Jacques de Falaise: the polyphagous

Jacques de Falaise, whom all Paris was able to see, swallowed eels, birds, live mice; a pipe, walnuts, a watch; and even introducing into his stomach, an eighteen-inch-long sabre blade.

Chaponnier, "Chapitre VIII: De la digestion", in La physiologie des gens du monde, pour servir de complément à l'éducation, Paris, F. Didot frères, 1829, p. 144.

In the heyday of the Théâtre Comte on rue de Grenelle-Saint-Honoré in Paris (now the southern end of rue Jean-Jacques Rousseau), a particularly talented artist made a name for himself. His name was Jacques Simon, alias Le polyphage (literally: he who eats everything). He was born in Falaise (Calvados) in 1754, which explains why he also called himself Jacques de Falaise.

As a biographical note published during his lifetime (in 1820) tells us, Jacques Simon initially worked as a quarry worker in the town of Montmartre, before discovering, at the late age of ⁶⁰², his talent for swallowing any object given to him. He discovered this "gift of nature" by chance, when he hid a medallion from a friend who was getting married, and was playing the game of finding it. To prevent her friend from finding the precious jewel so easily, Jacques Simon chose to swallow it, without feeling the slightest embarrassment ^afterwards2. He subsequently repeated the experiment with countless other objects, a complete list of which would be difficult to compile.

And so it was that he embarked on an artistic career, presenting himself as swallowing a pipe, a 50-centimeter sword before drawing it again, keys, rings and a rose covered in thorns. Then, as if to develop his act further, he began swallowing a host of live animals, including eels, crayfish and mice. He soon acquired a certain notoriety, and was hired by Louis Comte in his theater, as mentioned above, at least twice, in 1816 and 1820. He also rubbed shoulders with some of the great conjurers of the time, as was the case in Nantes in 1827, where he performed alongside Jules de ^Rovère3.

But his extraordinary performances were not without consequences, and he spent two periods in hospital. Doctors urged and convinced him to retrain and stop his dangerous artistic activities. He was then committed to the Beaujon hospital, where he ended his life on March 30, 1825, having been found hanged in one of the corridors.

Doctor J. P. Beaudé performed an autopsy on the body of the former artist to study the phenomenon that was Jacques de Falaise, and wrote a Mémoire sur un cas de Polyphagie, followed by considérations médico-légales sur la mort par suspension. A short summary of this medical examination appears in Volume 3 of the Revue médicale française et^étrangère4. A short biographical note of a few pages, in which his portrait is reproduced, appeared under the title Notice sur Jacques de Falaise, ses habitudes, sa nourriture et les moyens qu'il emploie pour conserver sa^santé5.

¹ Chaponnier, "Chapitre VIII: De la digestion", in La physiologie des gens du monde, pour servir de complément à l'éducation, Paris, F. Didot frères, 1829, p. 144.

2in Notice sur Jacques de Falaise, ses habitudes, sa nourriture et les moyens qu'il emploie pour conserver sa santé, Paris, Impr. de Ballard, 1820, p. 1.

3 "Spectacle de M. Jules Rovère", L'Ami de la Charte, March 19, 1827, vol. 9,^no. 1397, p. 4.

4 "V° Notices bibliographiques", in Revue médicale française et étrangère et journal de clinique de l'Hôtel-Dieu et de la charité de Paris, Paris, Gabon et compagnie, 1826, vol.3..

5 Notice sur Jacques de Falaise, ses habitudes, sa nourriture et les moyens qu'il emploie pour conserver sa santé, Paris, Impr. de Ballard, 1820, 20 p.