# Lions and splinters (2 unrelated Q's)

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lions-and-splinters-2-unrelated-qs/213340>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [November 14, 2003, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lions-and-splinters-2-unrelated-qs/213340 "2003-11-14T23:54:03Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![NinjaChick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/71c47a/32.png) [@NinjaChick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NinjaChick)\
**Post date:** [November 14, 2003, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lions-and-splinters-2-unrelated-qs/213340/1 "2003-11-14T23:54:03Z")

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1. I’ve got a splinter in my foot, and have not had any luck yanking it out with tweezers. Will it eventually just come out on its own if I just leave it be?

2. Lions, like on [this](http://www.oriel.ox.ac.uk/) seal here (the college that Oxford decided to send my app to, btw). I’ve seen them in a lot of art from I’m guessing about the 1600’s. Why are they always so long and skinny? Any reason? Or simply because?

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**Author:** ![herman\_and\_bill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/f1d935/32.png) [@herman\_and\_bill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/herman_and_bill)\
**Post date:** [November 15, 2003, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lions-and-splinters-2-unrelated-qs/213340/2 "2003-11-15T00:38:17Z")

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The splinter, depending on how deep it is, it may fester and pop out like a pimple. If its right at the surface try scraping it back towards the entrance with a sharp knife.

The lion, Europeans didn’t know exactly how they looked and just drew from a description. Maybe they just wanted it to fit the available space.

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**Author:** ![spingears](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ebca7d/32.png) [@spingears](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/spingears)\
**Post date:** [November 15, 2003, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lions-and-splinters-2-unrelated-qs/213340/3 "2003-11-15T01:12:57Z")

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Keep everything sterile

1. Apply hydrogen perocide or disenfectant to the site.
2. With a very sharp pointed knife try to scrape the bit out or use the point to go in alongside the bit and cut upward to open the puncture wound and remove the splinter. May also make it easier to remove with fine pointed tweezrs.
3. Let it fester i.e. get infiected…Not a good idea, could lead to blood poispnomg or worse.
4. See a Dr.

It was a very hungry lion the artist used as a model.

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**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\
**Post date:** [November 15, 2003, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lions-and-splinters-2-unrelated-qs/213340/4 "2003-11-15T01:49:26Z")

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For the splinter, before you try opening the wound, try soaking the foot long enough to get wrinkles. This will frequently make the splinter stand out more to ease extraction. (Throwing epsom salts into the soaking solution won’t hurt.)

If you look at the world’s most prevalent lion (panther, cougar, catamount, etc.) you will note that it actually is rather long and lean. Now, the Romans had driven the European lion to extinction trying to bring wild beasts to their games, but there may have been older representations that the Medieval artists copied. Alternatively, since it is a stylistic device, there may have been no serious effort to make the images realistic.