Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1873-03-29

A Baby that Paddles Around Under
Water. for Twenty-Five Minutes-A
German who has Succeeded I'm Max
ing His Dog and Infant Amphibi-
Ous-RaVe We All the Elements of
the GudgeOn I'm cur Several Anat-
OmIes?
From the Chicago Times, March Is.
Chicago seems destined to become the
birthplace of sensations. 1t electrified the
world with its colossal fire, and amazed it
with its rapid recovery. 1t is now favored
with sensation which will gain for it .
notoriety as worldwide as it attained with
its conAagration. II has become the parent
of a "new departure" from the supposed
natural order of things, and given birth
either to a wondrous luSliS nature in the
human species, or to the forerunner of
future generation compared with which the
present seems, physically, to be strangely
lacking in the important functions of life.
The following strange narrative will doubt
less be received with incre1ulity by litter
ate readers, but to the medical profession
and scientists generally, it will be matter
of the deepest concern and interest:
Louis ShultZ was an assistant surgeon in
a Prussian regiment. His professional
knowledge was rather limited, he never hav
ing entered medical college, but his zeal in
the canse of medicine was boundless, and it
was owing to the urgent demand for medi-
cal help, and to The fact that Shultz had
made medicine and surgery his favorite
study, that procured his transfer from
the position Of a private soldier TO
that of 3 surgeons assistant. He
vas fast gaining more sound practical
knowledge in the field which the terrible
battles of the war afforded, than he would
in years of collegiate course, when an IN
fortunate blunder with the knife, resulting
in the death of a wounded soldier, ended
his medical career iDglOriously, and Shultz
was placed under arrest. His modification
at this sudden blasting of ambition was in
tense, and, careless of consequences, be at
tempted escape and was successful. He
worked at his trade, that of butcher, for
a time in Belgium, until he had saved the
means to emigrate to the United States.
Arriving in this country he made bis resi-
dence in this city, having acquaintances
here. He had been here but a few weeks
when he proposed marriage to North av-
enue belle, and was accepted. Since his
marriage he has carried on the business ola
butcher on Sedgwick street, near North av-
enue, aud with the assistance of his father
in-law has succeeded well, and secured
comfortable home. His ardor for medicine
seems TO have increased since bis arrival
here, and medical works have been his es-
pecial delight. 1t was bordering over his
books which led him to the course he has
pursued, and which will stamp him either
philosopher or fiend in the judgment Of
the public.
The writer has just visited Shultz, with
an intimate friend Of his, at his own re-
quest, and can, therefore, give on account
Of bis strange prCc.edIng5, almost as he re-
lated them himself. Shultz had been study
ing German work, and was particularly
interested in the analogy with which the
circulation of the blood is kept up in mem
bers of the order of amphibia, while under
water, and in the human fe,us. Before
birth the circulation Of the blood in the
fa3tus is carried on through the oval hole
between the right aud left auric.es of the
heart, and the arterial cara. After birth
the circulation is conducted entirely by the
lungs through the pulmonary artery, and
the oval hole of the heart is gradually
closed, through disuse. The vital functions
of the amphibia are almost identical with
he land animals, including the human
species. Their young are all born on land,
aid the offspring of the seal, walrus, ETC.,
would become as incapable of remaining
under water as human beings, were they
not frequently forced by their dams be-
meath the watery surface, and thus the oval
hole OF the heart is constantly kept open
by prsctice, until it becomes one of the
permanent and necessary functions of the
body.
By initiating the sagacious amphibia,
Shultz was convinced that all land animals
were capable of acquiring the same faculty,
and he resolved TO test the matter. OPP
port1mity soon offered His dog, of the
setter breed, giving birth TO four puppies in
August last, he Immediately experimental