The Portland daily press., 1881-09-23
Chicago Comment.
The Surgical Treatment of the Presidents
Case.

Several leading Chicago physicians were
asked Wednesday what they thought of the
surgical treatment of the Presidents case in
the light of the autopsy DR.. Edwin Powell
said; at was perfect in every respect, so far
can see. Everything was done for the Presi-
dent that surgical skill could do. The wound
was necessarily mortal one." "Ought not
the surgeons to have been able to have tracked
the ball better?' mo. Tracking a ball is
the most difficult thing imaginable. The
books contain an instance in which ball en-
tered the right elbow and lodged in the left
shoulder, and another instance in which ball
entered the Adams APPLE went around the
throat and lodged whore it went in, and no
probe can in every instance follow ball"
''What was the Immediate cause of death?"
"The hemorrhage. The loss Of pint of blood
would not have been fatal to a man in health
The fact is, the President was a fleshy man
rather than a muscular man, anyway. was
at Williams College with him, and he never
could climb Saddle mountain like the rest of
u.s." "Could anything have been done better
than it was done?" mo; don't see that it
could. If they had known the track of the
ball and treated it on Listers antseptic plan,
it might have made some difference; but they
could not be blamed for not discovering the
track of the ball.
Dr. Edmund Andrews was asked what he
thought of the Presidential surgeons, and
said, ''They did everything as well as it could
be done, so-far as can be seen at this distance
from the patient?" "Could they have found
the ball?' "No. The finding Of a ball is
yery difficult. The different folds of the body
slip over each other after the ball has gone
through them, and the continuity Of the chan
mel is broken. Then the probe slips in be-
tween organs, and the surgeon can't tell but
he is still sounding the wound, when he is
feeling at great distance from it," "What
do you think of the surgeons?" 'Some Of
them, like Agnew, can't be excelled. Bliss is
ordinary physician, with no claim to emil
nence and withal very talkative man. Still
think that by the aid and advice of the others,
he made no Mistakes s'What do you think
Of the surgeons locating the ball in the front
of the abdomen, from bruised spots found
there?" 'I think the bruises must have been
made by some accident at the time of the
shooting" ''What was the cause of the abb
scess 6 by inches in size, near the gall blad-
der?" s'Blood poisoning. The President.was
thoroughly poisoned, and would have died of
that even if there had been no hemorrhage.
The people need not feel the slightest uneasi-
ness about the surgery in the Presidents case.
It was all right and all good"
DR.. Norman Bridge said: 81 think the course
Of the Presidents physicians was probably
good surgery under the circumstances as they
It must now be matter of regret that certain
things were not done, although, probably,
nothing could have saved the mans life?"
"Why do you think that?" because one OF
the spinal bones was perforated by the bullet"
"Was that in itself sufficient to cause death?"
ssPerhaps not, but it was bone wound, liable
to all the surgical accidents and dangers OF
bone wounds, and it added very greatly to the
gravity of the case" "Why could they not
have known that the spinal column was frac-
tured?' The only way in which they could
have discovered the course Of the wound and
the location of the ball was by thorough prob
ing, which, in that location, would have been
a hazard that few surgeons would have dared
assume. Had they attempted it, the hands OF
the whole surgical profession would hav ebeen
raised against them instantly, and they would
have been charged with meddlesome, hazard
ous and wholly unjustifable surgery, both by
the profession and the people. You must re-
member that the bullet perforated the body OF
one of the lumbar vertebrR, which was separ-
ated from the surface of the body by two or
three inches of the muscles, and two inches,
perhaps of bone. The bullet became encysted,
and, therefore, of itself, was perfectly harm
less" "What then, was the cause of death?'
"The immediate cause was a rupture OF little
blood vessel, presumably severed by the ulce-
ration in the track of the wound. Back OF
that however, septicBmia would have killed
him. And more than that, he had an abscess
entirely disconnected with the wound, ana
about the gall bladder, which must have held
half pint, and small abscess in the left kid
ney, holding probably teaspoonful. These
suppurations would have destroyed his life, II
the rupture of the blood vessel had not"
DIR. E. o. f. Roller declared the treatment
given the patient was all right, He had con-
tended from the first that the spinal cord was
affected and held to that opinion until DR..
Bliss claimed to have discovered the direction
of the bullet.