A few years ago in this country there was much public excitement and newspaper discussion over the daily reports which came from the bedside of a gentleman who had swallowed a cork, and which had become lodged in a bronchus.

Tracheotomy was performed and a special corkscrew devised to extract it, but unfortunately the patient died of slow asphyxiation and exhaustion.

Herrick mentions the case of a boy of fourteen months who swallowed a shawl-pin two inches long, which remained in the lungs four years, during which time there was a constant dry and spasmodic cough, and corresponding depression and emaciation.

When it was ultimately coughed up it appeared in one large piece and several smaller ones, and was so corroded as to be very brittle.

After dislodgment of the pin there was subsidence of the cough and rapid recovery.
Lapeyre mentions an elderly gentleman who received a sudden slap on the back while smoking a cigarette, causing him to start and take a very deep inspiration.