Tracheotomy for the extraction of a piece of glass.—A boy, aged 8,
was brought hastily to the Newcastle Infirmary in a suffocating state,
in consequence of a portion of broken glass having got into his wind-pipe
during play. He was seen soon after admission, and it was found by the
stethoscope, from the distinct whistling sound, most evident a little below
the cricoid, that the glass was impacted there, and he was immediately
placed under the influence of chloroform. Tracheotomy was then per-
formed, and the trachea slit downwards from the cricoid for about an inch,
when a violent convulsive paroxysm of coughing expelled a piece of
glass about half an inch long, with irregular edges, and about a quarter
of an inch broad. The patient recovered without a bad symptom.—
London Medical Times and Gazette.