Knoxville daily chronicle. [volume] (Knoxville, Tenn.) 1870-1882, 1881-08-23

What is the trouble which the doc
tors cannot overcome? Turn back a
moment to the records of the case.
The Presidents pulse, from the time
of the shooting until July ID, ranged /
from l40 to SO. and averaged about /
l08. During this time there was
danger from tympanitis, peritonitis,
secondary hemorrhage and all those
troubles which are liable to show
themselves during the first, nine days
after gunshot wound. These were,
however, all skillfully avoided, and
from July Is to July % the patients
pulse never exceeded SO but once,
July Is, 7 p. ~, when it was 1902.
This was the favorable period when
Swain and Rockwell were reciting
the jokes which filed the newspa-
pers. At s o'clock, July %, the
Presidents pulse was 90; at
7 p. m. it had reached 125, and
the President had suffered a
rigor. During that favorable period,
who will say that blood-poisoning
was not going On, and that it has not
been showing itself ever since July
"a, Is and 26, and the pulse ranged
from 1O2 to 1902 On the Oath DR..
Agnew performed his operation and
released the imprisoned pus, and the
portions of shattered rib. Two days
later the cut was enlarged. For a
few days the President improved.
His pulse from July 26 to August 7
averaged less than 100, and only ex-
ceeded that figure five times. The
wound had partially closed, and Au-
gust new cut was made below
the twelfth rib and two ounces of
pus were removed. The cut was
made in the back, which was be.
numbed with rigoline spray, and
ether was administered. This caused
nausea, and the vomiting which fol-
lowed was anything but favorable to
the patients further recovery.
. The history of the past week is
, still familiar to the readers of the
Commercial. The Presidents pulse
has not been below 100 but twice
since the 7th inst, nor below 104
L. since the 18th inst. On Thursday
last his condition seemed improved,
= but Oh Friday there was a swelling
in the parotid gland, which his physi-
clans were forced to admit came from
t a vitiated condition of the blood and
i a generally septic condition of the
3 patient This brings the case down
to to-day, where the doctors tell us
, that his wound, which We all thought
was closed up to within two or three
inches of the opening, has not closed
: up at all. The wall which they sup
t posed was the bottom Of the wound
! was found to be emitting pus. The
wall was broken down and cathete,
was inserted downward and forward
3 for a distance Of 124 inches from the
= external surface of the last incision
a There had been pus there, for it had
been noticed oozing through the
> wound, but the discharge now is nc
i greater than it was before. Had
g the pus become absorbed by the
5 blood, Or where had it gone? The
doctors do not say. To sum up,
then, we have, at the end of the sew
enth week, patient lying prone on
his back, sustained largely by
i enematas, with track twelve inches
0 and half through his body, and 8
g bullet somewhat beyond, no one
knows where, swelling in the neck
J which, if it has ceased to cause pain
n scarcely admits of the patient open
t ing his mouth, and stomach, which
0 if it is not in open rebellion is
+ scarcely able to perform it's functions
Yet at the White House we are told
y that all is going on nicely, and that
r the Presidents recovery is only q
IS question of a little time. The pa
e tents courage is undaunted, he has
"a a noble wife to help him bear his
burdens, and though we must re-
> member that the bullet is no respec
1t ter of persons, and that the Presi
n dents chance of life is the same al
q that of the meanest man under tn,
J., same circumstances, let us still hop
that the darkness may be yet dis
% PEELED, and that the ray of hop
l, which comes to us to-day may grow
is may increase into the light everlass
g ing.