The home journal. (Winchester, Tenn.) 1858-188?, 1874-11-19
ECCENTRIC APPETITES.
The People Who Have Swallowed
Knives, swords, Needles, Etc.

| me PcOpIe VINO nave o"uiiONt"
Knives, Swords, Needles, Etc.
At a recent meeting of the Societe de
Medicine of Paris, recorded in the
Gazette DIES Hospitaux Of September
10Th, some curious records Of cases OF
foreign bodies in the digestive passages
were related. M. Lucifer cited the
case Of a yonng woman, a maniac, who
had several times tried to commit eui
eide. On the first occasion she took
a decoction OF two or three packets OF
tobacco, which she had boiled for half
an hour. Another time she swallowed
two quarters Of hundred pins, and bur
led anotherquarterof n hundred in her
scalp. Finally she procured two hectic
grammes (nearly half n pound) OF guu'
powder, set fire to it, and placed her
self over it. However. none of these
attempts resulted in anything but max
ing her i'll. She passed II great number
If pins per annum, and it was at the
end OF two or three months that those
ia the scalp were discovered, and thirty
OF them removed. At the end Of three
months she was completelycured. This
fact tends to confirm the relative i'm
nuuity from suffering which is peculiar
to theI insane. NJ. Peter wrote a work
on the migration of foreign bodies in
the digestive passages, for which he
collected a certain number Of cases.
Some Of them are as follows a Jug.
gler having swallowed a sabre was
brought into the Charlie hospital. Sc.
rious consequences followed. Adhe.
sive inflammation ensued, resulting in
an abscess. The sabre became divided
into two parts, and the extraction was
performed in two operations. A sailor,
for half a pint Of brandy, swallowed n
knife, which he afterwards passed
easily, But one day the knife would
not pass, serious results came on, and
caused his death in three days, The
knife was found, but the horn.handle
had been completely digested, and
there only remained vestiges Of the five
or six blades it had contained. Another
case was that Of n hysterical woman,
who had swallowed II packet Of needles,
Of which 1896 issued from her breasts,
arms, chest, etc. NJ. Renquet related
a case of strangulated hernia, operated
on by NJ. Maisonncuve, in which it was
asccrtaincd during the operation that
all the effects of strangulation had been
brought on by the presence Of n lark's
claw, which had been swallowed
by the patient and had lodged across
tho intestine. NJ. Forget drew attcn-
ton to the preparations presented by
NJ. GlIlard's house surgeon, from the
body of n waiter, who, having entered
tho hospital on one occasion in conse
quencc Of having received some blows
on the chest, which brought on somc
general symptoms, left cured. Soon
after, however, he again camo into the
hospital for m abdominal affection, to
which he ~succumbed. At the necropsy
old adheHions between the peircardium
and the corresponding wall of the lung
were found. These two organs were
held together by pin, Of which the
point issued into the interior Of the
pericardium, where it was perfectly free.
1t but rarely touched the heart, on the
surface of which was found u series OF
c%oncontric curves produced bythe point
ol llt pm, WHICH lnScrlDcu Jne hthTbH
movements on itself, inst Oa the stylet
of a sphygmograph would have done.
This case, best les being very interest
ing from a physiological point of view,
proves that the swallowing Of II single
pin will sometimes cause death. NJ.
Dnrozier said that coins seemed to find
easylpassOge through the digestive tube.
Thus, n man who came to tho Hotel
Dieu after having swallowed ak twenty
franc pieces, passed them all, aud re-
covered without any bad symptoms.