Bush reported to Sir Astley Cooper the history of a man who, as he supposed, received a wound in the back by canister shot while serving on a Tartar privateer in 1779.
There was no ship-surgeon on board, and in about a month the wound healed without surgical assistance.

The man suffered little inconvenience and performed his duties as a seaman, and was impressed into the Royal Navy.

In August, 1810, he complained of pain in the lumbar region.

He was submitted to an examination, and a cicatrix of this region was noticed, and an extraneous body about 1/2 inch under the integument was felt.

An incision was made down it, and a rusty blade of a seaman's clasp-knife extracted from near the 3d lumbar vertebra.