Sarah Jacob was born 12 May 1857. In February 1867 she woke with frothy blood in her mouth and complained of pain in the pit of her stomach. On Sunday February 17 the pain, mostly on the left side, became severe and lasted until evening. A week later Dr H.H. Davies of Llandysul was called and attended to the girl for the next six weeks. When he arrived she was in bed|bedroom - and thereafter never left it. The doctor diagnosed|diagnosis inflammation of the pleura, restricted her diet to rice, milk and oatmeal gruel, and relieved the pain, though it lasted a fortnight longer. By then Sarah was having convulsive fits: they lasted a month, and she appeared unconscious throughout. They thought she was dying.

By May Sarah had recovered consciousness, was very emaciated and had lost her hair ñ though it later grew back. The fits became temporary losses of consciousness, with sudden awakenings when she would throw her arms about. The father: "she could move her arms about like wind, but only move the right leg, the left leg being rigid". Until August she was eating four to six cupfuls of rice and milk which, again according to the father, was "cast up immediately, and blood and froth with it".

Then, on a diet of boiled apple and milk, or apple dumplings, she began to object to any food being offered to her. On October 10 it was claimed she ceased to take any food|the room searched. By the end of the year it was reckoned she took no liquid either.

Three rooms - the fragments