688 MORBID ANATOMY.
quite blunt, and Dr. B. supposed that it penetrated the frontal sinus, but not the cranial cavity. 1867.
Dr. H. J. Bigelow.
3111. The point of a penknife, | in. in length, that was ex- tracted from the temporal bone.
The patient was a little boy, six years old, who fell, with the open knife in his hand, and the point entered the right temple. He ran into the house, with the knife stand- ing off at a right angle ; and, after great force had ineffect- ually been used to extract it, an Irish girl gave a powerful wrench, and broke it off. The whole knife being shown, as well as the point, the blade is seen to be considerably twisted. When Dr. B. saw the child, three hours afterward, there was a puncture in the skin just large enough for the pas- sage of the blade ; and, the bone having been exposed, an opening, and no larger one, was seen in the bone. The bone was then pared away ; and, the blade being exposed, was seized with a pair of wire pliers, and extracted. A jet of blood immediately followed the extraction ; and, after about half a teacupful had been allowed to flow, it stopped spontaneously. The child was about in three or four weeks ; and from first to last never had a bad symptom. 1857. . Dr. H. J. Bigelow.
3112. The breech-pin of a gun, that was driven deep into the substance of the brain ; recovery, after its removal, rapid and complete.
The following history of the case was given by Dr. S., with the specimen, Nov. 16th, 1869 :
"James Getchell, Jr., set. seventeen, was lying on his belly shooting at sea-fowl. The gun at the shoulder, and the eye, as usual, glancing along the barrel. At the dis- charge the pin was blown out, and penetrated the forehead about an inch over the right eye ; the screw by which it is secured to the stock, through the shoulder or process, going in with it. He was brought to his home across our harbor, about half a mile, in a semi-conscious state. No part of the pin was visible, and it could be felt only by introducing the finger nearly its whole length ; the projection by which it is attached to the stock tying next the surface. It was extracted with difficulty, and partly owing to the
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