ount of a vermiform
appendix which was taken from the body of a man of eighty-eight who had
died of pneumothorax. During life there were no symptoms of disease of
the appendix, and after death no adhesions were found, but this organ
was remarkably long, and in it were found 122 robin-shot. The old
gentleman had been excessively fond of birds all his life, and was
accustomed to bolt the meat of small birds without properly chewing it;
to this fact was attributed the presence of these shot in the appendix.
A somewhat similar case was that of a man who died in the Hotel-Dieu in
1833. The ileum of this man contained 92 shot and 120 plum stones.
Buckler reports a case of appendicitis in a child of twelve, in which a
common-sized bird-shot was found in the appendix. Packard presented a
case of appendicitis in which two pieces of rusty and crooked wire, one
2 1/2 and the other 1 1/2 inches long, were found in the omentum,
having escaped from the appendix. Howe describes a case in which a
double oat, with a hard envelope, was found in the vermiform appendix
of a boy of four years and one month of age. Prescott reports a case of
what he calls fatal colic from the lodgment of a chocolate-nut in the
appendix; and Noyes relates an instance of death in a man of thirty-one
attributed to the presence of a raisin-seed in the vermiform appendix.
Needles, pins, peanuts, fruit-stones, peas, grape-seeds, and many
similar objects have been found in both normal and suppurative
vermiform appendices.

Intestinal Injuries.--The degree of injury that the intestinal tract
may sustain, and after recovery perform its functions as usual, is most
extraordinary; and even when the injury is of such an extent as to be
mortal, the persistence of life is remarkable. It is a well known fact
that in bull-fights, after mortal injuries of the abdomen and bowels,
horses are seen to struggle on almost until the sport is finished.
Fontaine reports a case of a Welsh quarryman who was run over by a
heavy four-horse vehicle. The stump of a glass bottle was crushed into
the intestinal cavity, and the bowels protruded and were bruised by the
wheels of the wagon. The grit was so firmly ground into the bowel that
it was impossible to remove it; yet the man made a complete recovery.
Nicolls has the case of a man of sixty-nine, a workhouse maniac, who on
August 20th attempted suicide by running a red-hot poker into his
abdomen. His wound was dressed and he was recoveri