DEATH FROM SWALLOWING FALSE TEETH.

Samoa Times and South Sea Gazette, Volume 2, Issue 89, 14 June 1879, Page 3

DEATH FROM SWALLOWING FALSE TEETH.

A recent copy of Philadelphia Times states that about eight weeks a"0 Levi Waggenseller, employee in Woods cotton factory, and ."fS years of ago, entered a iChcsnut-street restaurant, uud ordered a supper. Waggenseller had three false U lli. For nearly twenty years tho -mull plate which held these teeth in place in the upper jaw began to wear off and one day, over a year ago, the plate surprised its owner by suddenly dropping out. To replace it was but a matter of a few moments, and as the teeth were still firm in their plate, they continued to Jo their work. But the plate itself was no longer reliable, and frequently its owner would be annoyed by its dropping out while talking with a friend or even walking on the street. Waggenseller sat down to his meal in the restaurant, iuu\ had about half finished it, when he fe)t something going down bis throat giving him intense pain, which he thought was a bono. He was soon undeceived, however, for, his band living instinctively to his mouth, he found his false teeth were gone. Plate and all had gone down his throat, and he could fuel them lodged against his breast. That was the last meal Waggenseller ever ate The teeth remained in the lower part of the throat, causing him ut times severe pain. Pr, Stewart was culled to visit tho patient on the fifth day after the occurrence. He advised Inn* tu in ' Kll : * swallow of gin as the readiest means of dislodging the teeth, which still remained in the throat. The patient followed his advice, and almost immediately felt the teeth going down, But this only led to a worse result. The teeth moved down, and lodged about one inch and a-half Above the entrance to tiie stomach. Had they passed into the stomach, according to medical authority the chief danger in the case would have been over. But

U. '.■■• Ihey did the patient could BWaiiow ;.oihing, not own milk or water. It. was absolutely impossible to gut anything down Ids throat. Mjlk was recommended, hut when it would be poured down, as soon as the glass would be removed from his lips it would come back, exuding from ears, eyes, mouth, and nostrils. The strangest of all was what followed. The man lived for seven weeks without swallowing a morsel of food or a drop of water. Kven tho juioe of an orange he could not swallow. From a .stout, hearty man, weighing, probably, one hundred and ninety pounds, he dwindled away to a mere skeleton. Strangely enough, too, all the time the man, who was perfectly conscious ami rational, had no craving for food. The smell of victuals made him sick. After being for over seven weeks without food. Waggenseller died, death resulting from inanition, or, in other words, starvation. To the very last he had no apetite. l*p to the last hour he retained his senses, jand talked (reply »bout Jus case, instructing his relatives to have n post mortem :examination made upon his body. The was nj.nde, and tho plate,

with the teeth in it, was found about one inch and a-half above tho entrance of the itomach, the books firmly imbedded in the [pen.