Wandering Needles

The Loiidon Lu.wrl, observes that the vageriea of neexlles which have been Lntroduced into ihe body, and have escaped immediate removal, have In all ages attiacted the fittention of collectors of the marvelous In medicine. Ilildanus related an instance of a woinan who swallowed several pins and passed them six years aflerward; bul a inore reinarkable instance of prolonged detention was recorded by Stephenson of Ietroit - that of a lady, agel seventy-Iive, who last year passed by tke uretlira, after sonie months' symptoms of of vesical irrilation, a pin whicli she had swallowed, while picking her teelh witli it In the year 1835 - forty-two years previously. Occasional pain in the throat was the Lmmediate syniptom, but in 1845 she was seized with severe gastric pain which passed away, and .she kad ao symptoms until liaiinaturia in 187(3. This curious tolerance of sncfh foreign bolies exhibitetl by the tissues is often o'oserved in lunatic asylums. M. Silvy recorded some years ago the case of a woman who had a pencbant for pins and needies so strong that she made them, in effect, part of her daily diet and after her death, 1,400 or l,")00 were removed from various parts O! the body. Another case almost as stiiking has been recorded by Dr. Gillett - that of a girl in whom, from time to time, need les were found beneath the skin, rhicl they perforated, and were removed li_ fingers or fórceps. Cöncerning tlie way in which they had got into hersys tem no Information oould be extracted from her. She was caret'ully watched and in the course of eighteen month no less tlian 320needles were extract all being of the same si.e. Most were black and oxidi.ed, but some had retained their polisli. The majorily were unbroken. They passed out of vaiiou parts of the body above the diaphxagn at regular intervals, but in a sort o series and always intheaamedirection The largest number which escapad in ; single day was 61. A CUrious plicnom enon preceded the escape of ead needie. For soine nours the puin va severe, und there was considerable fever. She then feit a shnrp pain likt lightning in the tissues, and on look ing at the place at which tliis pain Iku been feit, the head of the needie wa generally found project ing. Tlu needies invariably came out head fore most. No bleeding was occasionei and uot the least trace l' inilaininatioi l'ollowed. The doctor in attcndanct extracted 318. They.were Bometitne held lirnily, and seemed to be containec in a sort of indurated canal. It was eonjectured that they had been sWal lowed witli snlcidal intention: luit, 01 the other hand, the way in whicli tut needies escaped in series, and their di recüon with the head outwatd, sug gested tliat they had been introduce through the skin. That little weight is to be uttuchec to the pace at which the needies escap iis proof of their mode of iiitrodnctioi is evident trom a case recorded by VU lars, oí' a girl who swallowed a largo Bltmber ot' pins and needies, and two years afterward, during a petled o nine inonths, 200 passed outof the hand arm, axilla,side of thorax, abdomen ani thigh, all on the left side. The pins curioHsly, escaped more readily anc with lesspain than the needlcs. Man years ago a ase was recorded by Dr Qtto, of Copenhagen, in which 4i)o needies passed through the skin of ; hysterical girl, who had probably swal lowed them during a hysterical parox ysm; but all these emerged l'roin tho re gions below the level of thediaphragm and were COllected in groups, whicl gave rise to inflammatory swelllngfl o some size. One of these contained 1 1 " needies. Quite recently Dr. Biggerde scribetl before the Society of surgen, o Dublin, a case in which inore than ;{()( needies were removed from the body o a woman who died in consequenee o their presence. It is vcry reinarkable in how few cases the needies were the cause of death, and how slight an ii terference with function their presen and niovement cause. From time to time their detection by a magnetic needie is proposed as a novelty; but, a?, J)r. Gillette reminds us, this fflethcx was employed by Smee nearly fortj .years ago, and lias of ten been udoptei since.