Sacramento daily record-union., 1881-09-29
THs SURGICAL RUMoRs.

1t IS evident that the surgeons who at.
tended President Garfield realize the neces-
sity of preparing and publishing much
fuller account of the autopsy than they
originally gave ont. Their first idea.
namely, that they could afford to treat all
criticism of their case with silent con-
tempt, was not tenable one. The facts
which they related in their brief report
were of such character as not merely to
justify bat necessitate unfavorable COM
mentaries, and the contradictory state
ments which have since been made, not
alone by outsiders, but by medical men
who were present at the post morteBl ex-
animation, render it Indispensable that
thorough and exhaustive report should be
made. The story told by DR.. Boynton
yesterday, for example, fatty contradicts
several OF the most positive declarations of
the other surgeons, and as he was present
at the autopsy, and was thoroughly
familiar with the case, what he says will
carry weight with it. There can be
no question that the scientific world
was amazed at the showings of tho
autopsy, and that very many pro-
fessional observers doubt the sufficiency of
the explanations given concerning the
false channel which was mistaken for the
wound throughout the case. The account
given of the rupture of the messnteric
artery is also regarded as dubious, while
the confident assertion Of the surgeons
that all the septic conditions in the Presi-
dents case were fully accounted for by the
projection of fragments of the lumbar
vertebTa into the adjoining soft parts,
does not seem to be accepted as implicitly
as its authors would wish. The failure to
recognize in the Presidents symptoms
during the first week, the evidence Of IN
jury to the spine, is another circumstance
requiring explanation. and it is not be.
leved to be absolutely certain that the
life of the President could not have been
saved if the surgeons had been able TO
ascertain the actual course of the wound
st the beginning OF the case. All these
doubts and suggestions and insinuations
may be without adequate foundation.
It cannot be fergotten that the surgeons
called in consultation on the Presidents
case are men of very wide experience
and recognized ability. Sill in a case of
50 much interest and inpor sance the
public must be pardoned for not
resting satisfied with anything less than a
full description and explanation OF every
perplexing point. The chief considerations
for settlement seem to be, ~ whether it
was possible to ascertain the actual course
of the bullet during life ~ whether, if it
had been possible to do this, fatal conse-
ouences could have been avoided. Il it
can be shown that in any event death must
have followed the wound, OF course il viii
matter comparatively little that its true
character should have been mistaken. But
it cannot be concealed that since the fact
that the surgeons were actually mistaken
IS to the course Of the bullet has been
disclosed. they have a particularly oosen
motive for maintaining the position thas
the wound would have teen fatal under
any circumstances. OF that proposition
they cannot be impartial judges, as the
case stands, and therefore it is the more
necessary that they should lay all the facts
before the country and before the medical
profession.