[Reprinted from The Medical News, August 8, 1891.] 
A VERY IRREGULAR FOREIGN BODY IN THE ALI- 
MENT AR Y TRACT SAFELY VOIDED UNDER 
THE “POTATO” TREATMENT. 
J. SOLIS-COHEN, M.D., 
HONORARY PROFESSOR OF LARYNGOLOGY IN THE JEFFERSON MEDICAL 
COLLEGE, PHILADELPHIA. 
A patient was recently brought to me some two 
hours after having swallowed the irregularly shaped 
dental clasp depicted full size in the figure. 
Exploration of the esophagus showed that tube to be 
unobstructed. The patient was ordered to feed exclu- 
sively upon buttered mashed and roasted potatoes, and 
to examine his stools carefully for the foreign body. 
Within forty-eight hours the patient left the object at my 
office door. It had been voided thoroughly coated with 
potato, to free it from which several washings had been 
required. 
Note.—Had this very irregular body been found im- 
pacted in the esophagus, the same treatment would have 
been pursued in preference to the infliction of injury 
upon the esophagus in efforts at forcible extraction.