FOREIGN BODIES. 123 
against irritating contacts. At the post mortem examination of a dog 
affected with severe wheezing, and short and repeated coughs, 
Bournay found under the vocal cords ‘‘a small, oval, flattened piece of 
gravel, which completely closed the trachea.” 
Cellular, fibrous, muscular, and glandular tissues react little against 
the contact of foreign aseptic bodies. Frequently shots, bullets and 
other bodies of some size produce only the phenomena of encystment. 
Projectiles of small caliber may thus remain in the tissues for years with- 
out producing any trouble ; then again they may give rise to accidents 
after remaining innocuous for some time. A ball encysted in the hand 
‘of the man wounded at Waterloo, mentioned by Harland, after fifty- 
nine years of perfect tolerance, gave rise to disorders (Terrier). In- 
fected inorganic substances (wood, leather, etc.) ordinarily bring on 
severe inflammation. 
Bones will stand metallic substances of small size without perceptible 
reaction. Encystment, however, is more commonly observed in long 
than in flat or short bones; and in the former, more in the epiphysis 
than in the diaphysis. When there are other bodies than projectiles 
or metallic points, then often the bone becomes inflamed, suppurates, 
and serious consequences are to be feared. 
The disturbances produced in wscera by foreign bodies depend also 
‘on the properties of the bodies and the degree of irritability of these 
organs. If certain regions of the brain (hemispheres, white commis- 
‘sural portions) are remarkable for their tolerance, in general the ence- 
phalon, the marrow, and the nerves do not support the contact of 
foreign bodies. The patients of Renard and of Durrechou died from 
a cerebral abscess. Encystment is possible in the spleen and the liver; 
it is quite frequent in the lung, where, as in all viscera, one may, how- 
ever, observe primitive or secondary accidents very serious. 
Serous membranes possess a remarkable tolerance towards bodies 
formed spontaneously in their cavity (intra-articular movable bodies, 
pedunculated tumors of the peritoneum) ; they support equally well the 
contact of aseptic foreign bodies, but they are extremely susceptible to 
those that are soiled, and more or less septic; and the action of the 
latter invariably gives rise to an inflammation rapidly generalized. 
Although the peritoneum may ordinarily be run through by free needles 
without accident, it becomes the seat of an infectious diffused phlegmasia 
‘in’ contact with a needle carrying a soiled thread. There is the same 
order of phenomena and the same differences for wounding bodies 
(septic or aseptic) which, after divisions of the abdominal or thoracic 
walls, reach the peritoneum or the pleura. Kolb has found in the right 
ventricle of the heart of a cow, a lancet blade three and a half centime- 
ters long by two in width, which had become loose during a bleeding 
-of the jugular and had been carried away by the current of the blood. 
