n the cardiac end of the stomach. There is
another case of a man named Durand, who held a mullet between his teeth
while rebaiting his hook. The fish, in the convulsive struggles of
death, slipped down the throat, and because of the arrangement of its
scales it could be pushed down but not up; asphyxiation, however,
ensued. Stewart has extensively described the case of a native
"Puckally" of Ceylon who was the victim of the most distressing
symptoms from the impaction of a living fish in his throat. The native
had caught the fish, and in order to extract it placed its head between
his teeth, holding the body with the left hand and the hook with the
right. He had hardly extracted the hook, when the fish pricked his palm
with his long and sharp dorsal fin, causing him suddenly to release his
grasp on the fish and voluntarily open his mouth at the same time. The
fish quickly bolted into his mouth, and, although he grasped the tail
with his right hand, and squeezed his pharynx with his left, besides
coughing violently, the fish found its way into the esophagus. Further
attempts at extraction were dangerous and quite likely to fail; his
symptoms were distressing, he could not hold his head erect without the
most agonizing pain and he was almost prostrated from fright and
asphyxia; it was thought advisable to push the fish into the stomach,
and after an impaction of sixteen hours the symptoms were relieved. The
fish in this instance was the Anabas scandens or "walking perch" of
Ceylon, which derives its name from its power of locomotion on land and
its ability to live out of water for some time. It is from four to five
inches long and has a dorsal fin as sharp as a knife and directed
toward the tail, and pectoral fins following the same direction; these
would admit of entrance, but would interfere with extraction. MacLauren
reports the history of a young man who, after catching a fish, placed
it between his teeth. The fish, three inches long, by a sudden
movement, entered the pharynx. Immediately ensued suffocation, nausea,
vomiting, together with the expectoration of blood and mucus. There was
emphysema of the face, neck, and chest. The fish could be easily felt
impacted in the tissues, but, after swallowing much water and vinegar,
together with other efforts at extraction, the fins were
loosened--about twenty-four hours after the accident. By this time the
emphysema had extended to the scrotum. There was much expectoration of