The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1891-06-06
HOLD THINGS IN YOUR HANDS
Dangers Resulting From Making the
Mouth do Double Service.
s7ro,, fb~ Mem York Recorder

| Dangers Resulting From MAKING the
Mouth do Double Service.
| from the Nelo YORK Recorder.
The recent death Of the Rev. DR.. Both
we'll suggests to an eminent physician Of
this city that some information regarding
the danger of holding small and indigestibls
articles in the mouth may be of value. To
a reporter he said the other day that
very few accidents resulting from
this cause came before physicians
because Of natures beneficient arrangement
of the little cap which covers the oesopha-
gus tube. called the epiglottis, which closes
during the act of swallowing and opens to
admit a fresh supply of air to the lungs.
Still the melancholy case which has just oc-
CURED in Brooklyn proves that the little
cap may open at the wrong time.
OF children swallowing all sorts OF arti-
cles, from pennies and pins to thimbles and
marbles, there are instances by the thou
sand on record, and probably no medical
man who has been FIVE years in practice is
without several cases of the kind. But
children are unaccountable creatures.
Adults, one would think, would
have more sense than to court such
manifest danger. Still there are suffi-
GENTLY large number Of instances recorded
which show that men and women who have
arrived at years of discretion occasionally
drop the discretion and do the same foolish.
not to say foolhardy, acts that they would
be among the first to decry In children.
A few years ago in Philadelphia car
penter assembled a stepladder with a mouth
full of small nails. The ladder was not
properly fixed, his weight caused it to give
way, and he swallowed a number of the
nails. Some went down the gullet, some
entered the lungs. This was discovered In
the autopsy. The nails caused iDf1amma-
ton, which ended in death.
There must be sort of lingering thought
In the minds of some people that they re-
tain the characteristic of the monkeys
mouth and possess a pouch in the cheek
wherein to hide and hold articles for
future use. Imagine a conjurer being
foiled by his own trick Charles Guerin, a
travelling French magician. fell victim
few months ago to a simple device by
which he used to deceive the country folk.
He used to make believe that he ate bunch
of grapes, and then by tapping the back Of
his neck make them appear one by one be-
tween his teeth. The way he did this trick
was first to conceal half dozen grapes
under his tongue and in his cheeks; then.
facing the audience, he took a bunch of
grapes and munched them and swallowed
them. After going through a lot of
contortions he slapped the back of his
neck, and, opening his lips, a grape APP
peared between his teeth, and so on until he
had produced five or six, which was gen.
orally sufficiently astonishing. But he did
the trick once too often. One of the grapes
be was holding in his mouth went the
wrong way" The unfortunate man could
get no relief, and In few hours his con-
juring days were over-he had choked.
Fish bones are often swallowed with dis
astrous effect, but rarely does a doctor COM
NIT such fearful blunder as in the follow
ing case: A lady had the misfortune to
swallow a herring bone. It got lodged In
the upper part of the oBsophsgus, and be-
sides causing great irritation was setting up
an inflammation and giving considerable
pain She went to her medical man to see
If he could remove the cause of her
trouble. This doctor was a big smoker,
and above all things reioiced over a
pipe. In one of the drawers Of his bureau
he kept his pipe and smoking materials, and
among them an instrument called a pro-
bang, which is a thin piece Of whalebone
with a small piece of sponge attached to one
end. 1t seems that he used this in some way
to clean his pipes The accident must have
been due to the carelessness or offlciousness
of his assistant, but whoever had done IL,
this dirty probang had got into a neighbor-
ing drawer with some clean ones. The
lady was placed in a chair, her mouth
opened, bn0 Done SOuRnb IOr ana
| found by means Of a speculum, and the sur
geon introduced his probang with the in
tention Of pulling the bone out There was
shrek Of pain and a lady was very sick in
that Office in about two minutes. The bone
came away, but the doctor lost patient.
He could never obtain forgiveness for JAM
ming that dirty, tobacco-reeking probang
down her throat. That case, however, only
ended seriously for the doctor.
And talking of sponge recalls the very
painful incident of a man swallowing a
piece of that highly indigestible marine
plant through the csrelessness or accident
Of a cook. 1t came up to the table In the
soup, and the man took it down without any
comment 1t passed out of the stomach in
an undigested condition and lodged in the
intestines, where it swelled and caused a
| stoppage, and Inflammation, an liberation
| and death.
These cases ought to show how careful
persons should be in taking things into their
mouths, which they neither intend nor de-
sire to swallow. Nature gave hands to hold
things; the mouth was not meant In the
case Of the human animal, for that purpose,
and the distressing result of applying it to
uses other than those for which nature
intended should act as sufficient deterrent
to all sensible persons.