Gluteal Abscess

Sik,? Abscess Gluteal caused by a foreign body treated at the Ponneri Dispensai y, Chingleput District, by R. Strinivasa Pillai, Medical Officer. A woman named Karaatchiamma, aged about 25 years, Hindu, married, came to dispensary from a village called Minjnr about 7 miles from Ponneri, with an " abscess of the thigh" of three months' duration. I asked the midwife to examine her and send for me. It was an " abscess of the left Ischium" and it was fluctuating. On incision a thin sanious discharge oozed out. When I began to scoop the abscess cavity, a straight thin hard substance was felt, I suspected it to be a bone and put out of court the idea of a round worm since it was hard. I examined the rectum and found it had 110 communication with the abscess cavity. The opening was enlarged and with my thumb and index finger I extracted the foreign body. It was a cocoanut broom stick with a white stained cloth wrapped at the end. The stick was about 4 inches long. The patient was not pregnant and the stick must have evidently been introduced with the intention of producing abortion. (3d.) R. STKINIVASA Ij1LL,A1, 1at grade Sub-Assistant Surgeon, Ponneri? POXIS'ERI,