The Eaton Democrat. (Eaton, Ohio) 1875-1903, 1881-06-16
NEEDLES.
some Very Remarkable Gases.

some very EkemarAADAc C4Se8s
The London Lancet observes that the
vagaries of needles which have been in
troduced in the body, and have escaped
immediate removal, have In all ages at
tracted the attention of collectors of the
marvellous in medicine. Hildanus re-
lated an instance of a woman who swal-
lowed several pins and passed them six
years afterward; but a more remarkable
instance of prolonged detention wa re-
corded by Stephenson, of Detroit
that of a lady, aged rs, who passed
by the urethra, after some months
symptoms of vesical irritation, a pin
which she had swallowed while picking
her teeth with it in the year 1835-forty-
two years previously. Occasional pain
in the throat was the immediate symp-
tom, but in 1845 she was seized with
severe gastric pain, which passed away,
n she had no symptoms until h@ma-
turia in 1876. This curious tolerance of
such foreign bodies exhibited by the
tissues is often observed in lunatic asy-
lums. M.Silvy recorded some years ago
the case Of a woman who had a penchant
for pms and needles SO strong that she
made them, in effect, part of her daily
diet, and after her death 1,400 or 1,500
were removed from various parts of the
body. e.
Another case almost as striking has
been recorded by Gillette-that of a
girl in whom, from time to time, needles
were found beneath the skin, which they
! perforated, and were removed by the
fingers OF forceps. Concerning the way
in which they had got into her system
no information could be extracted from
her. She was carefully watched, and in
the cours of eighteen months no less
than 800 needles were extracted, all
being of the same size. Most were black
and oxidized, but some had retained
their polish. The majority were un-
broken. They passed out of various
parts of the body above the diaphragm
at regular intervals, but in a sort of
series and always in the same direction,
The largest number which escaped in q
single day was sixty-one. A curious
phenomenon preceded the escape of
each needle. For some hours the pain
was severe, and there was considerable
fever. She then felt a sharp pain, like
lightning in the tissues, and on looking
at the place at which this pain had been
felt the head of the needle was gener-
ally found projecting. The needles in
variably came out head foremost. No
bleeding was occasioned, and not the
least trace of inflammation followed.
The doctor in attendance extracted 31S.
They were sometimes held firmly, and
seemed to be contained in a sort of indu-
rated canal. It was conjectured that
they had been swallowed with suicidal
intentions ) but, on the other hand, the
way in which the needles escaped in
series, and their direction with the head
outward, suggested that they had been
introduced through the skin.
That little weight is to be attached to
the pace at which the needles escape, as
proof of their mode of introduction, is
evident from a case recorded by Villars
of a girl who swallowed a large number
of pins and needles, and, two years after
ward, during a period of nine months,
200 passed out of the hand, arm, axilla,
side of thorax, abdomen and thigh, all
on the left side. The pins, curiously,
escaped more readily and with less pain
than the needles. Many years ago a
case was recorded by DIR. Otto, of Co
penhagen, in which 495 needles passed
through the skin of a hysterical girl,
who had probably swallowed them dur
ing a hysterical paroxysm; but these
all emerged in the regions below the
level of the diaphragm, and were col
lected in groups, which gave rise to in,
~hammatory swellings of some size. One
of these contained 100 needles. Quite
recently DR.. Bigger, described before
the Society of Surgery of Dublin a case
in which more than 300 needles were re.
moved from the body of a woman who
died in consequence of their presence.
1t is very remarkable in how few cases
the needles were the cause of death, and
how slight an interference with function
their presence and movement cause.