by railways and steam-vessels; a desire for education, and a vast improvement in temperance and other habits; and into all, an impartial and firm administration of the law, through the agency of intelligent magistrates (sheriffssubstitute), planted in every county. In short, matters are immensely changed for the better in all rural districts.

In only one thing has improvement not kept pace with the general advance. The labouring population and farm-servants, though better off in many respects, do not manifest that measure of advancement which is enjoyed by the classes above them. The Scottish peasant, indeed, is no longer a serf; his clothing is comfortable, and he eats something better than 'saltless pottage;' but, how true! man requires more than mere animal enjoyments. His better faculties and feelings need to be stimulated; and this, we regret to say, has been in a large degree neglected in the general scramble of national advancement.

INTERESTING SURGICAL CASE.

SURGEONS, in the course of their practice, are occasionally called upon to extract articles of a very extraordinary nature from the human body. Needles and pins, for instance, are sometimes inadvertently swallowed, and go into the stomach, from which they perhaps work their way to the surface of the body, and are extracted by surgical aid. Sharp or pointed pieces of bone which have been swallowed in eating, are known to have been obtruded through the body in the same manner. Nature, it is well known, is most energetic in its struggles to expel foreign substances from the body; and if it fail in this its first object, it generally adopts the next best course-endeavours to seclude the substance, by surrounding it with a sack; thus, if possible, keeping it from

doing harm to the system. Every effort, however, which nature makes, is frequently baffled, and art has to be employed to relieve the sufferer.

One of the most remarkable instances of the extraction of a foreign substance from the body, which ever came within our knowledge, was published in the Lancet (Dec. 2, 1837.) It is the narration of a case in which a steel table- fork was extracted from the back of a common seaman; and being written by the gentleman who operated-Dr David Burnes, of 4 Vernon Place, Bloomsbury Square, London—is worthy of all credence. We take the liberty of laying it before our readers :—

'Robert Syms, aged twenty-three, was entered on the sick-list of His Majesty's ship Belvidera, about the middle of June 1831, complaining of pain at the inferior angle of the right scapula, close to the base of which was a small phlegmon, as I then considered it, in the early stage of suppuration. On the 19th of June, I opened "the boil," and ordered poultices to be applied, thinking it would heal kindly in a few days. On the 23d, however, on probing the wound, I felt what I first thought was the edge of the scapula; but, on more minute examination, something black and shining was seen in the wound. On the 24th, it being evident that there was some foreign body in the wound, the opening was enlarged directly upwards, and a piece of steel, about the thickness of a common ramrod, presented itself, but resisted strongly any efforts to extract it. Being unwilling to put him to further pain, while there was a chance of its coming away by poulticing, and pulling it with the forceps daily, this gentler course was agreed on in preference to making a further enlargement of the wound. Being questioned as to the nature of the piece of steel, he expressed himself as much astonished as we were at its presence, and said he should not have known it had we not told him, and had he not felt pain from our pulling it with the forceps. He had never been in action, having been only two years in the king's service, nor did he recollect having received any wound by which anything

of the kind could have been introduced. About two inches below the opening made on the 19th, we observed a small white speck, or mark, rather resembling the mark left many years after vaccination than a cicatrice of a wound. This was the only vestige of anything like a wound that we could detect in his back.

'July 2. The poulticing has been continued, and there is now a free discharge from the wound; the steel has been pulled daily by the forceps, and admits now of further motion, especially laterally, but is yet forcibly retained at its upper part. Its direction is nearly parallel with the base of the scapula, close to which it lies, and in its course upwards it seems to incline deep into the substance of the muscles. About an inch of it can be seen when the integuments are retracted. He is averse to further measures; has no pain except from the usc of the forceps. Continue the poultices.

