National Republican. (Washington City (D.C.)) 1872-1888, 1881-09-22
MEDICAL TALK
IN REFERENCE TO THE AUTOPSY.
Interviews With Drs. Reyburn, Lamb, Hartisan,
and Norris-A Discrepancy in Statements
DIR. Hartlgan's Prediction oftho
ID OF July Verified, .

''f's'NfNA'
Information. The first question was of course, in
relation to the location of the bullet as shown by
inc autopsy. The Doctor said:
The location of the ball was n complete sur.
prise to everybody, but 1t explained some things
that heretofore had been inexpllcnbe, as, for i'm
stance, the pains In the feet From the first wesup.
o'ed that thespinc had been Injured, but we were
afIcrward mslcd by what now proves to have been
arus channel Tho bullet, aflcr striking and frac.
turing the rib, glanced backward aud toward the
lelt passing through the spinal column, and
lodged back ofthc pcritoncum.'
Gould not the ball have been found by probing
Immediately oiicrth shootlng2'
mo- In the first place, II would have been bad
surgery to have made such mn examination When
ball passes Into the body and Is evidently deeply
Embedded II is The safest aud wiscst plan to await
the formation OF pus. which In the course to the
surface VIII give n clear channel to the ball II
would have been impossible to have followed the
actual course Of tho ball with any instrument we
might have introduced; 1t would have struck the
bone OF the spine, and that is as far as we could
have gotten"
well, Doctor. when was this suppurating chan.
mel first dscovcredg'
'When we made the second incison. Prior to
that an accumulation of pus had been noted, md
the first incsion was made to relieve that II was
found, however, that this did not obvlato the dit.
iculty, and when II was found that this canal was
the second operation was made by cutting into
the channel below the wound and then strnighten-
ing the canal. This canal we believed to have
| been the course Of tho bullet DR.. Hamilton once,
IN examining this canal, thought he felt the ball,
but the hard substance he touched was nothing
but CULTIVATED lump of ns."
I'm your opinion, was the wound necessarily
fatal oneY"
Yes; II was only a question of time. By the
mcrcst accident the ball passed through the spinal
column without injurng the spinal chord. As 1t
was, lie suffered more than words can express
but had he had the strength to continue In life for
uns ,Vlsiuc'ao,c ichs'h oi tiinc the lhhnmmaUon
araia, IT, =, VIZ enoiu a''u
| -, Hl.' 'p','eS oe'o" ."e, PVi"' uiiu
d,,ionor ,oirmsi,, ",,,.o ,
tell, Ia ~, Inn ',e w.. n"r
,Ycro c, "I,I, ,v,e ,o,. ''"' lib S"'e'S'
ar, has 49,, III ~ 49, A.. 49,. ,. 49,,
MAN., s,,,ao,s H., a., 49, .',, ,,a "e' ~, wv
hcor ,nono,,od ne o,no,,n,I, lin ot,aS
uo.o, '""'s'' 10 '"''''"is WIN "sin"iier mum
bery
| mo. We considered the fact that the patient was
| the President and flint hc ouybt 10 have all tho
attendance md attention that corId ho ,iSo 90, ' ~
MIN. VI course we could not, as matter of
courtesy, ask che two consulting surgeons to
vii .,H 'nc ,lsn. Mn'U.los'
nus p'"o''vuy 'nreW lne pulA OF lhat WORK upon
DIS Bliss, woodward, ana myself. Then too, we
| ie VIZ pn''e'' y" .Vu vi "eNo
80 ~ Wv! WIN a'Voho .o"h us 'enipcr"'ure
liz ''u.s uas az 'ho suuo nou,h gnNe
nun his medicine every two hours, and admins.
| tered the proper nourshment; and, in addition to
this kept strict record of everything that trans.
| nirod In tho coso Anor nrs .p,r,,as ,yaa1,ra.1
~ Pr, ~ ',Ie e'Se' -S' Ds' pn'hcs, "oouMfu'
''u ~ et, VIZ V Vi 'o '"se 'hc o''er surgeons
SUI, 'olu ''e uIne,S'cc II, 'he amount Oh their
,,, "i'." vas 'l' 'na' 'ues eou'u ul'ei,u w.
",," 80" ' '' ' ''s"' NV was '0''l'e'eS
/
. 1'ppoo. 'Ole'5ot pel 'i'uuV'''e Dai"'ee -
" ~" e" u's'S 1"a', iTM 70 II not
| i''' ''''Ne' -
pls. j. F. HARTIGAN
takes pardonable professional pride in saying that
| the autopsy of PRESIDENT Garfield Is n continuation
| of his (Dr llartigan's) original diagnosis of the
case, made oil the 81 of July the day AFTER the
| President was shot, and published in newspapers
| OH Monday, July 4. His diagnosis, made upon O
hypothetical case, was as follows
Pentonitis and hepatitls inflammation OF the
| perltoneum ana liverl are necessary result Of
cnn,,Mcmnd ~ Eli @ ~ nus nov e'dueny
of its symptoms are dependent upon the extent Of
destruction by the missile. Tho most favorable
, VIEW 70 take Is thal this condition will become
n,Ii I'nh"n ~ Ue f. Ii I'M aGs,it Is III
| is the more nrobnbip Ienyin,, these im,pediatc
consequences aside, there are remote contingcn.
ciea Of the wound, should the President survive
a III un!S, twu OF iiIoc weeks, AZ 9Dscess OF
| ING eusue Thn exact 6cotio,, Of thc bal 10 an.
other important factor. II may have dropped from
the liver Oh the panCrens behind the stomach, or 1t
my DeG0ims cngiied netweem lords OF lnesines
| Illumination follow which nav invnlye mn illness
of weeks or months, with the chances of final
sloughing and perioration.
| Continuing his remarks to REPUBLICAN repre-
sentative yesterday, DR.. llariEan said; zone ex-
ception to that diagnosis is that the front portion
OF the spine appears to have been grazed, but the
idea Of being injured was at the time remote.