Anomalies and Curiosities of Medicine [467]
Stephenson gives an account of a pin which was finally voided by the bladder after forty-two years' sojourn in a lady's body. On November 15, 1802, the celebrated Dr. Lettsom spoke of an old lady who sat on a needle while riding in a hackney coach; it passed from the injured leg to the other one, whence it was extracted. Deckers tells of a gentleman who was wounded in the right hypochondrium, the ball being taken thirty years afterward from the knee. Borellus gives an account of a thorn entering the digit and passing out of the body by the anus.
Strange as it may seem, a prick of a pin not entering a vital center or organ has been the indirect cause of death. Augenius writes of a tailor who died in consequence of a prick of a needle between the nail and flesh of the end of the thumb. Amatus Lusitanus mentions a similar instance in an old woman, although, from the symptoms given, the direct cause was probably tetanus. In modern times Cunninghame, Boring, and Hobart mention instances in which death has followed the prick of a pin: in Boring's case the death occurred on the fifth day.
Manufacture of Crippled Beggars.--Knowing the sympathy of the world in general for a cripple, in some countries low in the moral scale, voluntary mutilation is sometimes practiced by those who prefer begging to toiling. In the same manner artificial monstrosities have been manufactured solely for gain's sake. We quite often read of these instances in lay-journals, but it is seldom that a case comes under the immediate observation of a thoroughly scientific mind. There is, however, on record a remarkable instance accredited to Jamieson of Shanghai who presented to the Royal College of Surgeons a pair of feet with the following history: Some months previously a Chinese beggar had excited much pity and made a good business by showing the mutilated stumps of his legs, and the feet that had belonged to them slung about his neck. While one day scrambling out of the way of a constable who had forbidden this gruesome spectacle, he was knocked down by a carriage in the streets of Shanghai, and was taken to the hospital, where he was questioned about the accident which deprived him of his feet. After selling the medical attendant his feet he admitted that he had purposely performed the amputations himself, starting about a year previously. He had fastened cords about his ankles, drawing them as tightly as he could bear them, and increasing the pressure every two or three days. For a fortnight his pain was extreme, but when the bones were bared his pains ceased. At the end of a month and a half he was able to entirely remove his feet by partly snapping and partly cutting the dry bone. Such cases appear to be quite common in China, and by investigation many parallels could elsewhere be found.
The Chinese custom of foot-binding is a curious instance of self-mutilation. In a paper quoted in the Philadelphia Medical Times, January 31, 1880, a most minute account of the modus operandi, the duration, and the suffering attendant on this process are given. Strapping of the foot by means of tight bandages requires a period of two or three years' continuance before the desired effect is produced. There is a varying degree of pain, which is most severe during the first year and gradually diminishes after the binding of all the joints is completed. During the binding the girl at night lies across the bed, putting her legs on the edge of the bed-stead in such a manner as to make pressure under the knees, thus benumbing the parts below and avoiding the major degree of pain. In this position, swinging their legs backward and forward, the poor Chinese girls pass many a weary night. During this period the feet are unbound once a month only. The operation is begun by placing the end of a long, narrow bandage on the inside of the instep and carrying it over the four smaller toes, securing them under the foot. After several turns the bandage is reversed so as to compress the foot longitudinally. The young girl is then left for a month, and when the bandage is removed
Strange as it may seem, a prick of a pin not entering a vital center or organ has been the indirect cause of death. Augenius writes of a tailor who died in consequence of a prick of a needle between the nail and flesh of the end of the thumb. Amatus Lusitanus mentions a similar instance in an old woman, although, from the symptoms given, the direct cause was probably tetanus. In modern times Cunninghame, Boring, and Hobart mention instances in which death has followed the prick of a pin: in Boring's case the death occurred on the fifth day.
Manufacture of Crippled Beggars.--Knowing the sympathy of the world in general for a cripple, in some countries low in the moral scale, voluntary mutilation is sometimes practiced by those who prefer begging to toiling. In the same manner artificial monstrosities have been manufactured solely for gain's sake. We quite often read of these instances in lay-journals, but it is seldom that a case comes under the immediate observation of a thoroughly scientific mind. There is, however, on record a remarkable instance accredited to Jamieson of Shanghai who presented to the Royal College of Surgeons a pair of feet with the following history: Some months previously a Chinese beggar had excited much pity and made a good business by showing the mutilated stumps of his legs, and the feet that had belonged to them slung about his neck. While one day scrambling out of the way of a constable who had forbidden this gruesome spectacle, he was knocked down by a carriage in the streets of Shanghai, and was taken to the hospital, where he was questioned about the accident which deprived him of his feet. After selling the medical attendant his feet he admitted that he had purposely performed the amputations himself, starting about a year previously. He had fastened cords about his ankles, drawing them as tightly as he could bear them, and increasing the pressure every two or three days. For a fortnight his pain was extreme, but when the bones were bared his pains ceased. At the end of a month and a half he was able to entirely remove his feet by partly snapping and partly cutting the dry bone. Such cases appear to be quite common in China, and by investigation many parallels could elsewhere be found.
The Chinese custom of foot-binding is a curious instance of self-mutilation. In a paper quoted in the Philadelphia Medical Times, January 31, 1880, a most minute account of the modus operandi, the duration, and the suffering attendant on this process are given. Strapping of the foot by means of tight bandages requires a period of two or three years' continuance before the desired effect is produced. There is a varying degree of pain, which is most severe during the first year and gradually diminishes after the binding of all the joints is completed. During the binding the girl at night lies across the bed, putting her legs on the edge of the bed-stead in such a manner as to make pressure under the knees, thus benumbing the parts below and avoiding the major degree of pain. In this position, swinging their legs backward and forward, the poor Chinese girls pass many a weary night. During this period the feet are unbound once a month only. The operation is begun by placing the end of a long, narrow bandage on the inside of the instep and carrying it over the four smaller toes, securing them under the foot. After several turns the bandage is reversed so as to compress the foot longitudinally. The young girl is then left for a month, and when the bandage is removed