Читать книгу The Dawn of Modern Medicine онлайн

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A very poor working-woman, who in addition to her poverty was obliged to live in a house that was overrun with mice, retired to her bed one night in company with her child who was about three years old. One of the last things she did, after going to bed, was to hand to the latter a crust of bread, in the hope that the little one might thus, by quieting its hunger, fall asleep more readily. Having done this the mother herself soon fell asleep. But shortly afterward she was awakened by the terrified cries of the child, who insisted that there was a mouse in its throat. Having quickly obtained a light the mother discovered that not only was the child retching violently, but that it was bringing up visible quantities of blood from the stomach. In the contortions caused by the pain the child indicated the pit of the stomach as the source of all its agony. The severe pain persisted for about two hours and then suddenly ceased, but the retching and bringing up of blood continued at intervals for some time longer. On the following morning the child was given plenty of sweetened milk to drink. At the end of forty-eight hours the remains of the mouse were found in the stool. The creature’s body presented a collapsed appearance and the skin lacked its covering of fur in several places.