Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1881-07-27
DIR. Hamilton Hopeful Of the Presidents Grad
ual Recovery

HEROIC TREATMENT ENTIRELY INADMISsIBLE-
HE TREATMENT OF THE CASE UPHELD.
DR. Frank III. Hamilton. who reached this city
yesterday morning from Washington city was
asked what he thought are the Presidents pres
ent chances or recovery.
:" The chances are in the Presidents favor"
the Doctor emphatically returned.
" DO you see any indications of pyemia:"
" None whatever. using the term pyemia i'm
its classical sense-that is blood poisoning from
the reabsorption of the pus or its elements
hat. then was the recent trouble doctor?"
" lateral abscess had been formed constitu-
ting pouch in connection with the lower mar
;sln OF the broken rib, and which abscess pointed
outward and backward to the spine where il
became comparatively superficial and il was the
evacuation of this abscess which gave 10 the pa
tient such immediate relief. on exploring the
depths of this external abscess. however we
found that il communicated. as We believe with
the main channel or track of the ball. and it af-
lords therefore. a freer exit for the escape Of
pus from the main channel"
DIR. HAMMoNDs CHARGES REPELLED.
what do you think, Doctor. of the structures
made 10y DIR. Hammond and others. who claim
that search should have been made for the bullet
and its extraction attempted Immediately after
the shooting"
THE conduct of the surgeons who have man.
aged the case from the beginning has been. in
my opinion, correct, and when the case is fully
reported. it may be at some subsequent
period. il will bear the severest scrutiny OF ex-
perts in this department of surgery. Nothing,
1t seems to me. has been omitted which ought
to have been done. and the gentlemen have es-
pecially avoided the grayer error of doing what
ought not to be done-an error which il is very
difficult to avoid when one has in charge
patient whose life is So valuable as the life Of
the President"
THE TREATMENT Upheld.
" But inyicw of the statements that have come
from prominent medical authorities let me ask
you. doctor. whether you would have treated the
case i'm this manner if the wound had been that
of a laborer instead of the President: Z"
:" If il had been the case of an ordinary laborer
and if further surgical effort. by incsion or
otherwise. Qor the purpose of determining the
actual seat of the bali. than Were employed in
the present case had been undertaken. believe
that death would still have resulted long before
this
But is not Longmore. who is quoted by Dr.
Hammond as imperatiyely directing a search
for the ball and its extraction a standard au-
thOrity on the subject OF the treatment OF gun
shot wounds!'
Yes. but Mr.. Longmore should have added,
If it can be done safely and you will. doubt
less. find the proper qualifications to these ap-
parently inexorabe rules quoted 10y Dr. Ham,
mond in other portions of the work"
POSITION OF THE BALL.
Where do you think is the ball Doctor?"
have a suspicion founded upon good
deal Of evidence that it is i'm the right lilac
region-not far above the right groin and prob
ably behind the intestines-a situation in which
it is not likely in itself to do serious harm and
from which it may extricate itself spontaneously
through some of the natural lower outlets Of
the body with much more safety than by the
surgeons knife. Lying where it is supposed TO
lie it is pretty sure to change its position
gradually and would most likely descend to the
natural outlets-the rectum, perhaps Many
balls i'm the late war made their way to the
bladder, and after the lapse of months or years
were successfully removed therefrom. Still more
balls. however. have made their way into the
rectum and escaped by stool"
DO you think the ball is nearer the anterior
or the pOsteI1ior surface of the body"
II think it is nearer the front OF the body
than the posterior SURFACE"
'What portion Of the body must it presumably
have trayersed!"
That portion which is behind the liver and
kidneys and in front of the great mass of mus
cles which constitute the loins. 1t is impossible
to say that i'm the track it may not have hit the
liver. but there has been no evidence thus far
that the liver has suffered any severe injury.
50 Are the intestines and kidneys likely to have
been injured?"
feel very sure that neither the intestines
nor the kidneys have been injured i'm the least
THE "HEROIC TREATMENT"
You are, as understand you, Doctor en-
trely opposed to the so-called heroic treatment
advocated by Drs. Sims, Hammond and others.
according to which the ball should have been
cut out at all hazards?"
Heroic treatment is reserved in all good sur.
gerry f0r extreme cases where death is certain
without such extreme interference It is onlyin
that class Of cases that surgeons apply fho
maxim Better an extreme remedy than none"
a..,s "Meli, Docsc.' yoa ere hopeful Of the Pres
"Yss, entirely 30" W. ~ Dssecrs pleemns
reply; and the interview terminated--G Il
Herald, today.