After death it was found that the
cavity in the left side of the chest was entirely filled with
abdominal viscera. The opening in the diaphragm was four inches
in diameter, and through it had passed the stomach, transverse
colon, a few inches of the descending colon, and a considerable
portion of the small intestines. The heart was crowded to the
right of the sternum and was perfectly healthy, as was also the
right lung. The left lung was compressed to the size of a hand.
There were marked signs of peritonitis, and in the absence of
sufficient other symptoms, it could be said that this woman had
died of peritonitis in the left thoracic cavity.
Extended tolerance of foreign bodies loose in the thoracic cavity
has been noticed. Tulpins mentions a person who had a sponge shut
up in his thoracic cavity for six weeks; it was then voided by
the mouth, and the man recovered. Fabricius Hildanus relates a
similar instance in which a sponge-tent was expelled by coughing.
Arnot reports a case in which a piece of iron was found in a cyst
in the thorax, where it had remained for fourteen years. Leach
gives a case in which a bullet was impacted in the chest for
forty-two years. Snyder speaks of a fragment of knife-blade which
was lodged in the chest twelve years and finally coughed up.
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