|
Abstract
|
The following case, of which I am induced to give a brief account, is a real curiosity. Its rarity, and, almost tragic events, have been a daily source of wonder and excitement to our community. Space will not allow me to give the details of all that occurred to my patient during a period of eight years. It would fill a volume. This account will be deficient in many minor particulars, as no notes were kept of the case.
December 24th, 1864, a young lady named Caroline Low cut her hand severely while replacing a window. She intended striking the top of the sash with her fist, but, missing it, the hand passed through the upper pane, about three inches from its lower edge. The glass broke diagonally; three triangular pieces entering the ulnar border of the hand opposite the middle of the palm. The external wound was one and a fourth inches in length, the same as the base of the longest piece ; so they must have slid one upon the other as they entered.
On inquiry, Miss Low told me the glass reached nearly across the palm. To mitigate the pain she pressed the right hand firmly between the thumb and fingers of the left, thereby breaking the glass in many pieces. She obstinately refused to have medical aid until three weeks had elapsed, when it was feared she would lose the hand.
Dr. Z. C. Brown was called. He found the hand and arm enormously swollen. He made several incisions in the palm between the fingers, and plugged the wounds with lint. The hand was so swollen that no large pieces could be detected. Topical applications to reduce the swelling were made. On the following day the lint was removed, and was found covered by shining particles of glass, many of them smaller than a pin's head. This operation was repeated several times with like results, and the attendant thought the glass was all out. She was then for a short time under the care of Dr. S. N. Fish, who pursued the same treatment with like results.
May ist, 1865, she came under the notice of the writer. The actual amount of glass in the hand was not even suspected, and though on full inquiry I became convinced that the amount was large, I was not much less surprised than others at the result. If the broken pane had been carefully examined at the time the accident occurred, it would have conclusively settled a vexed question.
Subsequently when the pieces actually removed, from the crown of her head to the soles of her feet, were numbered by thousands, no wonder the credulity of the public was sorely tried. Some of the plebeians thought there was nothing miraculous in it. Some said she swallowed the glass ; others that it was produced in the system by medicines I had given her; others still, that the doctor pounded up the glass at home, and reported that he took it from the patient for a sensation...
Language: en |