Fremont journal. [volume] (Fremont, Sandusky County [Ohio]) 1853-1866, 1857-02-27

Essraera,uary ca.o .. sesale-nanla.

Our readers may remember that few
years since allusion was made in tho papers
10 a remarkable case Of necdle-mania, il
such II may be called, then progressing in
0tsego County. A young lady was labor.
ing under terrible mamie, which impellcd
her 10 thrust needles and pieces Of wire in
TO her ficsh, where thcy remained until re-
moved by surgical aid. Tho affair created
much interest at tho time when she COM
menced the barbarous infiction upon her
self for il was continued so long-two years
ur morc--that tho sequel was never given
10 tho public. Dr. Charles Sumner, who
attended this young lady, and extracted
from her body aud limbs, tho extraordinary
number Of three hundred and eighty-three
needles, then resided at Gilbcrtsvillc, but
has since removed TO this city and engaged
in practice here Curiosity to know some
thing Of the wonderful case he had conduc-
ted, induced us to call upon him and get n
detailed account Of the affair from his own
lips. He not only gave us a minute history
of the circumstances attending the matter,
but showed us the identical needles, pins,
and pieces Of wire. The needles vary in size
from the finest to the darning needles, five
inches or more in length, and pins with the
heads cut off which were used by this singu-
lar young woman to gratify her mania for
selftorturc. The medical experience Of the
world shows no parallel for this and its de-
tails should be placed in the records of the
profession. DIR. Sumner has kindly consen-
ted to prepare u statement for us of the case
for publication. OF course many details arc
omitted, partly because they would alone in
terest the profession and because they are
fit for publication op.y in medical journals.
All the main facts of general interest are
given, and will be read with interest and
surprise. The statement, however, is too
well authenticated to leave shadow of doubt
of its truth. Dr. S. is q gentleman of pro-
bity, and will no doubt, crafty any who
may be curious enough to examine the nee
dies at his office in Wamsley's Marble Block,
The following is his statement:
Some three or fouryears since, there float
ed through the newspapers, in various sec
tons, brief notice Of remarkable case
of needless" between one and two hundred,
having at that time, been extracted from the
body Of young lady. Like other accounts,
which are tinged with the marvellous, this
notice attracted much attention, and | was
frequently called upon to verify the relation
by full history of the case. AS the 'finis"
is apparently reached, few "notcs' collee-
ted by "the way side,' may not be uninter-
esting to the general reader, though the
minute details more particularly belong to a
medical Journal
The subject was young lady, nineteen
years of age, of nervous temperament very
healthy, and the daughter of a respectable
farmer in Buttornuts, Otsego county, N. Y.
She first came to my Office April 2s, 1853,
to have needle abstracted from her left
arm, which she said, "got in accidentally, as
she was moving bundle of carpet rags"
This, medium sized sewing needle was
soon found and extracted from the anterior
side Of the fore arm, about midway between
the wrist and the elbow. In less than
week she called again, saying she had anoth-
er needle in her arm; examined and found
deep in the bend Of the arm, hard sub
stance, which proved to be needle similar
to the first, and accounted for in similar
manner One week after this the arm was
very much swollen, painful, and presented
the appearance of malignant erysipclas,
which continued about six days. After the
inflammation and swelling had subsided, six
needles were found, deep in the flesh, about
three inches from the elbow. May 29th,
fourteen were taken out higher and more on
the posterior side of the arm. May 30th,
seventeen were taken from the arm and
shoulders. Some of these were superficial
lying just under the skin, but most of them
lay deep in the flesh, and number entire
ly under the biceps muscle. One, of large
size, lay with two thirds its length embed
ded in the brachial artery. One large darn
ing needle was found lying directly on the
bone, at the insertion of the deltoid mus
Gle; this caused some inflammation, and the
supperation, which led TO its detection
June 4th, twelve were removed from the
left arm, two from the wrist, eleven from
the left and one from the right breast. The
whole number extracted during the month
of June, was eighty-seven; September, ten /;
October, twenty-eight,-mostly from the
left breast and left side of the abdomen.
About the last of November, 1853, she
was attacked with violent spasms. These
continued about three weeks, and subse-
quently largo number of needless were
found in all parts of her left side, from the
shoulder to the knee. When apparently
asleep she would converse with her mother,
and tell her where the needless might be
found, but when awake she could seldom be
induced to speak of them. Also when in
this sleeping or somnainbulic state she was
entirely unconscious of pain. While cut
ting through deep muscles, or in the most
sensitive parts, we never could prcccive a
motion Indicative of feeling, "a number
were extracted in this sleeping state, on tho
contrary, when awake, she experienced acute
pain even from the least incision.
From January, 1884, no needles were
found until the middle Of the following
summer she restored TO pins, cutting oil
the heads and thrusting them into the flesh
Subsequently she used hair pins, either
Strengthened and put in whole or the broker
halves. These were found deep in the large
muscles of the thigh Several pieces o
wire and parts of tho largest size knitter
needles. nearly five inches IN length, were
found lying directly on the bone of tho
thigh on the anterior side. These were
pat in two or three inches above tho knce
pushed upwards under the flesh and detected
by the discharge Of little matter at thu