We have already examined the pretensions of these bodies to the rank of corrosive poisons, (_page_ 145) and we should have not reverted to the subject, but from a wish to introduce the account of “_a case of Schirrus in the intestines, arising from hairs remaining in the canal_,” as related in the _Edinburgh Medical Journal_,[345] by _Dr. Burrell_, and which had, on the former occasion, escaped our notice. The subject of this history, _Laurence Harding_, æt. 35, being a private soldier, was admitted into the regimental hospital, for an unrelenting constipation of the bowels; but it appears also that he had been affected with dyspeptic symptoms, and pain in his abdomen, for several years; which pain was aggravated by the ingestion of solid food. He received but little benefit from the remedies that were administered, his strength gradually declined, and, about a month after his admission, he expired. “On laying open the abdomen, the stomach was found much thickened throughout its whole substance, and the pylorus very much contracted, which contraction continued down the duodenum. Through all the intestines this thickening and gristly appearance was observed. The colon was prodigiously enlarged in its calibre, until where it forms its sigmoid flexure; at which point there were three distinct holes ulcerated through the coats of the intestine, and forming a communication with the abdominal cavity. Beyond the sigmoid flexure the intestine was contracted in its diameter, so as hardly to admit the little finger to pass downwards. On cutting open the pylorus and small intestines, the internal coats were found to be covered with a soft substance, which resembled size. The internal coats of the colon were of a dark colour, and in general were completely ulcerated, and hanging in shreds. The colour of the colon was of a dark lurid red. At the sigmoid flexure there was much contraction, and the thickening was so great on one side, and the valve found so considerable, as hardly to admit a common bougie through it. The portion forming the sigmoid flexure was cut out; and on laying it open, and removing some hardened fæces, _five or six hog’s brittles were seen distinctly crossing each other in different directions_; they were partially invested in the villous coat, which had grown over them, and which had retained them in the different positions in which they were placed; and so firmly were they kept down by those partial coverings, that it required some force to draw them out. The mesenteric glands were of a cartilaginous appearance; the liver was suffused with blood, and the gall-bladder full of bile. The spleen was very small, and compressed into an oblong shape, probably arising from the pressure of the colon when distended with feculent matter.