The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1882-11-17
LIFE AND DEATH.
marveious Cases OF Recovery from Sup
posed Mortal Wounds.

"vital sparks" physicians agree, is a
problem that Is never solved until the
final extinction is absolutely determined.
1T is easy to tell that a man is dead, but
it is very seldom certain that he will
die, since there are cases of recovery
that no sane man would think of pre-
dieting. For example, no person would
have supposed for moment that the
man in Massachusetts whose case has
so often been quoted would have lived
twelve years after having a tamping
iron blown directly through his head,
entering under his jaw and coming out
through the roof of his skull; yet he
did live for that time, and even enjoyed
good physical health. And it would
not occur to any ordinary man that he
could live long with hole in the side
of his stomach, yet if Saint Martin had
not done that very thing the physicians
agree that comparatively little would
be known to-day of the marvellous pro-
cesses that go on inside the laboratory
of the body.
On the other hand, one who is accus-
t0ned to seeing the enormous strains
and shocks the human frame Wristbands
Is often surprised at seeing how little n
thing will "loose the silver cord" Not
so speak of the swift and fatal maladies
that are often brought about hv seem
ingly absurd trihes, such rs a little too
much ice-water when one is overheated,
or the swallowing of some indigestible
mOrsel, the accidents that cause death
are often trivial in all but the result. A
man steps on a bit of orangc-peel, or
his friend sportively pulls away his
chair, with the idiotic idea that he is
Joking, and the victim sits down TOO
far. fractures his spine, and is picked
up dead. A strong man scratches his
finger and dies of lockiaw. A large
man, bending sideways in his chair,
trying to button his shoes, loses his
Balance, rolls over on the carpeted floor
and breaks his arm. Gangrene sets in
and he dies. Such cases are on record,
and go to show how slight the
real hold on life is. Ard vet
the inevitable death that was formerly
supposed TO attend upon any serious
accident to the main organs of the body
does not always come, and men live,
not only with bullets in their brain,
holes in their stomach, dislocated spine
and actual wounds in the heart itself.
but even with open Wounds clear
through the body itself. Gen. Henry
A. Barnum, of Brooklyn. wrote. while
President Garfield lay dying, "A letter
to the press. in which he told of his
own wound, which he received in battle
during the civil war. 1t remained an
open aperture through his body and
has never healed, and for wears his
treatment Of it has been simply to wear
in the hole roll OF prepared lint.
This is renewed daily, and the suppura-
ton Of the wound is constant, some
himes greater and sometimes less, but
neyer entirely ceasing. Gen. Shields,
of Missouri, hid a similar wound ey-
tending through his body and open in
front and behind. His wound it is
said, was received in the Mexican war,
and he wears, not lint, but a silk hand
Rerchief in it. This he can draw di-
rectly through his body. Some three
or four years ago boy in Paterson, n
j., picking up shavings i'll carpenters
shop, fell backward against buzz-saw
that was revolving with immense rapid
ity. Recovering his equilibrium he
walked, unaided, TO IA drug store near
by and asked to have his wound
dressed. He complained of having a
terrible headache, and tn : was not
doubted when it was found on examin-
ation that the saw had divided his head
almost in two. One end of the cut was
halfway between the forehead and the
crown of the head, and the other end
was Just at the base of the skull. A
right line from one end to the other
would have passed almost through the
middle Of the head but the saw was o
small one and its outside edge had, be-
You'd a question, cut far beyond such
right line. Yet the boy lived sever Il
days and retained his con ciousness to
The time of his death. It was sup
posed that the saw had passed between
Che two lobes of the brain, but that
was never settled positively, as the
boys father refused to allow post
mortem examination. In reporting
this case, the writer learned of two
more, both living in Patterson ut tho
time, each of wnom carried bullet in
his brain for number of years. One
of them had been shot in the eye, and
the physician who attended him de-
clared that the bullet was, beyond
doubt, lodged against the skull at the
back of the head. Both of these men
enjoyed good health. A fracture of the
skull is generally supposed TO be fatal
INJURY. and generally proves so, and yet
there are not lacking cases where death
has not ensued, at least for long time.
In the Gutermuth case it will be re-
membered that the victims skull was
badly fractured, and yet he was sup
posed to be recovering a week after the
injury was received, and was well
enough TO walk out and pay visits-or
at least supposed himself to be. Other
cases couid he cited of a similar nature
II il we're desirable to make a catalogue.
There are cases on record-there
ycra many of them during the War of
SheRebeIlion which men were re-