A large, unchewed mass of food, a fish-bone, or some metallic substance, such as a piece of money, may become lodged at some point in the throat.

When this occurs, immediately insert the finger and thumb into the mouth, pass them as far down the gullet as possible, and if any object be felt, make an attempt to pull it forth.

Instead of lodging in the upper part of the gullet, the foreign body may be arrested midway in its course to the stomach. Let the child then partially masticate and swallow a piece of bread and several mouthfuls of water, which will probably assist the object's passage into the stomach; if not, medical skill will be required.

Foreign bodies, such as buttons and coins, and even needles and pins, that pass directly into the stomach, give rise to little trouble, and soon find their way through the alimentary canal, and are voided from the rectum with the ordinary faecal evacuations. Laxative medicines are never to be used unless the bowels be absolutely confined, and then moderate doses of castor oil are the most suitable.