16. Though the poulticing has been continued, and the steel pulled daily, there is no material alteration since last report, further than that the steel may be moved more freely in every direction, except when pulled directly downwards, when it seems to be retained as forcibly as at first. The probe can be introduced into the wound, upwards and inwards, nearly four inches, and can with some difficulty be made to move round the steel; but no information as to its size or shape can be gained from this mode of examination. It occurred to me, at this time, that it was a hook, and that it might be retained-by catching on one of the ribs. Having no pain except from the pulling, and being still averse to the use of the knife, the same treatment was pursued. 'August 5. The foreign body having become very little loosened, and now causing more pain on its being moved, I made a deep incision of about three inches in length over its course upwards, using it as a director, when it was easily extracted, and found to be a common kitchen fork, broken off close to its handle, and with one of its two prongs wanting about an inch from its point: it was blackened, and in some degree rusted. It seemed to

have been retained by a bridle of muscular fibres embracing its shoulders, for it was immediately liberated when the part was divided by the knife. The wound was dressed simply, and healed so soon that in ten days the man was doing duty in the boats and aloft.'

[Here is a drawing of the fork, which is exactly the size of forks in daily use, but with the appearance of corrosion, and broken off from the handle. About an inch of the pointed end of one of the prongs is also broken off, and is laid close to the part to which it had belonged. The manner in which this broken-off portion was afterwards got, is subsequently narrated.]

'Strange as it may seem, even after its extraction, the man persisted in adhering to his original statement of his being ignorant how and when it had been introduced; and during the two months I remained in the ship, I was not able to gain further information on the matter. He seemed to have no defect of memory in any way, for he, without hesitation, gave me every information. I asked as to his former life and habits. He is a native of Topsham, Devonshire, has been at sea since he was twelve years of age, and in the merchant service till two years ago, when he joined His Majesty's ship Tweed, at the Isle of France, and from which ship he was paid off immediately before joining the Belvidera in February last.

'Setting aside his own statement altogether, my own opinion is, that it must have been in his back for many months, if not for years, judging from the indistinct and ill-defined mark left, taking it for granted that this was the wound by which it had been introduced, but which is yet problematical, from the little pain he experienced from its presence; and more especially from the knowledge that, during the previous months while he belonged to the Belvidera, he was never one day off his duty or on the sick-list. Your readers are, however, as well able as myself now to form conjectures on the subject.

Having already experienced a difficulty in convincing some sceptical individuals of the facts above related, I may

in justice to your readers and myself, state, that as the case excited great interest, while under treatment, the patient was seen by the Honourable Captain Dundas, Dr Tweeddale, and most of the officers and crew of the ship; and also by Mr Geddes, Mr Chartres, and Dr Jones, surgeons, Royal Navy; and the fork was extracted in the presence of Dr Tweeddale-who assisted me-Mr Yates, and others.

The patient continued to serve in the Belvidera till December 1833, when he joined His Majesty's ship Blonde, going to South America. Being anxious to trace his future history, in the hope of obtaining some clue as to the introduction of the fork, I was enabled, through the kindness of Sir William Burnett, the physiciangeneral of the navy, on the arrival of the Blonde at Portsmouth about a month ago, to communicate with him by letter. The result was, that he came up to London, and on the 18th of November, called upon me to shew himself. He then stated, that about eighteen months ago, while washing himself, he felt a small hard body on the left side of the neck, which he was inclined to believe was part of the fork. On examining the part, I had no doubt myself of its being the portion of the broken prong, and which I asked permission to extract. He readily assented; but before the operation, I submitted him to the inspection of Sir William Burnett, Sir Astley Cooper, Sir Stephen Hammick, Mr Liston, and other gentlemen, who corroborated my opinion as to its being a portion of the fork, and recommended its extraction. On the 20th, in the presence of Mr C. Smith, surgeon, I made an incision over it (its position being just behind the middle part of the posterior edge of the sternocleido mastoideus muscle, where it is crossed by the external jugular vein), when it was easily removed, and proved to be the prong, which had the same bronzed appearance as the fork itself, and was coated with rust at its fractured end. It does not exactly join with the fork, and I am inclined to think some very minute splinters may have been broken from it when fractured, or some chemical action while in the body may have corroded it.