Orleans independent standard. [volume] (Irasburgh, Vt.) 1856-1871, 1869-03-09
was cutting down to get at the bleed

hOhCub III
which lost clear perception of what
| was doing. | seemed smitten, sud.
denly, with both physical and mental
blindness, as if some malignant spirit,
coming nearer through the disorder
ed condition wrought by unnatural
stimulation, took possession of all my
powers, and in an instant wrought an
evil that no human agency could re-
pair. A sound it had never been my
misfortune to hear beforehand | pray
God | may never hear again-start-
led me to an agonizing sense of what
my unnerved hand had done in a fa-
tai moment of oblivion. Too we'll |
knew the meaning Of that loud, hiss
inc snckin0 and onrolinp that smate
my ear. L had wounded the jugular
vein, and air was rushing in!
"lf | had possessed full command
OF myself, as in the morning, imminent
as the danger was, | shonld have been
calm, and | think equal to the emerg.
ency. AS it was, the new and peril
Gus condition of my patient, that de-
manded prompt and intelligent action,
paralyzed me for several moments,
and | only aroused to a full apprehen-
sion of the case and its duties, by
seeing the patient begin to struggle
for breath as she inspired. Her face,
which had been slightly flushed, be-
came deadly pale and distressed.
"To close the wound | had made,
and stop the influx Of air, must be
done immediately, or nothing could
save her life. Already sufficient air
had entered to alter the condition OF
the blood in the right cavities of the
heart and prevent its free transmits
sion to the lungs through the pulmo-
nary arteries. Life and death hung
on every instant of time. l CROPPED,
blindly, for the wound, and when ]
found it, failed, in my terrible confu-
sion, in prompt application of pres
sure to the exact point.
"Too late! too late! | cannot
dwell on the particulars By the
time | could close the fatal wound,
the deStroyer's work was done.
opened, in my despair-clear headed
and firm handed enough now-the
right jugular. and passing a flexible
tube into the auricle. tried by sue
ton to empty the heart of the air
and blood which had been churned
up there into spumous mass. But
too much time had been lost, and my
patient was beyond the reach of hu-
man skill. She sank rapidly, and in
less than half al hour the last feeble
pulses died
"Dr. Grantly was strongly agitated.
In pity for myself drop veil over
what followed" he said, after sitting
for long time like one in a dream.
"Out from the agonizing past | have
lifted this fearful thing that it may
stand as a lesson and a warning
If had been a drunkard, no such ca
tastrophe could have happened in my
practice, for men will not trust a
druukard in any case where the issue
is life or death. But I was a respect
able, trusted, moderate drinker, able
to take my four or five glasses of wine
without betraying the fact to common
observation; and so, too frequently
a state that untitled me for the deli
cate and often dangerous operations
| was at any moment liable to be call
ed on to perform.
From that day to this, no stimula-
ting draught has passed my Ii ips. If
| am fanatical, as some have said, in
the matter Of temperance, you have
the explanation And now | reassert
what | have said in the beginning.
that society Is hurt more by moderate
drinking than by drunkenness-ye
thousand fold more. Towards the
drunkard we are ever on guard; but
we take the moderate drinker into
closest confidence, and entrust him
with our highest and dearest interests,
and all the while. through a weak self
indulgence, he is consorting with an
enemy that enters when we open our
doors to welcome him, and in some
unguarded and inspecting moment
Injuries US, as it may be, beyond re-
pair !'-Ar1hur's Home Magazine.