The Tiffin tribune. (Tiffin, Ohio) 1868-1887, 1870-10-13
From the Evening Mail.l
GENERAL FITZPATRICK UNDER ETH
ER.
An Unprecedented Surgical Operation
In the AStOr HOuse-The 6eneFaI'S
Struggle with two Muscular Men,

ER.
An Unprecedented Surgical Operation
! In the AStOr HOuse-fhe Generals
Struggle with two Muscular Men.
Gen. Fitzpatrick, our late Minister
TO Chilli, was obliged to resign his
I position and return home on account
Of declining health. The disease
seemed TO be swelling Oh the left
side Ofthe lower part of the neck. 1t
made its first appearance about two
years ago and was undoubtedly agra
waited by much speaking in the Pres
ldential campaign then pending. 1t
was induced by over excitement in
/ the army. Without receiving anv
/ permanent aid the General returned
to Chilli. The formation in the throat
! increased. The most skilful medical
men in that country were baffied in
their efforts to master the difficulty.
They drugged the General nearly TO
death. They could not decide what
( it was.
The General returned to the United
States about ten days ago, and stop
ped at the AstOr House with his fami-
ly. His first business was TO consult
some skilful physicians. DIR. L. +.
Sass and his associate; DR.. R. 2. Lin
coin, were called in. The latter made
a careful examination of the General,
and decided that the formation was
an erectile tumOF. Without making
known the result of his discovery, he
requested DIR. Hammond, ex-SurgeOn
General of the United States Army,
20 make an examination also, and he
did 50 with the same result as to the
nature cf the disease.
The PHYSICIANS held a consultation
and dec led lha5 DIR. Lincoln should
peri rf' zen electric operation, to which
GenC- t patrick readily assented.
Friday lie day fixed upon for
the experiment. At that time the tu-
NOR prOtruded Outwardly as large as a
hens egg. Inwardly it was much,
larger, crOwding the windpipe half
an inch over to the left, making the
effort to talk and eat very difficult and
painful.
Gen. Fitzpatrick was placed under
the influence of either. Four large
sized darning-needles were then in
serted in the tumOr. Some idea can
be formed of the stuppOrnness of the
tumOr by the fact that it required all
the strength a strong man possessed
to force the needles into it. The fact
that it was near the jugular vein in
creased the difficulty. An unusually
powerful electric battery was then aD-
piled to the needles, the force of the
battery being given.
Not withstanding the influence of
the ether, the electricity had such an
effect upon the patient that two pow
erful men had as much as they could
do to keep him on the bed. The nee
dies were removed. The patient lay
quiet under the influence OF the ether.
In thirty minutes exactly, the out
ward swelling began to go down, and
soon disappeared altogether. The
General lay unconscious for two
hours.
As he gradually came to his senses,
he began to complain of excruciating
pains and torturing burning the throat
and neck; but these distressing SELL
sations were quickly mingled with
surprise and delight. His windpipe
had Strengthened and resumed its nat
ural position, and the "great lump
which he had complained of so much
for ten months past had disappeared.
OF course the General was left in
terribly weak condition, but to-day,
although instructed to keep his room
and bed, is looking exceedingly well.
DR.. Lincoln says that the amount
of electricity thrown into Gen Kill
patrick's system by the operation, if
concentrated, would transform a piece
of the hardest kind of coal the size of
a marble into a coal of fire.