The Somerset press. [volume] (Somerset, Ohio) 1873-1977, 1881-06-16
WANDERING NEEDLES.
some Very Remarkable Cases.

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 more remarkable
instance of prolonged detention was re-
corded by Stephenson, of Detroit
that of lady, aged Is, 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 1S35-forty-
two years previously. Occasional pain
in the throat was the immediate symp-
tom, but in 1S45 she was seized with
severe gastric pain, which passed away,
and she had no symptoms until hama-
turia in 1876. This curious tolerance of
such foreign bodies exhibited by the
tissues is often observed in lunatic asy-
lums. NJ. Slvy recorded some years ago
the case of woman who had penchant
for pins and needles so strong that she
made them, in effect, part of her daily
diet, and after her death 1,400 or 800
were removed from various parts of the
body.
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 or 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 course of eighteen months no less
than 320 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 sort of
series and always in the same direction,
The largest number which escaped in
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 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 318.
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
in r1Tl,I fhn ~,
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 girl who swallowed large number
of pins and needles, and, two years after
ward, during 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 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
fammatory swellings of some size. One
of these contained 100 needles. Quite
recently DR.. Bigger described before
the Society of Surgery of Dublin case
in which more than 800 needles were re-
moved from the body of 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.