of gastrotomy which was performed for the extraction of a fork
swallowed sixteen years before. There is an interesting case in which,
in a delirium of typhoid fever, a girl of twenty-two swallowed two iron
forks, which were subsequently expelled through an abdominal abscess. A
French woman of thirty-five, with suicidal intent, swallowed a
four-pronged fork, which was removed four years afterward from the
thigh. For two years she had suffered intense pain in both thighs. In
the Royal College of Surgeons in London there is a steel button-hook 3
1/2 inches in length which was accidentally swallowed, and was passed
three weeks later by the anus, without having given rise to any symptom.

Among the insane a favorite trait seems to be swallowing nails. In the
Philosophical Transactions is an account of the contents of the stomach
of an idiot who died at thirty-three. In this organ were found nine
cart-wheel nails, six screws, two pairs of compasses, a key, an iron
pin, a ring, a brass pommel weighing nine ounces, and many other
articles. The celebrated Dr. Lettsom, in 1802, spoke of an idiot who
swallowed four pounds of old nails and a pair of compasses. A lunatic
in England e swallowed ten ounces of screws and bits of crockery, all
of which were passed by the anus. Boardman gives an account of a child
affected with hernia who swallowed a nail 2 1/2 inches long. In a few
days the nail was felt in the hernia, but in due time it was passed by
the rectum. Blower reports an account of a nail passing safely through
the alimentary canal of a baby. Armstrong mentions an insane
hair-dresser of twenty-three, in whose stomach after death were found
30 or more spoon handles, 30 nails, and other minor articles.

Closmadenc reported a remarkable case which was extensively quoted. The
patient was an hysteric young girl, an inmate of a convent, to whom he
was called to relieve a supposed fit of epilepsy. He found her
half-asphyxiated, and believed that she had swallowed a foreign body.
He was told that under the influence of exaggerated religious scruples
this girl inflicted penance upon herself by swallowing earth and holy
medals. At the first dose of the emetic, the patient made a strong
effort to vomit, whereupon a cross seven cm. long appeared between her
teeth. This was taken out of her mouth, and with it an enormous rosary
220 cm. long, and having seven medals attached to it. Hunt recites a
case occurring in a pointer dog, which swal