The Osceola times., 1881-08-06
REMARKABLE ENDURANCE.
one of the Most Ghsstly and Unusual Cases
ofPhysicaI Endurance In Medical Annals.

one Of the Most Ghsstly and Unusual Cases
ofPhysicaI Endurance In Medical Annals.
Louisville Courier.Journal.
A remarkable instance Of the tenacity
of human life and the possibility of
human endurance came under the notice
If a Courier-Journal reporter yesterday.
There are equally curious cases on record
where parsons have survived destruction
of parts of the brain, and enduring great
physical privations, but this seems to be
UNIQUE and alone in medical annals. On
the evening OF the 2d OF last April John
Platte, a molder at the Louisville mantle
and casket foundry, returned to his
home, on the pike, Just opposite the
Institute for the Blind, and found his
wife sitting in a chair, with the left side
of her face and head resting on the hot
stove. She was unconscious and alone,
and no one knew how long she bad
been in that position, but the room was
filed with the odor of burning fesh,
and a neighbor was of the opinion that
her face had not been on the stove more
than an hour, as she was seen In the
ward about that length of time previous
to her husbands arrival. She was
placed in bed and DR.. j. w. Maxwell
was summoned 10 attend her, but no one
entertained the slightest belief that she
would ever speak again. The doctor
found that all the flesh on the left side
of her face, the ear and the scalp 10 the
top of her head was cooked into crisp
and was ready at the least touch to drop
off. She remained unconscious until
the next day, when she rallied, but was
delirious for nearly week Healing ap-
plications were made, and in two or
three weeks all the burned flesh became
loose from the bones and was taken off
and she complained of but little pain.
She seemed in fair way to recover un-
til ervsipelas set in, and for several days
she was again thought to be at the point
of death.
The latter affliction yielded, however,
to the proper treatment, and was checked
before il reached all parts of the burn.
After it disappeared, the process of de-
cay went on until the jaw and cheek
bones and the skull on that side of o
head were laid bare. The front line oI
the burn extended from a point on top
of the head, passing just back of the eve
down by the corner of her mouth TO the
the dry bones of the jaw, cheek and side
of the head appeared as if they had
been scraped. The injury extended
down on her neck, and destroyed the
iugular vein and all the facial nerves on
that side. After the erysipelas was cured
she complained of no more pain, and
during the entire period of her afillction
has experienced none of the physical
shocks and prostratIons which were
constantly expected. Her pulse
remained normal, her appetite good, and
for the past month she has been able to
walk about the room or sit in her rocks
ing chair the most Of the time. DR..
Maxwell has been doubtful OF her re-
covery all along, but she expresses O
determination to get well, and as she has
passed safely through her aflliction for
the past two and half months, her
indomltable will may carry her through.
Recently the exposed bones appear to
have been seriously affected by the heat,
and are beginning to show signs of de~
cay. The point Of the jaw bone where
it is attached to the temporal is begin
ming to crumble, and the doctor thinks
that the outer table of the skull on that
slue Will come on. Inc Cuttk DOUe mas
drawn away from the temporal and
caused a cavity into which the finger
can be inserted nearly two inches. She
lives on liquid food entirely, and eats it
with a lively relish. The wound pre-
sents a most ghastly sight, and how any
one can live and enjoy good health un-
der the circumstance is indeed a mys~
terry.
Tr. Maxwell has been very attentive
on the case, and as none of the family
were able to properly attend TO it he has
dressed the wound daily and is, there
fore, thoroughly acquitted with it in all
the stages through which it has passed.
He has strong hopes Of the ultimate re-
covery of his patient. He has had Mrs.
Platte photographed in two positions, in
each Of which the artist has produced a
perfect but most ghastly picture. He
is preparing a report OF the case for the
profession, which will no doubt bring to
light some new conditions under which
,patient can still live"