320 PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS. [aNNO I717. 



sion, was about 27 years. He had excessive pains and uneasiness in it, and at 

 last it greatly emaciated him, though otherwise a strong and robust man. 



This excrescence was of the natural colour of the skin, and seemed to be an 

 atheroma, being a glandulous substance with several large blood-vessels in it, 

 and had hair growing on it, as on the other parts of the body, as may yet be 

 seen. It was almost round and very hard, and was as sensible as any other 

 part of the body; for, when he was working in the fields, he accidentally made 

 a great gash or wound in it with a sharp iron, which was very painful, but was 

 cured by a surgeon, after the manner of an ordinary wound; the cicatrix is 

 still to be seen in it. 



This excrescence having grown so large, was attached to the muscle under 

 the left eye, called obliquus minor or inferior, to the ear and its muscles, and to 

 the muscle of the lower jaw, named deprimens. By reason of its great bulk 

 and weight, it could not hang down freely without some support; therefore it 

 rested on the top of the shoulder, making a considerable dimple in it, yet very 

 observable; besides, it was held up by the man's hand in the day-time, and 

 laid on a pillow in the night. 



Three or 4 days before the total excision of this tumour, the patient observed 

 it begin to mortify at the lower end, which made him so uneasy, that he took 

 a knife and cut off a good part of it. This occasioned a great haemorrhage; 

 so that he reckoned there was lost a Scotch pint or 4lb. of blood, before it 

 could be stopped. The patient, after so great trouble and pain, at last applied 

 to Mr. Gordon, surgeon of the place, who made a total extirpation of it, as 

 follows. 



He made a close ligature, taking in the basis of the excrescence, and all the 

 loose skin, and contracting it as much as po^ssible, he cut it entirely off with a 

 sharp razor. There gushed out of the excrescence, after it was cut off, and 

 as it lay on the ground, about 2lb. of blood; having been nourished by several 

 large blood-vessels. The basis, as it now appears, is five inches diameter. 

 After all this blood was lost, the excrescence weighed full iQlbs; a most pro- 

 digious weight to be depending from such a place. It was of a spheroid 

 figure. 



The haemorrhage, which was great, was stopped by the vitriolic powders 

 and other astringents, and the ordinary dressing was used: the cure was thus 

 completed in 6 weeks time, and the patient entirely recovered, and now goes 

 about his business, to the great admiration and astonishment of every body. 

 The lid of his left eye continues still downwards a little, as well as that side of 

 the mouth, occasioned by the great weight so long depending on that side of 

 the face. Though the skin, and even a deal of the musculous part of the 



