The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1881-07-26
Tho presIdent ana1 me Ooe,oru.

There seems to be 3 growing disposition
to attribute the sudden change for the
worse III the condition Of President Gar.
field, to mistakes on the part otthe medic
cal gentlemen who are attending him.
Jane Gray swisshelm, who claims TO have
nursed any quantity Of gunshot patients
during the war, says the present cooling
apparatus is q mistake, and that Dr.. Bliss
ought to know better than u employ N,
as similar contrivances were used In army
hospitals and were proven 10 be injurious.
The New York Herald adopts the theory
Of blood poisoning, and suggests that the
treatment has been too irritaIive. 1teayS:
Beyond reasonable doubt, purulent ab.
sotpiton has taken place, and the Pfesi.
dent'a constitution, worn down now by
twentY'one days Of trouble, Ia 10 be put 10
the severest test that eau happen In The
history Of any wound. II may carry him
through, bat once again It must be said, %
It was said Ia the days when Il was be.
lieved that the bullet had cut an Intestine,
the probabilities, d. derived from d con.
giderEtion Of the percentage OF cases, are
againat recovery. Renders OF the Herald
may remember that we sketChed' al Lie
time the President was hurt the e%euuehce
oil dangerous events In a case Of thie M.
tufe. Shock-profound perturbation Of The
nervous eyStem-is the FIRST danger, and
often kilLsj hemorfhage is the next,
and peritonitis iB the third. These
are the dangers oil the htGt two or three
days, and, as is now we'll known, the
President went through almost t1nrnfflAd
by any one Of them. There was q slight
Ishock, no henorrhage, Q trivial Circum.
scribed petitonitiB. Within fourteen dayp
secondary henofrhsge may occur, but In
this case IL did not, Beyond Al Med
comes the peril Of butulent ABSORPTION 81
pyRmia or B~epticmmia-Bo many names
ior the same condition. But 1t was ration,
Any assumed that a system which bad
borne itself 90 well through the manifold
dangers preceding this-a system that had
shown an excellent degree OF endurance
II Q vigorous readiness 10 oil ~fepafaliye
P!ocesses1tnight fairly be counted as ono
likely to be exempt from the dangers OF
ptRmia, which are always least where
health and constitutional viRot are attheiT
best. '..'1E|
There is nothing peculiarly mysterious
In the nature oil this trouble. The word
"pJ umia" 10 composed from two Giesk
wofds, one. Of which signifies pus and The
other blood, and IL ID employed 10 Indicate
the morbid condition Of the system lhat
results from The fact That pus hiss Acuuifed
an entrance Info the current otNthe cifcu.
latloil, and that The Rystem 10 poisoned BY
the presence In The blood Of this foreign
and accompanying substance. PJmmia 10 Q
common Cause Of The fatality OF wounds,
II Ia the eCOufge oil military hospitals, and
markedly bad case Of II is almost 1eoes.
eafiIy fatal. But IL Ia 0 trouble that
does not commonly follow where Ibs
system the wounded man ID
sound and where he is we'll attended,
with good ~snfronndlnRa This, IL Was
supposed, gave n, the Presidents case al.
most a guarantee against Snch trouble,
and consequently Il wac but little specu.
lated upon n counting tnp The pefils Of hIs
position. II may fairly b said that his
case cannot be one Of the worst Of these
casee, because these do not occur where
thep us lie healthy, a. II Ia reported To b
Win him; but II must also be said that
absolutely healthy pug eau only be formed
n an absolutely healthy system, aud that
lhe system cannot be In that condition
wren the tepatatiSe ptoeeaain q wounded
VEN nas given way and thus has made Ina
Apsofption oi pu4 possible ljfENN 80,
some wounded vein bad, In the natural
fepafative progress, been pluReed tn Ike
The ooAgulA0le lymph but that lymph has