Omaha daily bee., 1881-08-22
DR.. B~oYNTON's VIEW.
The Presidents Temperature
Not BelJw Normal,
Although His p is Too High For
Safety.

ing now for thirty-six hours! He has
improved ever since they stopped
| giving him nourishment by the odin-
airy methods. his stomach began to
improve then, and that is what is
troubling him, you know
"yvhat was the leading cause of
thss serious gastric disturbance
"Well, he always had a weak stom-
ach. He had a long attack OF dyson
terry when he was in the army, and he
has always been more or less subject
to these disturbances ever since. The
wound has, you know, drawn upon
his vital forces, and the mucous
membranes were dry, lacking in sa-
Iva and gastric juice. Much ner-
vous force and blood has been used in
healing the wound, so that the force
needed for the digestion of foad has
been greatly weakened. Then there
is another thing that has influenced
the attack
what is thatl"
81 do not want to be understood as
criticising the treatment of the case
IN any way. Indeed L do not think it
could have been more wisely handled,
but the fact is, the patient was over
fed. There was a laudable desire on
the part of the physicians to build up
the strength to meet the demands of
suppuration and healing of the wound,
consequently the president was too
zealously piled with rich food, audit
proved more than his stomach could
bear. 1r
He was nauseated before Saturday
with heavy foods, and on that day he
was given q dose Of brandy that capped
the climax, and he threw up every
thing and a severe fit of vomiting fol-
lowed. Then there is no foundation
for the statement, by DIR. Hammond,
of New York, that the president has
suffered from the lack of nutritious
and nourishing food. Hammond has
been making an ass of himself. Doyou
see any signs of blood poisoning!
There is not the slightest appearance
of it. 1t would be very queer if we
here had not a better %cognizance of
the case than a man hundreds of
miles away who had never seen the
patient.
"Does this rise in temperature APP
pear any more favorable for the casel'
"Well, not much"
"Was not the fall of the tempera-
ture below normal an extremely bad
signY
CHS temperature has not been be-
low the normal point. A normal
temperature may range from 80 to 80
degrees. You see many perfectly
healthy people whose temperature
never rises above 90 degrees. If the
temperature had fallen below 96 we
should have been most seriously
alarmed, on that account, although
, THAT is hot always a r indication,
for many persons may die of nervous
exhaustion, and the temperature re-
main normal. The pulse has been
the main index in this case"
"That has not ranged near the
death point, has it?"
"Well, it has gone extremely high.
1t was huctuating, wiry and weak,
and several times jumped very high.
1t is altogether too high for safety
now"
: "Did you administer more than
two te~aspoonsful of nourishment to-
dayF
mo, the stomach was too weak tc
take more, still we are very well sat
isfied with what it did. We shall moi
administer any more for a day or two,
We want the stomach to regain it'
strength and tone"
"Will a mere rest do this when the
stomach is so weak2"
eyes; resting the stomach will toni
it up, and above all will remove tn,
e irritability. This high pulse ha
been due, no. so much to debility a
to the irritation of the stomach"
"You are still administering enc
mataT
d "Yes, we administer that abou
It once every four hours during the da,
and several times at night. We ar
giving beef tea, the yolk of an eg'
and some stimulants abont two ounce
or a tumblerful is administered eacl
time"
80 ''Is food given by this method a
D. nourishin9 ms by the stomach2"
II sob, yes; but tho intestines wi
/, not absorb as mucn as the stomach
70 We can keep n person up Tor a tim
by this means, but 1t could not las
always. He would starve to dealt
in time, We hopeto keep the presi
r dent up by this means until hi
ir stomach can recover from it's irrita
G. ton and some appetite returns"
is "Will food administered by enem
is %erlieve hunger
v SIT might. But if there is a hun
ger there is appetite; there can be n,
appetite except upon a healthy stom
ach. If the stomach was healthy ther
would be no necessity of enamata.
Slow is his wound2" SIN excellen
re shape; could not be better, 1t is dis
sr charging but very little pus at thi
X time, and has very nearly healed t
the surface. If he was r~ecovere
10 from this stomach trouble he woul
ID be better than even before"
id "How long will 1t take him to re
is cover from this relapsel''
h. "Oh about ten days. His recover
II will be very rapid when he starts in
His wound is already ahead of hi
condition, and as Don as he can tax
nourishment he will make quite pre-
re gress."
n docs the dressing of the woun
in trouble himl'
he SIT makes him very weak and tire
him greatly He is lifted on the shee
gu and turned on his side and the woun
n dressed, and he is laid back again"
d, sis he very weakf'
nYes. althnunh he can raise Ia