The Rutland daily globe. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1873-1877, 1875-05-19

VERMONT AGAINST NEW JERSEY

That Carruth, the Vineland editor who
was shot through the head by Lands, still
lives is regarded in New Jersey and, even,
in New York city, as most remarkable
case in the annals of surgery. Immediate
ly after the shooting, he was placed under
the care of homeopathic physicians, to the
exclusion of Irregular" practitioners or sur
geons, and his sole treatment has been the
administration of doses of arnica, internal
ly. The ball is supposed to have lodged
upon the skull near the eye-although no
probe has been used to ascertain its loca-
tion-the orifice of the wound is closing,
and it is stated that if the ball becomes
'encysted" in its present position, there is
"hope" that Carruth may edit again. The
fact that he Is still alive has given rise to
much discussion, the homGopathists claim
ing it as triumph of their mode of treat
ment, while the "regulars" put it down as
freak Of nature. The newspapers, with
out taking sides in the discussion, are Won
deringly commenting upon it, and holding
it up in the alternative, as either "marvel
of nature or triumph of skill, forgetting
the old maxim that, an injury to the head,
no matter how trivial, is always fraught
with danger and, no matter how severe,
there is always reasonable ground for hope
OF permanent recovery so long as the
breath of life remains.
AS is most generally the case, we can
more than match Carruth in Vermont. We
need not refer to Sullivan, who was shot
through the head a few weeks ago, retained
the bullet therein, and yet was able to ap-
pear in court and testify against his al
legged assailant in two weeks after the
shooting. We dismiss that case on the
well established theory that men like Sulli-
van were not born to be killed in an ARRAY
about little whisky, and pass to another
case which puts that of Carruth entirely in
the shade-for what Is small leaden pei
let to thirteen pound iron bar? And yet,
in Vermont, an iron bar of more than that
weight went crashing through a mans
skull, and, with that hole in his head, he
rode three quarters of mile in an OK cart,
got out of the cart himself, and, with
trihing assistance, walked up long flight
of stairs, and said to his physician "Doc-
tor, here is business enough for you" In
less than six weeks he was so far recovered
as to walk about the house and, soon there
after, to return again to work. As a re-
en- tn tl,ie ha ,nta
and, perhaps, instructive, we give a brief
summary of the facts.
On the 18th of September lS4s, on the
line of the Rutland and Burlington, now
Rutland, railroad, in the town Of Caven-
dish, Phineas p. Gage, IA shrewd and intel
ligent young man of some twenty FIVE
years and of medium stature, was charging
with powder hole drilled in rock for
the purpose of blasting. 1t being custom
AIRY, in filing the hole to cover the powder
with sand, Gage, having adjusted the
charge, directed his assistant to pour in The
sand ; averting mis- face for few seconds,
and supposing that his directions bad been
followed In the interval, he turned and
dropped the head of the tamping iron upon
the charge to consolidate or "tanp it In. "
The sand had not been poured in, as direct
ed, and the iron striking fire on the rock,
ignited the uncovered powder and an ex-
plosion took place. Gage was standing
above the hole, leaning forward, with his
face slightly averted and the iron was
projected upwards sin line of its axis, "
passing completely through his head and
high in the air, and was picked up some
rods distant, smeared with blood and
brains.
The iron, which thus passed through the
head, was three feet seven inches in length,
one and a quarter inches in diameter, and