RAY CURIOSITIES.

Waipa Post, Volume XXIV, Issue 1419, 23 October 1923, Page 3

RAY CURIOSITIES.

BL'LLKT IX WRONG PLACI'I WOMBN SWALLOW HAIRPINS. Doctors at the Melbourne Hospital see much of the humorous side of life as well as the tragic. Perhaps one of the most interesting phases of the hospital's activities is the X-ray department. Here many strange stories are told of how injuries have been received, while the circumstances in which articles have been swallowed often cause amusement to the attendants. In a, portion of the "plate" room is a collection of the most interesting "foreign bodies," which have been removed from patients and which are being kept, as "curios." Home time ago a man was brought into the X-ray department suffering from a bullet wound in. the nose and the forehead. He stated that he was tired of life and had unsuccessfully attempted to shoot himself. His nose and head was examined under the X-ray. but no trace of the bullet could be found. The doctors were puzzled and they doubted whether the man's story was true. When the patient was about to leave the room one of the doctors noticed that one of his fingers was bandaged. He was asked how the finger had been injured. The man explained that he could not bear the sight of blood, and when he pointed the gun towards his head he put his hand over his eyes and tired. This gave the doctors a clue. They examined his finger under the X-ray and embedded in it was the missing bullet. The man was delighted that his ringer had saved his life and he promised never

to get depressed again. Another bullet which was recovered from the skull of a man who had also attempted to commit suicide was entirely flattened. "It's no good me attempting to shoot myself," said the man when shown the bullet, "as T must be 'thick' in the head. Nothing can penetrate it." This bullet has also been kept as a curiosity. A toy horse which a child had swallowed was recently recovered and handed back to it. When a woman, who stated that she had swallowed her wedding ring, was examined, two large hairpins, which she could not recollect having swallowed, were also found. From another woman were recovered two hairpins each 3i inches long. The woman explained that while she was doing her hair her sister thumped her on the back and she swallowed the hairpins. The most difficult case was that of a woman who swallowed two sat'etypins, one of which was open, while she was running into the kitchen to save the milk which was boiling over. A collection of small coins. including a shilling, were recovered from the stomach of a boy, who is known as the "human money box." False teeth are frequently being recovered from persons 'who have swallowed them in the most extraordinary circumstances.