28 Proceedings of the Royal Physical Society. 
The specimen I now show is the last jjhalanx 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 complahied of no 
annoyance in the shape of pain. 
On examining the detached portion, I found that the first 
phalanx w^as 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 wdiole length, and had a 
fringe of muscular fibres hanging to it. The digital nerves 
had been drawn out for about one IdcIi 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 violentl}'- 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, 
