permit them to resume their labors, and the administration of food resulted in nausea with vomiting, outward symptoms of organic inability to handle even the small amount ingested. Hiccoughs in severe form, a sign most apprehensive in character and usually indicative of intestinal obstruction, were also in evidence, and continued persistently at intervals until death intervened.
When a case such as this exhibits the symptoms noted in aggravated form, and when, moreover, its history shows years of constant suffering, it is a virtual certainty that organic defects exist that can in no wise be overcome. But, to allay the anxiety of the members of the family, the condition of the patient was brought to the attention of several medical practitioners, who could suggest nothing, for the stomach rejected nourishment, and great difficulty was experienced even in the retention of water. This state continued for more than two weeks, with pulse and temperature at average normal, but with no material improvement. As a final resort, a consultation of medical men was called. Their unanimous diagnosis, based upon the color of the bowel discharges, named the disease symptom as cancer, and
