Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1879-03-27

one who was not aware that there was bull
let in his brain would imagine that there was
anything the matter with the man.
The doctor who was with him said: "We
don't want the doctor to know that we are
alarmed about his condition, but the fact is
we consider that his death is only question
of time.''
"But he doesn't seem in dangerous
condition now" remarked the reporter
''Oh, ne IS IN no Immediate danger, and
he may live for weeks, and even MONTHS
Chow do you account for the fact that the
doctor retains his consciousness and COM
parative physical health when he has ball
in his brain7''
"Although this is an extremely rare and
singular case," answered the attending
physician, ''it can be accounted for on scien-
| tifc principles. The bullet entered the doc
tors head q. little above and in front of the
| right ear: It lodged in the upper part of the
brain, in which are the intellectual faculties.
Had it penetrated the lower part of the
brain, where the motive organs are situated,
death would have been instantaneous, or
would, at the most, have been postponed
only few hours. The motive or animal
faculties of the brain are those which act
through the nerves upon the involuntary
muscles of the heart and lungs. The physical
organization of the whole body is paralyzed
when the basilar brain is injured. Under
certain circumstances the top of PERSONS
| head could be cut into, and he might still
| breathe and his heart would beat.''
"But you have said that DR.: Haight must
die, and that his death is only question of
| time. If the bullet is, as you say, lodged in
the intellectual faculties, why is there no
chance of his ultimate recovery"
~ will explain. The tissue of the brain
is very soft. Any heavy substance, like lead,
| which may be deposited in the brain, will
gradually settle downward in the delicate
tissue. The bullet in DR.. Haight's head, by
the mere attraction of gravitation, will, you
see, sink until it reaches the lower region of
| the brain, and then death will ensue.''
! Several physicians who have visited DR..
Haight have expressed the opinion that the
bullet might be probed for and extracted,
| but as this operation would be extremely
hazardous it has not been attempted. If
the probe should touch certain portions of
the brain, the patient would die almost in
stantly.
| DIR. Haight is about As years of age, and
his naturally strong physical constitution
has enabled him to endure what most other
persons could not. During the first two or
three days after he shot himself there was
some engagement of blood in his wound,
but whom that subsidized healthy suppuration
set In, and one or two of the Newark physi-
clans were sanguine enough to hope for the
wounded mans full restoration to health.
The attempt of DR.. Hsight to take his
own life was great surprise to the COM
munity. He had large practice among the
wealthy people of Newark, and there was, SO
far as known even to his intimate friends,
no financial, domestic or social trouble
which could lead him to commit suicide.
The rumors that the doctor was on the verge
of bankruptcy are denied. It is thought
that he shot himself while laboring under a
fit of melancholia. A somewhat singular
| fact in connection with the case is that for
several years the doctor has made diseases
and injuries to the brain special study, and
one theory is that he became temporarily in
sane from excessive application to this re-
search.
Remarkably coincident in the case of DR..
Haight is the attempted suicide of Charles
Hoehnie, young German of Newark, who
shot himself III the head on the goth of
February, and who is still alive. The case,
however, differs from that of the doctor in
that Hoehnie has not been conscious for a
moment since the wound was inflicted. His
l physical condition IS marvellous, but from
the first his physicians had no hope of his
recovery. In Hoehnie's case the bullet en-
tered the brain two inches lower than the
doctors wound, but the motive organs are
untouched. Inflammation of dangerous
character set in several days ago, and at last
accounts death was momentarily expected.
A surgeon who was in the army during the
rebellion said that he had seen all kinds of
olo ~ &ho
knew of such remarkable cases as those OF
DR.. Haight and the young German.
i DR.. Haight is carefully watched day and
night, and no visitors are allowed to enter
into extended conversation with him. AL
though he is rational the most of the time,
his mind will occasionally wander, and his
language will be vague and incoherent. He
perfectly realizes his condition, and knows
that he cannot recover, but he has not once
expressed any regret for his attempt at
suicide. The pistol with which he shot him
self was an ordinary revolver, carrying a
medium sized bullet.