Dr. Chevalier Jackson was a laryngologist who spent a good deal of his career retrieving objects that his patients swallowed or inhaled. And he kept them all. He retired with a collection of over 2,000 bizarre items that had once been inside his patients.
Jackson retrieved these objects from people’s upper torsos, generally with little or no anesthesia. He was so intent on assembling his collection that he once refused to return a swallowed quarter, even when its owner threatened his life.
“He was a fetishist, no question,” said Mary Cappello, the author of “Swallow” (New Press), a new book about Jackson and his bizarre collection. “But his obsession had the effect of saving lives. That’s kind of amazing, and lucky for us that his madness made possible forms of rescue.”
The collection is set to go on display at the Mutter Museum in Philadelphia on February 18th. Link -via Bioephemera
Seems like Dr. Chevalier Jackson is doing a lot of work. ‘Swallow’ would be a fun thing to read. However, I wonder how people swallow safety pins? Hope to read more of such bizarre swallowed items in his book.
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All I get is a article about logs. I don't care about logs. I don't see how logs have anything to do with people swallowing strange things. Logs are boring. Logs are intrusive. Please don't post links to pages about logs.
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Fascinating! From reading that, though, I wouldn't call him a "fetishist" so much as an obsessive. It's thanks largely to such socially odd, intensely focused people that we have certain advances in science and medicine.
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