The Democratic advocate., 1882-03-04
Our Olio,
Human Ostriches.

There died not very long ago, at l'reSt-
wich Asylum, in England. madman in
whose body were found 81 objects, to
wit, 20 buckles, ii pieces of glass, 10 peb-
bles, 3 knotted strings, a piece of leather,
fish-hook, a pin, copper buttons, and
LISP nails and tacks. His madness was
of a common sort, after all At the autop-
sy of convict in the Brest galleys ffty-two
objects were found in the stomach. inelud-
ing several knives, and pieces of iron hoop
four inches long. In March, 1909, a sailor
named John Cummings diedin Guys Hos
pital, London, whose experiences completely
eclipsed the performance of the boy deserlb-
ed bv Messrs Sawyer and Allen in Pick
wick" as addicted to wooden beads. In
1899 he had seen French juggler ''swal-
lowing" knives by the dozen, and in his
credulity believing that the juggler actual
" conveyed them into his stomach, he un-
dertook to rival him and swallowed fSar
clasp knives Luckily. these did not Kill
him. and he was satisfied to rest on his
laurels until March. 1905. when at Boston
he was one day tempted while drinking. to
boast of and repeat his performance. In
the course of the evening he swallowed six
knives, aud when the next morning crowds
of visitors came to see him he was induced
To swallow eight more He paid dearly
for his frolic: for he was seized with con
slant vomiting and pain in the stomach,
aud though by heroic measures he was re-
lieved of the knives. that organ was ire
trievably ruined But all his suffering did
not suffice To cure him of his folly. for az
Spithead in December. 1893 being some
what tipsy. he resumed his boasttulneSs Of
being able to swallow knives. and to amuse
the ships company swallowed nine clasp
knives, some Of them Of large size. Again
he became ill., and was in the hands If the
ships surgeon for several months, during
which portions of knives were discharged.
At length he was admitted a. a patient at
GUYS Hospital, and in March. 1909 he
died in q state of extreme eIaaciaiioH.
4 mildcr form Of this disease Is the fond
ussss for pins and ncgdlss. nr- Stephenson,
Of Dctr,it. reported IN 1877 the case Of a
woman of seventy five, whom he hadrelieved
of pin swallowed forty-two years before
while picking her teeth. Siloy has rscgrl.
ed the ease of' woman who made pins and
needles her daily diet and from whose body
! 500 of these articles were taken after Der
death Another case, almos, a. striking
said the London Lascef, about a year,agu
has been recorded by Dr Gillette 1874
that of giri in whom, fTpm time ts time.
needles we're beneath the skin which they
perforated. and SeFe removed lsy tAe Singers
or forccps Concerning the way y which
they goi into the system ~ information
could b. extracted from hcT, She raS
carefully watched by Dr Lcpauluiers snd
in the course &c eighteen months nos tss
than three hundred and twenty noezlh.s
were extracted. al being about the same
sizc. The largest nambcs which escaped
IN a single day was sixty-ous \ curious
phenomenon PRECEDED the escape IT each
nssSlle. For some haurs the pain was ~
vers. and there was considerable fever. She
then Eel, sharp pain, Ike lightning IN the
tissues. aud on looking At the place Il which
thiS pain had been felt the head uf the
needle Wa generally found protested The
neeile invariably came out hcadfnrensost.
Ne bleeding was occasloned, and MS, the
least trace az Inflammation followed That
little weight /. to be attached to the place
at which the hce,lls-s escape ~ Pr,sof Il their
uloIr af Introduction T. evident from a ease
recorded hy yillars of girl who swallow
ei hrge number of pms and needles, and
two years afterwards, during period ui
nine months, 200 passed out q the hand
arm. axilla, side of thsorax, abdomen and
thigh. all GA the leit side The pins. curi-
ously. escaped more readily aud with legs-
pain than the needles Many years agn a
eas.s was recorded by ir Otio, uf Copen-
hagen, in which ia5 needles passed through
the skin of hysierieal girl, who had pro
baby swallowed them during a hysterieal
paruxysm bat these al emerged in regions
below the level a the diaphragm and we're
collected in groups, which gave ri-e 10 in
aammaiory swelling ol some size, One of
these contained loo pessiles- "A ISIS,
DIR Bigger described before the Soeiety If
Surgery nf Dublin ease in which more
than 900 needles were remoYed from the
body oF woman who died ia consequence
af their presence, u j. very remarkable
in how few eases the ueeslies were the cause
Of death, and how slight an Interference
with function their presence aud movement
cause. N. Henri de Paryille, the well
known French writer on scienee, has de-
seribed many esseS If this sort, not tew
of them Of sane persons. VI. Berenger-
Feraud to.sk a needle from the arm of
woman of twcHty-four, who did no4 reell-
leet swallowing il, and had for weeks been
unable to understand why she felt prick
ing sensation whenever she rsted her arm
on the table. Another case j. that Of a
girl Of sixteen who was diving from gtsiri-
tis. il was thought. till examination reveal
ed the presence Of needle, swallowed by
accident, she knew not when
What became of the rash youth Of Bo-
logna who, TO show how juggler swallowed
sword, introduced silver fork iHto his
throat and let it slip down wedo not know.
He probably went to meet the swsllowers
of false teeth Brunei, the great engineer,
had a narrow escape once upon a time,
when amusing some children BY causing a
HtI sovereign 10 kattsh lfhth hfc AhbNtH
and reappear in his ear, the coin suddenly
slipping down into his gullet He tried to
cough it up without effect There it stuck.
Every surgical device was tried TO get hold
of it without avail 1t became evident that
if the coin could not be disloged, fatal re-
suits would ensue In the dire dilemma
into which he had needlessly brought him
self, Brunei devised wooden structure to
which he could be strapped head down
ward, in the hope that the half sovereign
would fall out Of his throat by the force Of
gravity. He was fixed to the machine head
downward keeping his mouth open. To
his inexpressible relief, the coin dropped
from it's lurking-plaee and rolled to the
floor. \ German juggler who had intro
duced variation of the sword-swallowing
feat by swallowing bayonet and balancing
thereon the musket to which it was at
tached, came to grief under even more
alarming circumstances, as the weapon
broke short off and the steel slipped down
into his gullet. He acted on the same
principle as Brunei and promptly inverted