The Lancet records an account of a suicide by the penetration of a darning-needle in the epigastrium.

There were nine punctures in this region, and in the last the needle was left in situ and fixed by worsted.

In 1851 the same journal spoke of an instance in which 30 pins were removed from the limbs of a servant girl.

It was said that while hanging clothes, with her mouth full of pins, she was slapped on the shoulder, causing her to start and swallow the pins.

There is another report of a woman who swallowed great numbers of pins.