“…suffered from difficulty in nasal breathing, deafness, slight vertigo, and headache. For the past few weeks, however, one nostril seemed to be definitely obstructed, and tightness and irritation in his nose caused insomnia and sneezing. Involuntary nasal whistling occurred, from which he sought relief by breathing through the mouth.
The patient endured these symptoms for two years, until the problem resolved itself:
“One morning, when he was trying to clear his nose, a large and very active centipede was ejected through one of the nares [nostrils]. With some difficulty he captured the centipede alive and brought it to me in a box. Since that morning his nose has felt altogether more comfortable; the difficulty in nasal breathing and the local irritation have practically ceased… The patient does no gardening and has no recollection of smelling flowers at any time in the past two months.”
An image of the centipede, submitted with the doctor’s report, suggests it was around three inches long. An examination of sneezed-out arthropod and its former home appeared to verify the patient’s story. Dr Wilson found the inside of the patient’s nose to be distended and slightly inflamed, but otherwise undamaged.
Source: British Medical Journal, vol.1, no.3557, March 9th 1929. Content on this page is © Alpha History 2019-23. Content may not be republished without our express permission. For more information please refer to our Terms of Use or contact Alpha History.