HAIR BALL OR HAIR CAST OF THE STOMACH AND ITS OCCURRENCE IN CHILDREN

Abstract

The occurrence of bezoars in various domestic animals is not uncommon and these strange concretions have been esteemed alike for their antidotal properties against poisons, and likewise because of the efficacy or charm they were supposed to possess against the plague, malignant fevers, vertigo, epilepsy, dysentery and other ailments. Certain concretions likewise occur in man as a result of the ingestion of indigestible substances; thus Tidemand¹reports a gastrolith or stone, probably of some resinous material and weighing 15 gm. Friedlander,²Vonnegut,³and Manasse⁴each record cases of gastric shellac calculus, while Ewald⁵quotes an instance of a carpenter who mistook his varnish for liquor and drank it; it formed a gastrolith. Outten⁶has reported a case of double gastrolith. Concretions of vegetable origin are also occasionally