ON THE DIGESTIVE FUNCTION, &c. 



137 



Perhaps one of the most singular cases, and at the same time one of the 

 best authenticated on record, is that of Janet M'Leod, published in the Phi- 

 losophical Transactions by Dr. Mackenzie.* She was at this time thirty- 

 three years of age, unmarried, and from the age of fifteen had had various 

 paroxysms of epilepsy, which had considerably shaken her frame, rendered 

 the elevator muscles of the eyelids paralytic, so that she could only see by 

 lifting the lids up, and produced so rigid a locked jaw that her mouth could 

 rarely be forced open by any contrivance. She had lost very nearly her 

 power of speech and deglutition, and with this, all desire either to eat or drink. 

 Her lower limbs were retracted towards her body she was entirely confined to 

 her bed, slept much, and had seldom any other egestions than periodical dis- 

 charges of blood, apparently from the lungs, which was chiefly thrown out 

 by the nostrils. During a very few intervals of relaxation she was prevailed 

 upon with great difficulty to put a few crumbs of bread, comminuted in the 

 hand, into her mouth, together with a little water sucked from her own hand, 

 and in one or two instances a little gruel ; but even at these attempts almost 

 the whole was rejected. On two occasions also, after a total abstinence of 

 many months, she made signs of wishing to drink some water, which was 

 immediately procured for her. On the first occasion the whole seemed to be 

 returned from her mouth ; but she was greatly refreshed by having it rubbed 

 upon her throat. On the second occasion, she drank off a pint at once, but 

 could not be either prevailed upon or forced to drink any more, notwithstand- 

 ing that her father had now fixed a wedge between her teeth, two of which 

 were hereby broken out. With these exceptions, however, she seems to have 

 passed upwards of four years without either liquids or solids of any kind, or 

 even an appearance of swallowing. She lay fOr the most part like a log of 

 wood, with a pulse scarcely perceptible from feebleness, but distinct and 

 regular : her countenance was clear and pretty fresh ; her features neither 

 disfigured nor sunk ; her bosom round and prominent, and her limbs not ema- 

 ciated. Dr. Mackenzie watched iier with occasional visits, for eight or nine 

 years, at the close of which period she seems to have been a little improved. 

 His narrative is very preciseiy as well as minutely detailed, and previously to 

 its being sent to the Royal Society, was read over before the patient's parents, 

 who were known to be persons of great honesty, as also before the elder of 

 the parish, who appears to have been an excellent man ; and, when sent, was 

 accompanied by a certificate as to the general truth of the facts, signed by 

 the minister of the parish, the sheriff'-depute, and six other individuals of 

 the neighbourhood, of high character, and most of them justices of the 

 peace. 



Yet even with the freest use of water, what can we make of such cases 

 upon any chain of chemical facts at present discovered ? What can we 

 make of it, even in conjunction with the use of air? The weight and solid 

 contents of the animal body are derived chiefly from that principle which 

 modern chemists denominate carbon ; yet neither water nor air, when in a 

 state of purity, contains a particle of carbon. Again, the substance of the 

 animal frame is distinguished from that of the vegetable by its being satu- 

 rated with nitrogen, of which plants possesses comparatively but very little ; 

 yet though the basis of atmospherical air consists of nitrogen, water has no 

 more of this principle than it has of carbon ; nor is it hitherto by any means 

 established, that even the nitrogen of the animal system is in any instance 

 derived from the air, or introduced by the process of respiration : for the ex- 

 periments upon this subject, so far as they go, are in a state of opposition, 

 and keep the question on a balance-^cits contrariafacia. 



Shall we, then, suppose with others, that the circle of perpetual mutation, 

 which IS imposed upon every other species of visible matter, is in these cases 

 suspended, and that the different organs of the system are, so long as the 

 anomaly continues, rendered incorruptible % But this is to suppose the inter- 

 vention of a miracle, and without an adequate cause. Let us, then, rather con- 



• Vol. Ixvii. year 1777. 



