The Book of Wonderful Characters continues:
Platerus speaks of a beggar boy, who for four farthings would suddenly
swallow many stones which he met with by chance in any place, though
they were big as walnuts, so filling his belly that by the collision of
them while they were pressed, the sound was distinctly heard. Father
Paulian says that a true lithophagus, or stone-eater, was brought to
Avignon in the beginning of May, 1760. He not only swallowed flints an
inch and a half long, a full inch broad, and half an inch thick, but
such stones as he could reduce to powder, such as marble, pebbles,
etc., he made up into paste, which to him was a most agreeable and
wholesome food. Father Paulian examined this man with all the
attention he possibly could, and found his gullet very large, his teeth
exceedingly strong, his saliva very corrosive, and his stomach lower
than ordinary.
This stone eater was found on Good Friday, in 1757, in a northern
inhabited island, by some of the crew of a Dutch ship. He was made by
his keeper to eat raw flesh with his stones; but he never could be got
to swallow bread. He would drink water, wine, and brandy, which last
liquor gave him infinite pleasure. He slept at least twelve hours a
day, sitting on the ground with one knee over the other, and his chin
resting on his right knee. He smoked almost all the time he was not
asleep or not eating. Some physicians at Paris got him blooded; the
blood had little or no serum, and in two hours time it became as
fragile as coral.
He was unable to pronounce more than a few words, such as Oui, Non,
Caillou, Bon. "He has been taught," adds the pious father, evidently
pleased with the docility of his interesting pupil, "to make the sign
of the cross, and was baptized some months ago in the church of St.
Come, at Paris. THE RESPECT HE SHOWS TO ECCLESIASTICS AND HIS READY
DISPOSITION TO PLEASE THEM, afforded me the opportunity of satisfying
myself as to all these particulars; and I AM FULLY CONVINCED THAT HE IS
NO CHEAT."
Here is the advertisement of a stone-eater who appeared in England in
1788.
An Extraordinary Stone-Eater
The Original
STONE-EATER
The Only One in the World,
Has arrived, and means to perform this, and every day (Sunday excepted)
at Mr. Hatch's, trunk maker, 404 Strand, opposite Adelphi.
STONE-EATING
and
STONE-SWALLOWING
And after the stones are swallowed may
be heard to clink in
the belly, the same as in a pocket.
The present is allowed to be the age of Wonders and Improvements in the
Arts. The idea of Man's flying in the Air, twenty years ago, before the
discovery of the use of the balloon, would have been laughed at by the
most credulous! Nor does the History of Nature afford so extraordinary
a relation as that of the man's eating and subsisting on pebbles,
flints, tobacco pipes and mineral excrescences; but so it is and the
Ladies and Gentlemen of this Metropolis and its vicinity have now an
opportunity of witnessing this extraordinary Fact by seeing the Most
Wonderful Phenomenon of the Age, who Grinds and Swallows stones, etc.,
with as much ease as a Person would crack a nut, and masticate the
kernel.
This Extraordinary Stone-eater appears not to suffer the least
Inconvenience from so ponderous, and to all other persons in the World,
so indigestible a Meal, which he repeats from twelve at noon to seven.
Any Lady or Gentleman may bring Black Flints or Pebbles with them. N.
B.--His Merit is fully demonstrated by Dr. Monroe, who in his Medical
Commentary, 1772, and several other Gentlemen of the Faculty. Likewise
Dr. John Hunter and Sir Joseph Banks can witness the Surprising
Performance of this most Extraordinary STONE-EATER.
Admittance, Two shillings and Six pence.
A Private Performance for five guineas on short notice.
A Spanish stone-eater exhibited at the Richmond Theater, on August 2nd,
1790, and another at a later date, at the Great Room, late Globe
Tavern, corner of Craven Street, Strand.
All of these phenomenal gentry claimed to subsist entirely on stones,
but their modern followers hardly dare make such claims, so that the
art has fallen into disrepute.
A number of years ago, in London, I watched several performances of one
of these chaps who swallowed half a hatful of stones, nearly the size
of hen's eggs, and then jumped up and down, to make them rattle in his
stomach. I could discover no fake in the performance, and I finally
gave him two and six for his secret, which was simple enough. He
merely took a dose of powerful physic to clear himself of the stones,
and was then ready for the next performance.
During my engagement in 1895 with Welsh Bros. Circus I became quite
well acquainted with an aged Jap of the San Kitchy Akimoto troupe and
from him I learned the method of swallowing quite large objects and
bringing them up again at will. For practice very small potatoes are
used at first, to guard against accident; and after one has mastered
the art of bringing these up, the size is increased gradually till
objects as large as the throat will receive can be swallowed and
returned.