Delaware weekly Republican. [volume] (Wilmington, Del.) 1841-188?, 1857-02-26


Case of Needle nia.-Three |
Hundred and Eighty Three Needles Extracted
from The Flesh Of Lady, and she still sur |
pipes.
DR.. Sumner publishes in the Rochester IN. |
" Union the following account of u singular
case Of monomania on the part of young
lady.
The subject was nineteen years Of age, of
nervous temperament, very healthy, and the
daughter of respectable farmer in Butternutts,
Otsego county, N. Y. She first came to my
office April 10Th, 1858, to have u needle ex-
tracted from her left arm, which she said 'got
in accidentally as she was removing bundle
of carpet rags" This, medium sized sewing
needle was soon found and extracted from the
anterior side OF the fore arm, about midway be-
tween the wrist and the elbow. In less than
week she called again, saying she had another
needle in her arm. | examined and found deep
IN the bend of the arm a hard substance, which
proved to be needle similar to the first, and
accounted for in u similar manner. One week
after this The arm was very much swollen, pain
full and presented the appearance of malignant
erysipelas, which continued about six days.
After the inflammation and swelling had sub
sided, six needles We're found, deep in the flesh,
about three inches from the elbow. May 10Th
fourteen vera taken out, higher and more on
the posterior side of the arm. 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 a number entirely under the biceps muscle.
One of large size, lay with two-thirds its length
imbedded in the brachial artery. One large
darning-needle was found directly on the bone,
at the intersection of the deltoid muscle this
caused some Inflammation ard suppuration
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 extrUcted
during the month of June, was cighty-seven F.;
September, ten; October, twenty EIGHT; mostly
| from the left breast and left side of the abdu-
men.
About the last of November, 1853, she was
attacked with violent spasns. These continued
about three weeks, and subsequently large
number of needles 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 where the needles
might BIO found, but when awake she could
seldom be induced to speak of them. Also
when in this sleeping or somnambulic state she
was entirely unsconscious of pain. While
cutting through deep muscle, or in the
most sensitive parts, we never never could
perceive a motion indicative of feeling, "a num-
Der were extracted in this sleeping state) on the
contrary, when awake she experienced acute
PAIN, even from the least ncsion.
From January, 1854, no needles were found
until the middle of the following summer, when
she resorted to pins, cutting off the heads and
thrustlng them into the flesh. Subsequently
she used hair pins, either Strengthened and put
in whole or broken halves. These we're found
deep in the large muscles of the thigh. Several
pieces of wire, and parts of the largest size of
knitting needles, nearly five inches in length.
were found lying directly on the bone Of
the thigh on the anterior side. These were
put in two or three inches .hnva tbn knnn
pushed inward rndnr the Aash al dotantn5
by the discharge of n littlc matter ot 10 noint
| of insertion A f,,v nnnflos n,d ,;ms ,narn
| found at intervals rim Dare,nhar 1i,h 1arE
when extracted six ncpdIes and thrao rins
| all of which had lain in fin Aesb innr ,in,o
| some of them more than War rLas9o ,rara
the last found and il is boned IN, ali her ,,sis
that there will be no recnrrencc If 90 s,ranr q
Tha ,,hoi, ,,,,,,,
neadIos De- III 81 oA .'. Was Oh sowing
az darnin,s oendlss o. ha; " an s'AeS pms
| naad Ias 20 - H"ir pms Khltuhg
ati;,,,s ,'',n o VIZ, eatn o-totai 900: Great
dataot ~ =; o' t"e p"Ft VI tle lainlly 10
In IN ~ ny I wv VI Inserting inc needles,
tIa+ - 70 - maa 'eeelialued ny comparison
needles ,yh;oh M n W. .aheh from box OF
tma hh;s .,n a na, t"l ~ inc mouse ior long
mse tho SAM End n'is sue contllveu 10
IL. ~.
ba,. haa .no p Almost every means
strange fan,, In ,'tb i,'u 'lo reason lor SO
h 81, - - i igJthinS mas Sct ueFelopeu
- - - ~ ny uenlui " showing Wheh
h. H.. ~ -: ~ ~ ~ ~ sllhpg Saying III must
Sh - ~ ~ NuoW no one else does
go, - a"lie oi every other SUBJECT al
Nv enIet upon her general hcath has
~, eV slcat snare oil THESE years
" S,'o i,as performed her accustomed
at,, tI S,''leS'
m me .,g,se neeuies nave Deei eXhiblted
wifi, iii dntaiis ~ nv va, lheuiSal colleges,
number of nhyscans n, H. ." w." 20 20 large
HE pams ha" Iar,ii ~ ~ 's stats, yet suta-
nrodncing sucb ea;,nts III IL h"i " "lScuse
tsdoctors disagroe - sh,il ~ "iien 80 many
ia term IL rnmarl, lii -, o. Nv c iuitltr tiltn
The ,vloI, .,o No., -, o"oo VI hlonoi'ahlh'
rest anxietv and r,,star,. te, ~ sIeatcr mic
der the notice Of TX ,l,'.sio o''''' 1oileS ui-
- -. a."
SELEcrIoy or FIpN t,,o .,I...;..
land for farm, there are thorThts and tbino ",
to he taken int consideration that , 'I,"ss
would scarcely serve TO discuss wot so,na ~
them may profitably be hintcd nj y;thin thn
limits which here circumscrihe ne wba+ 10 80
farm? should first be asked, Tar in tbnc"msi1Io
alton of any subject tits time w.ll ann,inI ,b;nI
is spent in getting a clnor iGna of th ,.I ~.
names it, A farm. for MS. means nnrt;or ~
land cultivated and managed Nv thr o,rnnr ,l,
lives upon it; hence it takes in thr tbomrht ~
home, so that homestead is almnst S,nar,,
nous term Hence. among things IN ha 49,
sdered in the choice Of a farm. wa sltntI say.
l. The farm should be pleasantly and conc.
niently situated as a home. The health, comfort
and happiness of those who mr., to oprnn,, II
are of prime importance-so every socinl and
physical influence which bears unnn Yho,,, sr,,Id
have due weight in determining n choice. How