The man pulled violently in one direction, and the donkey, who had seized the thumb firmly with his teeth, pulled forcibly in the other direction until the tissues gave way and the man ran off, leaving his thumb in the donkey's mouth.

The animal at once dropped the thumb, and it was picked up by a companion who accompanied the man to the hospital.

On examination the detached portion was found to include the terminal phalanx of the thumb, together with the tendon of the flexor longus pollicis measuring ten inches, about half of which length had a fringe of muscular tissue hanging from the free borders, indicating the extent and the penniform arrangement of the fibers attached to it.
Meyer cites a case in which the index finger was torn off and the flexor muscle twisted from its origin.

The authors know of an unreported case in which a man running in the street touched his hand to a hitching block he was passing; a ring on one of his fingers caught in the hook of the block, and tore off the finger with the attached tendon and muscle.

There is a similar instance of a Scotch gentleman who slipped, and, to prevent falling, he put out his hand to catch the railing.