The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1876-05-04
A Singular Story.

A Singular Story.
The Virginia City New Enterprise
says: We learn some curious circum-
stances connected with the amputation
of the leg Of William Solen, an account
of the serious accident to whom on the
Virginia and Truckee Railroad was pub
Ii he'd in the Enterprise a few days since.
The bones of the foot and ankle were so
badly crushed that it was found neces-
sary to amputate the leg at point a
few inches below the knee. The opera
ton was performed by Drs. S. A. Nc
Means and E. B. Harris, of this city.
After the operation DIR. McMeans took
the foot, with few inches of the leg
attached, to his office, for the purpose
of dissecting it and ascertaining the ex-
act nature of the fractures. The doctor
dissected the foot, and was engaged in
opening the ankle when a boy arrived
at his office and said that he had come
for the foot-that Mr.. Scion wanted it.
The doctor hastily rolled the foot in a
piece of cloth and gave it to the boy,
who carried it to Mr.. Solon's room, and
by his directions placed it in the draw
er of bureau that stood at the foot of
the bed. 1t was not long before Mr..
Scion became very uneasy, and finally
suffered so much pain that all the
opiates the attendants dared to give
him did no good. Thinking something
was wrong at the point where the leg
had been cut off, Mr.. Solon's friends
sent for DR.. Harris. When the doctor
arrived he examined the stump and
found it in perfect order. He told So
lon that the leg was in as good shape as
it could possibly be made, and he could
see no reason for its giving him somuch
pain. Mr.. Scion then entered into a
more particular account of his suffer-
ings. He said the feeling was as though
his toes were doubled under his feet and
he was standing with his whole weight
on the foot; also, that there seemed to
be knife sticking in his leg, the pain
from which was very severe. DR.. Har-
ris then asked where the foot was,
though he probably knew that DIR. Nc
Means had taken it. He was told that
Mr.. Scion had taken notion to have
it, and that it had been brought from
the Office of DIR. McMeans and placed
in the bureau drawer DIR. Harris went
to the bureau drawer, and unrolling
the cloth found that the
toes were doubled back under the foot,
and further found sticking
to the skin of the calf of the leg tenac-
ulum, which is an instrument in the
shape of a hook, with a fine, sharp
point, used in taking up arteries. In
hastily wrapping up the foot to send it
back DIR. McMeans had forgotten to re-
move his hook, which he had been using
in holding back the skin while dissect-
ing the crushed ankle. DR.. Harris re-
moved the instrument and placed the
foot in an easy and natural position,
when Mr.. Scion declared that he was
free from pain and felt quite easy; in
deed, he fell asleep in few minutes,
and slept well and soundly. DIR. Harris
says that he has heard of similar cases,
but this is the first thing Of the kind that
he has ever met with in his practice.
Neither DR.. Harris nor DR.. McMeans
can offer any explanation of the pbe-
nomenon. DIR. McMeans is of the opin-
ion that it may be owing to the two parts
OF the limb being connected for time
by some subtle fluid, something like
electricity, the exact nature of which re-
mains to be discovered. AS it is athing
about which nothing is now known,
each reader is at liberty to provide his
own explanation.