28 Proceedings of the Royal Physical Society. 



The specimen I now show is the last phalanx of the right 

 thumb of a boy. He lost it under the following circum- 

 stances : — Having tied one end of a string round his thumb, 

 and the other to the wheel of a turning-lathe, a companion 

 set the treadle in motion, the object of ambition being to 

 check the wheel when it was revolving rapidly. He suddenly 

 found that the string was flying round independent of his 

 thumb, and on trying to fasten it again, behold it had dis- 

 appeared. On a careful search it was found lying at some 

 distance in a distant part of the shop. He complained of no 

 annoyance in the shape of pain. 



On examining the detached portion, I found that the first 

 phalanx was completely separated, the skin having given 

 way sooner — or, to speak more correctly, more skin being 

 left behind than in front. The tendon of the long flexor of 

 the thumb was separated in its whole length, and had a 

 fringe of muscular fibres hanging to it. The digital nerves 

 had been drawn out for about one inch and a half. The 

 blood-vessels, naturally very minute, did not bleed. Along 

 the track through which the tendon, with part of its fleshy 

 belly, had been thus violently rent, there was scarcely any 

 tenderness, and except when dressing the stump, the lad 

 complained of no pain, and soon got well. A very similar 

 case is recorded by Mr Eecolin, of a man, at seventy-two, 

 who endeavoured to stop some runaway horses, and to get 

 a firmer grasp of the reins, twisted one of them round his 

 right thumb, — the first phalanx separated from the second, 

 the skin being cut as with a knife at the edge of the joint ; 

 the extensor tendons had given way, and hung round it 

 as a fringe ; the tendon of the long flexor was separated 

 in the whole of its extent, with many portions of its 

 fleshy fibres. 



The next case I would show the Society is also a portion 

 of a thumb, and also the last phalanx. It was torn from a 

 lad who imprudently placed his hand in too great proximity 

 to some machinery ; the rope, which is still attached, caught 

 the tip of the thumb, and cut through the soft parts to the 

 bone. Then everything yielded, — skin, ligaments, vessels, 



