Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1884-07-11
tONCEiIED CRIME T..



"You wonder why doctors take such
cynical views of human nature quoth
medical gUybcard to the writer one eve
ming as Ae studied the rings of smoke
from his altci-d!nner cigar. You talk
of murder Civays revealing itself-of the
restlessness Of the murderer TIL his secret
has been told-his terrible dreams by
uight-hs nervous starts when one ad-
dresses lin suddenly. All sentimental
fancy, my dear fellow | could name
murdCrers at tins moment, men and wo-
men too, who know that their hands are
red, yet sleep just as comfortably as You
or |, and are not III the least troubled by
the fact.
Let ne give You case. Less than n
year ago was called to the sick room of
an old gentleman who had amassed a
handsome fortune in business and retired.
His wife was still living, and he had one
son-a very meek and pious young man
OF thlrty-Who was apparently devoured
with anxiety, The old gentleman's case
was one OF senescent aummia merely
combined with the nervous exhaustion
and tendency to collapse attendant upon
such clses IN old age. There was ten
years life In him, properly managed,
though at the moment he was very low,
and required most careful handling from
both nurse and physician. He was half
comatose when | first saw him but with
little ludlclous use of stimulants his
senses returned, and he was enabled to
speak feeblv. As the young man was
verv anxious, after prescribing regular
doses of beef tea and brandy, and telling
him how to administer them, / cautioned
him that his fathers heart was very feeble
in its action
Mind | said, 'on no account must
the old gcntleman's head be lifted from
the pillow for an instant, or | will not be
answerable for the consequences. Then
| explained to him that, while the brain
was Level with the body, and the blood
had only to be propelled horizontally,
the heart was relieved of the greater part
OF Its ordinary work-that of lifting the
column Of blood necessary to supply the
brain and spinal marrow to the height OF
about two feet Your father is 80 ex-
hausted, / added for the information OF
this exemplary son, that he will probably
die instantly, If my directions are not I'M
plcitly carried ont. If they are, he will
very likely recover, and live for some
years yet. / will drop in again in the
morning
When called in the next day, between
! i and ii o'clock, there was Grape on the
door and the young man told me, with
the profoundest sorrow depicted on his
visage, that the old gentleman had ex-
pired IN his arms about o'clock at night.
In other words, the very directions l had
given 10 the young man hadfurnished the
clue upon which he acted to obtain pos
session Of his fathers fortune few years
in advance of his natural death from old
age. Did he mean it? Something
can't sav what-a shade of suppressed
exultatiun in his manner, perhaps, assur-
ed me that such was the case. And will
you believe it? Knowing that l sus-
pected him of being murderer-for
did not conceal my wrath-the young man
disputed nv bill. and had to collect 1t
bv lega process, | got it, though, to the
last nickel 49,,
"I'U give vou another case, in which a
fatal termination was averted by prompt
action ON my part The patient was a
married woman, subject to such violent
attacks of neuralgia that | was obliged to
resort to hypoderlnic injections OF NOR
phio mud A phial of Magendie's solution
was kept on the mantel in the sick room
One afternoon | was called in great haste,
| found the woman half mad with pain,
hastily flled the syringe from the phial
and Injected the contents into her arm. l
have n habit of blowing through the
needle after using it, to expel the solu-
ton and prevent corrosion of the thread
like massage. When took the end be-
tween my lips, | noticed sweetish taste
very unlike that of solution of morphia.
'iPnzzled by this fact, | tested the con-
tents of the phial to satisfy my scruples,
and mark the discovery | made Instead
of morphia. it contained saturated wa
ter and glycerine solution of carbolio
acid, Unless l acted promptly, before
the solution was diffused in the circula
ton, my patient had not more than tel
minutes to live. In five seconds hat
laid open the puncture with sharp seal
pei, squeezed and sponged the incision
remnral the greater part Of the carbolis