GESOPHAGUS. 
their afperities ou engayed. Thofe which are foft ben 
though fome have occafionally bee 
drawn out, which, aa was ag sea ould never have bee 
got hold of in this wa 7 Cleghorn, ee at Dub- 
gee related to the medical fociety of London, an inftance, 
n which he thus drew out of the efophagus a quill, that a 
et deprived of her fenfes, had let flip down this canal, in 
endeavouring to excite vomiting with it. One of Dr Cleg- 
hurn’s friends, apprehenfive that the quill might, from its 
d confequences, if introduced into the 
in it, and fo admit of being extracted. 
he paffed two ftrings through the fp ponge, in order that he 
might be able to ‘pull at out in cafe it fhould flip off the 
whalebone. 
The uae was introduced twice without fuccefs ; 
was then e with a vie making 
and ftring ae betes “hold of the feather. 
fucceed till t 
this ae relief, and the girl recovered. 
will had patted into the ftomach, it might have occa- 
fioned acute pains in this organ, as the author of the ‘ Zo- 
diacus Medico-Gallicus”’ obferved in a fiaging mafter, who 
was troubled for two years after {wallowing fuch an extra- 
neous fubftance. The pain was violent for fix months; no 
veltiges of the quill were noticed in the ftools. Another 
perfon at Dublin inforred Dr. Cleghorn that a pen had been 
drawn eut of the ie eg oe in another inftance by the pre- 
ceding means. n was not extracted till the third at- 
tempt 3 the patient aids felt no inconvenience, and, 
the next day, called upon the yentleman who had relieved 
him, for the purpofe of returning thanks 
2. When the foreign body, lodged in the cefophagus, can- 
not be removed by the means above explained, the only plan 
is either to promote its defcent into the ttomach, or elfe to 
force it down into this vifcus. The firlt of thefe indications 
is faid to have been fometimes dase a giving the patient 
afew gentle blows on the back wit tag m of the hand, 
and alfo by making him laugh. n he can fwallow 
hquids, we are — — to dire&t hie to drink a large 
quantity of water at a time. Sharp bodies of fmall fize 
have ocealionally et ce carried downward, or rendered 
eae for this 
and rounded into the tha e of an olive, or little ball. Its 
aré, how 
ever, made ule of a leek, the flexible ftalk of which allowed 
it to adapt itfelf to the curvature of the parts through which 
yi t hadto pafse. Fabricius ab Aquapendente preferred a large 
ort of wax candie, Which was oiled and foftened by being 
warmed. From an apprehenfion that the leek might break 
in the cefophagus, and: thinking that the wax candle was 
likely to be either too hard, or a ane alee M. J. io 
Petit gave up thefe means, an ofed the employm 
of fponge fixed on a piece of weleone ae was ifelf 
included in a filver cannula as ee | defcribed. At the 
prefent day, the filver tube is not ufed, and the sar ae 
in its more ous form, 3 is termed b 
op 
be extratted. Ve w e 
firt fuggeftion of t eration, now /ophagotomy, 
afferts that its difficulties are amply counterbalanced by t 
anger in which t atient is ce bie of its 
not being perfo ni afterwards up the 
ite 
man, playing with a chefnut, threw it up into r, and 
caught itin his mouth. He foon complained of. Ghani: to 
{wallow, and was conveyed to the hofpital of the Santo 
Spirito. As he could {peak and breathe eafily, had vomited 
fince the accident, and was intoxicated when it happened, it 
was not fuppofed that the hepa had been f{wallowed. 
Very bad fymptoms, however, came on, and he died on the 
nineteenth day. Guattani eee the left fide of the neck, 
below the larynx and thyroid gland, which was confiderably 
f{welled. He foon came to the cavity of’a large abfcefs, in 
which the entire chefnut was fituated. The cefophagus was 
much contraéted both above and below this body, and the 
abfcefs which it had caufed communicated with the trachea 
y a gangrenous aperture in the membranous parietes of the’ 
Cea e. 
The voblervations > Euftachius, Winflow, Haller, and 
Morgagni, had appr Guattani that the cefophagus, in- 
ftead of defce eee in a a ieienr line along the eae of the 
trachea, inclines a little to the left, and hence the latter fur- 
ant, the furgeon is to divide the integuments, 
the mibeuteneaus ‘ella fubitance, and that (whi ch hi 
betwixt the ft The 
mufcles and ie 
y» an open- 
ing is to be made into the ocfophagus over the foreign body, 
which is to be extra@ted with the fingers, or forceps. e 
wound requires only fimple dreflings, an fome expe- 
riments upon dogs, it is concluded that it will readily heal. 
Thefe experiments were attended with no difficulty, and 
that which Guattani performed in the prefence of M. Faget, 
upon the human dead fubjeét, was done with equal faci. 
hi 
~ 
“ 
"he French academy of furgery, to which Guattani 
fented his reflections, had annexed to an extra&t from 
memoir two cafes of efophagoiony, Sepeceee/ Pa 
on two living men, One initance was communicated by 
ourfa 
ud, 
