The question now arose of how this injury had been inflicted. Many possible causes were considered, including the "compressed air" joke and some unnatural sex act, but none seemed to fit this particular case. When the patient was approached he first said he was standing too near a firework, and it had gone off while he was in a stooping position. When told this could not be so and he would have to tell the truth, he gave the following astounding explanation. For domestic reasons he had become unhappy and morose, and on the evening of November 4 he decided to explode a firework up his seat. He accordingly fashioned a narrow tube, using cartridge paper, and with the aid of a pencil introduced one end of this tube, approximately 6 inches (15 cm.) in length, into his rectum. He then placed a lighted firework into the end of the tube projecting out of his anus, with the result that a hole was blown through the anterior rectal wall. This escapade had taken place the evening previous to admission. At first this story was accepted with reservations. What, for instance, happened to the firework-no charred bits were detected. Could a paper tube, even of stiff paper, be introduced into the anus against the action of the sphincter, and would there not have been some signs of singeing at least around the anal regions ? However, there appeared to be no other reasonable explanation. He was referred to a psychiatrist, who stated there was no doubt this was indeed the true sequence of events. The history in this case was grossly misleading, but had, of course, been made so deliberately. Had there been any suspicion of trauma to the rectum, examination under general anaesthesia would have been the first step.