The Manchester journal. [volume] (Manchester, Vt.) 1861-current, 1868-07-21
: u,o.vBESSrL sHr1L


. H'e.NBEEgr sHFEG.
Nearly twtuty Years ayo ne medics
ipafials q she world vcraraed mos
singular case q a laborer in Casendssh
w. who Whale enenged ia blasting hat
a tamping iron entirely through hl
head but who actually recovered With
~ sixty days Such Surprising ant
unprecedented result at the time a ID
announcement was generally dfsbehev.
ga, and provpked great discussions
many eminent surgeons pronpuncing il
o physical impo~ibiiity, but the subse.
fuent pnhtc exhibition Of tho individ.
ual himself convinced tho most skspti.
cal. and verified the first report Of DR.
John NJ Harlow, the attending sur
geon Who pnblished the case Al Q
very recent meeting Of the Massachu-
setis Medical Society. this gentleman
read d paper giging a history u the
case aud presented 70 tina, body, ths
yeriiablo s.u,l which sustained tAe in-
jury
IheacsIdeut occurred on September
1871, 1878. and was caused bythe temp
irg ,ran striking the fire from the rock
exploding the powder and driving the
bar, which Mas aearly fonr feet long by
one and oue-quarter inches diameter,
aud weighed thirteen pounds, through
the head, entering under the check
bone, passing inside an inch behind the
eye and out at the top of the head at
the centre, two inches back OF the line
where the forehead and hair meet. The
Opening in the skull was two inches
wide by three and half inches long
and the brain was hanging ia shreds on
the HAIR, In ifty-nine days the pa
tiaat was abroad. Soon after, with has
taslping iron--which he carried with
haa till the day OF his death he was
exhibited in Barnum's old museum,
TINS city, and several years after he left
tLle city for South America. His gon-
elal hoalth appears to haye been good
flntil 1853, weeni il began to fail At
that time being in California, he was
taken with epileptic fits which finally
CEASED bis death in May, 1861, twelve
yeLrs and eight nonths after tho aeci.
aaenL Dir Harlow kept himself in.
formed rs to the history Of his patient,
and on his demise obtaining possession
ssf both the skull and the ron, made
I.Ae disposal Of the same as mentioned
above.
The effect Of the Injury upon the man
seems to have been the destruction be-
tween the intellectual faculties and the
animal propensities He became capri
cols, htful irrsyerent, yacillating im-
patient Of restraint, child in mind, an
adult in physical system and passions.
During his South American life he was
8 coachman, and underwent great hard
ship 1t appears the man could SEQ
ont Of his lett eye though tae lid was
not subject TO his will. In summing
mp his paper DR.. Harlow presents these
views:
LIST, The recovery is attributed sole
lY to the Wis vitae, Wis conservative, or,
u some like it, Wis medicatrix natural.
"a, This case has been cited as one of
lecovery; physically the recovery was
nearly or quite completed for the four
years immediately Succeeding the ihiu-
n, bu', ultimately the patient sue
cambed 10 progressive dlseas OF tho
lram. Mentally the recovery was only |
pnrtlal; thee was no dcmetia; MEL |
.sct,lal operations were srfect in kind, |
but not in degree or quantity Sd !
Though the case may seem improba- |
jle, yet the subject was the man for
she case, as his will, physique, capaci-
iy for endurance, could be scarcely be |
squalled; the missile was smooth and |
pointed, dilating and wedging off rath-
sr than lacerating the tissues; the bolt |
lid little injury until in entering the
base of the brain, and this opening
served as dram for the blood and mat
.er and other substances that might
lave caused death by compression; the
part Of the brain traversed was the |
)art that could best stand such a shock
slth the least injury. Scteatifc liner
can