The museum of the Royal College of Surgeons, in Dublin, contains the picture of a man whose face was eaten away by a pig, while he was lying in a state of intoxication. The entire nose, both cheeks, and parts of both ears, in fact, all the most eatable parts of his face, were chewed off by the animal; nevertheless, the wounds all healed, and he recovered; but of course, with all the disabilities of enunciation, chewing and swallowing, attendant on such extensive destruction of soft parts. He, notwithstanding, under generous regimen, contrived, while in hospital, to keep up a good condition of body. His principal regret lay in the unavoidable disuse of his tobacco-pipe. The picture exhibits him, after the wounds had all healed, without nose or ears, but with two beautifully white and perfect rows of naked teeth.
Ah well. Small mercies, eh?
[Source: Provincial Medical and Surgical Journal, 1840]
