The Toledo chronicle. [volume] (Toledo, Tama County, Iowa) 1873-1924, 1873-10-16
"reminiscences Of Doctor
Neiatons

Re'atoF's
BY the decease Of DR.. Nelaton,
the art of surgery has lost one OF Its
successful practitioners. DR.. ,Nelaton
was one OF those men who attain to
greatness by the absolute devotion
OF their lives to a single pursuit. "A
native Of Normandy, he went ~
Paris in the exciting days which Jol-
lowed the revolution Of 1880, but
seems to have had no interest lhspol-
itics, so that all the storms OF French
society lett him undlsturbed. In his
boyhood he distinguished himscl! at
school, and showed his peculiar form
Of ingenuity by dlssecting leaves
with a prnknife, so as to exhibit the
skeleton, with out sabjecting them to
-" IS a. u,
RIG he lived in garret, lying all
night reading on board, ingeniously
contrived to throw him off if he
went to sleep. HIS enthusiasm as q
student attracted the notice OF Du.
puytren, the celebrated surgeon of
the Hotel Dieu, whose tavorito pupil
he became. 1t is told OF hiln that in
those early days he was singularly
sensitive to blame, and this gentle
ness and tenderness of nature char.
actcrzcd him to the last His in
ventive genius once came to the aid
OF his teacher III way which attract
ed Dupuytren's great admiration and
regard. lie had sent Nj. Neiaton to
borrow from his competitor, List:anc
the surgeon of La Pi,ie, delicate
instrument for the operation on cata.
racts. Lisiranc refused to lend it,
and remarked that people who pro-
fessed to be so clever should not
need to borrow from others. The
young student dared not carry this
message back, but went TO an instru-
ment maker aud oIdered the neces-
sary instrument to be made from his
own description, at the same time
Introducing slight but ingenious
modification into it. The instrument
was sent as from La Pilie, and Du
puytrcn was SO pleased with it that
he ordered one like it 10 be made AT
once for tho Hotel Dieu. Nelaton
then told him what had hannened
est admiration oil. his master. For
the next twenty years DR.. Nelaton
worked quietly and dcvoied'y at ms
art, writing two or three books, and
especially IN 1850, one on cataract,
which gradually brought him into
notice. In 1851 he became professor
OF Clinical Surgery, and five years
was elected u membe: OF the Acade
my OF Medicine. Al the London
exhibition OF 1862, he acted as a
member OF the French section OF the
the Jury. He suddenly emerged in
to the widest public notice when, i'll
1860. he was sent for to extract the
ball by which Ganbaldi had been
seriously wounded III tho unhappy
affair OF Aspromonte. His success
on that OCCASION was only one of his
surgical triumphs. His treatment Of
the Prince Imperial at a serious crl.
sis, gained Tor him the gratitude Of
the Emperor Napoleon. He was
made Senator OF the Empire by {
decree OF the Emperor, dated Aug
Il, 1868; but entirely as a tribute u
his surgical skill. Dr.. Nelaton wa
was not a politician. He was SO tai
lost in his own art as to be compare
lively indifferent TO the changes ant
movements OF the political world
His chiet invention was great I'M
provement on the painful and dan
gerous operation OF lithotrity. Il
was distinguished by the large nun
Der OF simpliications and improve
monts he introduced both into tn
mechanical appliances, and the meth
DDS Of surgical practice. His gen
atty OF temperament, his refined an
cultivated manners, and his gres