Sword swallowing is an ancient performance art in which the performer passes a sword through the mouth and down the esophagus to the stomach. This feat is not swallowing in the traditional sense; the natural processes that constitute swallowing do not take place, but are repressed in order to keep the passage from the mouth to the stomach open for the sword.
The practice is extremely dangerous, posing a high risk of injury.
Read more about Sword Swallowing: History, Side Effects and Injuries, Contributions To Science
Famous quotes containing the words sword and/or swallowing:
“So, we’ll go no more a-roving
So late into the night,
Though the heart be still as loving,
And the moon be still as bright.
For the sword outwears its sheath,
And the soul wears out the breast.
And the heart must pause to breathe
And love itself have rest.”
—George Gordon Noel Byron (1788–1824)
“The boundary line between self and external world bears no relation to reality; the distinction between ego and world is made by spitting out part of the inside, and swallowing in part of the outside.”
—Norman O. Brown (b. 1913)