American citizen. [volume] (Canton, Miss.) 1864-1890, 1875-01-09

THE London Medical Record has the
following: "The incident of the homnae
a la fourchette, the man who swallowed a
fork in Paris in April last, has inspired
Dr. Mignon with the idea of collecting
all records of similar cases. He has
been able to find details of 1853, and it
would be difficult to imagine anything
more astonishing than the catalogue
(given in the linton Medfcdtle for Nov. 81
of the objects swallowed by either YER
liable lunatics or what may be termed
sane idiots. Among the very indigesti-
BILE and uncomfortable items catalogued
we find fifteen gold medals, hair rings
innumerable, IT'S francs, shOe-buckle,
nine inches of a sword blade, very sharp
scissors, eighty pins, baby's bottle, the
caster of a night-stool, an entire set of
dominoes 1.-THE size of which, however, is
not stated), 100 louis dor, a flute four
inches long, glass vial, thirty five
knives, clay pipe, from 1 400 to 1900
pins, bar of lead weighing pound, a
milestone and lin three instances) a
table fork But the most extraordinary
of all these cases occurred in the instance
of a convict who died at Brest in 1878,
and ON whose body necropsy was per-
formed. The stomach was completely
displaced, and occupied the left hypo-
chondrium, the lumbar and lilac regions
of the one side extending into the pelvis
nearly as far as the fOramen Ovale; it
contained ffty-two different objects,
weighing altogether one pound and ten
ounces. Among them was the part of
the hoop of barrel nineteen inches long
and one inch wide. NJ. Mignon has clas-
sified these 1853 cases into three cate
gories: 1. Foreign bodies which passed
through the whole extent of the di-
gestive canal with scarcely any in
furious results. 2. Foreign bodies which
have passed through the whole extent
of the digestive track with more
or less serious results, but ultimate
recovery. 3. Foreign bodies which
have passed through the whole digestive
track, causing serious disturbance and
fatal results. 4. Cases in which the for
eign body has not been passed. 5.
Cases in which operations have been
performed. 1t is remarkable fact that
the cases of death caused by the pres-
ence of foreign bodies in the digestive
tubes are less numerous than might be
expected Out of the 1853 cases We only
find ten deaths from this cause. To
these must be added two deaths after
operation, making altogether twelve, or
z $40 per cent. There appears, there
fore, to be no great cause for the sur
geon to be over-anxious in these cases,
but to remember that unless there should
be some complications IN the general
health, or some special indication, it will
be as well for him not to interfere, and
above all things not to perform gastroto-
my, save as a last resource. Of this last
operation NJ. Mignon relates five cases;
among them being those which DR.. Neal,
in 1855, and Mr.. Bell, in 1859, thought
themselves obliged to perform, the one
in order to extract a bar OF lead ten
inches long and weighing one pound;
the other to do the same with bar of lead
nearly twelve inches long and weighing
more than nine ounces. In both these
cases the symptoms were very serious,
comprising violent pains in the stomach,
twitching along the vertebral column,
sickness and general prostration. The
foreign bodies could not be felt through
the abdominal walls, but the surgeons
decided upon performing the operation,
thinking that the sufferers had no chance
of other relief. The success OF the OPP
erat ions was fortunately complete"