The Dawson news. (Dawson, Ga.) 1889-current, 1925-05-05
FIND ODD JUNK In
HUMAN STOMACHS
SURGEONS KNIVES DISCLOSE
AMAZING VARIETY OF FOR
r1GN OBJECTS SWALLOWED.

In hospitals in many parts of the
United States are museums where are
d;splayed an amazing assortment OF
,r4ic1es mostly useless. There are
o,rnet lacks, pins, needles, fragments
81 combs and eyeglass frames, thumb
4,cks bits of wire, shoe laces, pieces
II bed springs, paper clips, metal tags,
cashiers, curtain hooks, cartridges,
.bot safety razor blades, teeth both
natural and false, spoons, hair pins,
rbonograph needles, safety pins, frag-
n,ents Of bone, watermelon and other
seeds, coffee beans, pieces Of solder,
heads strung and unstrung and coins,
4be last almost entirely of denomina-
t;ons less than half dollar
such articles. you would say, would
make only a poor display in museum
case They do 1t happens, however,
that virtually every one OF the thous-
ands OF articles so displayed represents
= human life that was saved, writes
Ada Patterson in Popular Science
Monthly. For these odd collections of
useless hardware, vegetable matter
and trinkets are made up of the odd
things people swallow.
PEOPLE take these singularly indl-
oestible objects into their systems tor
variety of reasons A small percent
ace pass into the stomach, throat or
lTngs by accident. The most careful
nerSon is likely to swallow peach or
prune pit, a small bone, a pebble, or
bird shot with his food and not real
ze that he has done so.
Most of these foreign bodies that
are swallowed, however, are taken by
intent. The professional swallowers-
human ostriches" they call them
se1ves-who entertain in side shows at
county fairs have contributed many
weird additions to the odd surgical
museums.
MANY other persons swallow sharp
obiects-nails, needles, knives and ra-
zor blades-with suicidal intent. Other
habitual swallowers are mentally de-
ranged, or suffer from some peculiar
physiological condition that causes
them to enjoy the irritation hard or
sharp objects set up in their integral
organs. Then a great many OF those
who have been operated on have been
infants whose careless mothers or
nurses have left bright and attractive,
but dangerous, objects within their
reach.
Not long ago an operation on a Is
year-old girl in Michigan resulted in
the removal of almost a thousand
things she had swallowed. These in
Guided safety pins, earrings, watch
chains. stove bolts, coins, metal street
car tokens, brooches, adhesive tape,
shoe laces and bits of ribbon-almost
four pounds in all.
A professional "swalloWer" in Chi
cago Welded 272 metal objects in an
operation. the contents of his stom-
ach including upholstery tacks, nuts,
bolts, screws, a can-opener, a couple
of handfuls of thum- tacks, almost a
box of fair-sized nails, cartridges,
safety pins, paper clips and coins.
Removal of foreign objects from the
throat or windpipe has been facilitated
greatly by the invention of the bron-
cho-scope by DR.. Chevalier Jackson, OF
Philadelphia. This device consists OF
long, flexible tube within which is
series of mirrors that reflect an
image of the object to be removed;
Illumination is supplied by a small
electric light. Through this tube the
operating surgeon inserts his torceps
and readily withdraws the object that
has been swallowed.