Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1880-02-12

admission of any outsider, male or fe-
male. That argument made no impress
sion upon her mind. was forced to de-
cline peremptorily to serve her in the af-
fair. Every WE'LL" she said, ~ must
find some cther way"
At the cliL.c the next day, l took pains
to satisfy myself that Miss Borgier had
not surreptitiously intruded. The stu
dents of the class came in at the hour,
noisy and careless as usual, and seated
themselves in the lower tiers of chairs
around the operating table. They pro
duced their note books and began to
sharpen lead pencils. Miss Borgier was
certainly not among them, Every face
in the lecture room was familiar to me. ]
locked the door that opened into the hall
way, and then searched the ante-room on
the other side of the amphitheatre.
There were a dozen or more patients,
nervous aud detected, waiting for treat
ment and attended by friends hardly less
frightened than themselves But neither
Miss Borgier nor anybody resembling
Miss Borgier was of the number.
Dr. Mack now briskly entered by his
the table on which his instruments were
arranged, ready for use, and, having as
sured himself that everything was in its
place, began the clinical lecture. There
were the usual minor opeorations-tw
or three for strabismus, one for cataract,
the excision of several cists and tumors,
large and small, the amputation of rail
way brakeman crushed thumb. As the
cases were disposed of, j attended the
patients back to the ante-room and placed
them in the care of their friends.
Last came poor old lady, named
Wilson, whose leg had been drawn up
for years by rheumatic affection, so
that the joint of The knee had ossified.
1t was one Of those cases were the neces-
sary treatment is almost brutal in its
simplicity. The limb had to be s.raight-
ened by the application Of main force.
Mrs. Wilson obstinately refused to take
advantage of anaesthesia. She was placed
ON her back upon the operating table,
with pillow beneath her head. The
geniculated limb showed DETECTION of
twenty or twenty-five degrees from a
right line As already remarked, this
DETECTION had to be corrected by direct,
forcible pressure downward upon the
knee.
With the assistance of a young surgeon
of great physical strength, DIR. Mack
proceed to apply this pressure. The
operation is one of the most excruciating
that can be imagined. Twas stationed a.
the head of the patient, in order to hold
her shoulders, should she struggle But
I Il. L. y>1 al hoI
come over her since we established her
upon the table. Very much a3itated at
first, she had become perfectly calm. As
she passively lay there, her eyes directed
upward with a fixed gaze, the eyelids
heavy as if with approaching slumber,
the face tranquil, it was hard to realize
that this woman had already crossed the
threshold Of an experience of cruel pain.
| hcd no time, however, to give more
than Thought to her wonderful courage.
The harsh operation had begun. The
surgeon and his assistant steadily and with
increasing force bearing down upon the
rigid knee. Perhaps the Spanish in
QUESTION never devised a method Of in
Hicting physical torture more intense
than that winch this woman was now
undergoing, yet not muscle of her face
quivered. She breathed easily and
regularly, her features retained their
placid expression, and, Mt the moment
when her sutterings must have been the
most agonizing, l saw her close her eyes,
rs if in peaceful sleep.
At the same instant the tremendous
force exerted upon the knee produced its
natural effect. The ossitied joint yielC-
ed, and with sickeniug notes.-the in
describable sound of the crunching and
eritting of the bones Of living person,
a sound 80 frightful that | have seen old
surgeons, with sensibilties hardened by
long experience, turn pale at hearing 1t
the crooked limb became as straight as
its mate.
Closely following this horrible sound,
| heard i, ringing peal of laughter.
The operating table, in The middle of
the pit of the amphitheatre, was lighted
from overhead. Directly above the
closely boarded on It's four sides, led up
through the attic story of the building
to n sllylight in the roof. The shaft was
so deep and SO narrow that its upper
ortice was visible from no part Of the
/ room except limited space Immediately
around the table The laughter which
I startled me seemed to come from over
head. Il heard by any other person
present, it was probably ascribed to n
/ hvstericai utterance on the part of the
patient. | was in a position to know
better. Instinctively | glanced upward,
I in the direction in which the eyes of Mrs.
I Wilson had been SO fxedly bent
+ There, framed in quadrangle of blue
! Il. ...,,.. LII al MI. q Mo-