Three Extraordinary Cases in Surgery, by Bezaleel Sherman, Surgeon, at Kelvedon in Essex, Communicated in November 1738

dry. It has a circular Hole in it, which runs through the Peritoneum. The Lad is of a thin Habit of Body, but otherwise enjoys good Health. His Father, Michael Martinetti, a Tinker, told me, that this is the seventh Child his Wife Nunciada bore him. She was thirty Years of Age at his Birth, and bore him two more since. All the rest were of the natural Shape. IX. Three extraordinary Cases in Surgery, by Bezaleel Sherman, Surgeon, at Kelvedon in Essex, communicated in November 1738. Samuel Bush, of the Parish of Wickham-Bishops, in September 1704. being on the Top of a very high Timber Tree, in order to shake down the Acorns, he let go his Hold; and by falling from one Bough of the Tree upon another, he broke his Thigh-bone; and one End of it, by the Force of the Fall, stuck fast in the Ground, which fractured the Bone in another Place, about two Inches and an half above the former. This intire Piece of the Os Femoris was taken out; notwithstanding which, so large a Callus united the two Ends of the Bone, that his Thigh (when cured) was very little more than a quarter of an Inch shorter than the other Thigh. The Surgeon who had the Care of him, used his greatest Endeavours, during the Cure, to preserve the Extension; but he imputed the Largeness of the Callus to a very great Quantity of Lap. Osteocolla, which he made him take for six Weeks or two Months, in Powder with Milk, in an Electuary, in his Bread, and in his Pudding; in short, in almost all the Food he took. — Fitch, of the Parish of Keldon, had a foul Ulcer in his Mouth, with a Caries in the lower Jawbone, one Part of which, from the Suture at the Chin to the End of it under the Ear, in Process of Time intirely came out, with three Teeth in it. This was also owing to a great Quantity of Osteocolla internally given, which was thought not only to expedite this large Exfoliation, but at the same time to generate so large and firm a Callus, that he can chew an hard Crust, or any other Food, on that Side as well as on the other. John Spilman, Bricklayer, of Maldon, came to me the 3d of October 1734, having a sinuous Ulcer in his Rectum, about two Inches from the Anus. This had remained a Twelvemonth, and was taken for the Piles, and treated as such, both internally and externally. I soon perceived a Tumour in his Buttock two or three Inches from the Anus, which coming to Suppuration, I opened it by Incision; and after dressing it several Weeks with little Prospect of Success, I discovered at the Bottom of the Ulcer something that looked like a Bone, which when extracted, proved to be the lower Jaw of a Fish, as a Whiting, or young Cod, &c. And unquestionably this was swallowed at least a Year before it came away, because the pricking Pain he felt when the sharp End of the Bone stuck in the Rectum, was the Symptom mistaken for the Piles; and when this had made its Way thro' the Rectum, and got into the fleshy Part, the Aposthume followed in course; and the Bone being ex- tracted, the Ulcer was soon cicatrized by the common Methods of Cure in such Cases. N.B. All these Persons are yet living, and will attest the Truth of the Case. X. A Letter from Tho. Stack, M.D. to Sir Hans Sloane, Bart. Pr. R.S. &c. containing an Account of a Woman sixty-eight Years of Age, who gave Suck to two of her Grand-children. Honoured SIR, A Gentleman of Credit having lately inform'd me of a Woman near seventy Years old, who actually suckles one of her Grand-children, and courteously offering to accompany me to her, excited my Curiosity to see so uncommon a Sight; and the more, in order to try if I could not discover some Fallacy in the Affair. Wherefore I went Yesterday, in Company with the aforesaid Gentleman, to a House in Tottenham-Court-Road, where the Woman we inquired for appear'd in an Instant. Her Breasts were full, fair, and void of Wrinkles; though her Face is very much wither'd, her Cheeks and Mouth vastly sunk in, her Eyes red, and running with a clammy Humour; and though she has, in short, all the other external Marks that one may reasonably expect to find in a Woman, who has spent the last Half of her past Life in Labour, Troubles, and other Concomitants of Poverty, and through them has reach'd near to her 70th