The Valley Virginian. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1865-1895, 1885-03-26
DR.. Thomas Dunn English.
A REMARKABIE opERArIoN.

| -~A-e3AAoAA
gates to the Democratic Convention which
met in Staunton In 1866, and nominated
Henry A. Wise for Governor. The Doc
tor then resided In what is now West Vir-
ginia, and attracted great deal of atten-
ton by reason Of his brilliant oratory and
clear cut wit. It has been years since we
heard from him until the following notice,
which we take from the New York Tri-
bune Of the 18th
DIR. Thomas Dunn English, author. poet,
lawyer, physician, and legislator. who is
best known as the writer Of ben Bolt, -"
which appeared in the New York Mirror
in ls42, is now in his sixty-sixth year and
lives in unpretentious style at No. 494
Washington st., Newark About year
ago he began to be troubled by constant
/ irritation i'll the throat, at a point below
the root Of the tongue. As it was only
annoying and did not seem to be more
than local affection, he did not pay much
attention After time, however,
the difficulty increased to such an extent
to interfere with his voice, which became
exceedingly husky and frequently could
not be raised above whisper.
DIR. English has been an inveterate user
OF tobacco since he was boy He both
smoked and chewed it, and at night his
sleep was not easy unless large roll of the
weed was in his mouth. When the case
of Gen. Grant was brought prominently
to public notice with the statement that
the cancerous growth was caused by Smok-
ing, DR.. English became alarmed and was
convinced from the similarity of symp-
| toms that he had q similar affection,
caused by the use Of tobacco. During the
last two months his throat has been grad
| ually closing up; he has suffered intensely
from pain and been under constant men,
tai strain from the danger of suffocation.
All this caused him to lose flesh rapidly
and left him in a state of great weakness
and physical exhaustion.
On March 4, the symptoms became so
aggravated that consultation was held by
a number of local physicians, and DIR. Ed
gar III olden. a throat specialist, made
minute examination that was attended
with great difficulty. The base of the
tongue, the .larynx were intensely infamed
and after the. larongoscope was got into
proper position in the throat the little
mirror reflected tumor or papilloma, at
tached to the right side of the vocal
chords, !just above the. true chord. - 1t had
grown to. such an extent as to hide the
chords from view, and at every inspira-
ton portion of the tumor was drawn
into the windpipe and prevented the prop
Ell amount of air from entering the lungs.
The patient was greatly depressed in spir-
its, could not sleep, and had constant
sensation of suffocation. He believed
that he had amalignanT cancer, which
added to his mental depression. DR.. HOl-
den diagnosed the case as papilloma,
which had not become malignant. An OPP
Grafton was advised, and DR.. English was
put under preparatory treatment until
March 10, the time set for the removal Of
the tumor. On Tuesday DR.. Englishknow-
| ing the dangerous nature of the case and
chance Of fatal result, 4 calmly went
through his papers and manuscripts and
directed what disposition should be made
of them. He was thus engaged when DR..
Holden and his assistants, Drs. Smith,
Young and Southland, came to his house.
DR.. English greeted them cordially and
after making his final testamentary ar
engagements, sat up in his chair and said
that he was ready. His heart was so
weak that it was. considered dangerous to
administer ether, and cocaine was distrib
uted freely over the mucous membranes in
the mouth and throat. After waiting I'M
| til the an@sthetic had chance to take eff
| feet, the mouth was opened and found to
be in normal condition. Repeated appli-
cations of cocaine were made without pro-
ducing the desired an@sthetic finally the
patient said that it produced an irritation
worse than the disease itself, and its use
was abandoned. A two per cent. solution
of cocaine was used, and It's value in this
case is considered mysterious blythe attend
ing physicians. 1t was then decided to
perform the operation without any further
attempts to induce local insensibility, as
the patient was becoming weak and irri-
table.
One of the assistants seized the patients
tongue, which had been placed between
the layers of towel, and drew it out of
the mouth as far as possible. The Operat-
ing surgeon then placed a larygnoscope in
| fop hn nlyy or1 a q
possible SO that good view of the tumor
was obtained, A pair Of forceps specially
adapted to the conformation Of the mouth
and larynX was then carefully introduced
into the mouth, care being shown not to
touch the tissure. The forceps had hardly
got into the laxynx when the throat be-
came the seat Of violent spasmOdic ac-
ton, which closed it entirely, and the
muscles were contracted to such an extent
that they held the forceps so that they could
neither be pushed in nor taken out. The
patient was in the act of suffocation his
face turned blush black, and he struggled
violently to break the paroxysm. Just as
the operating surgeon seized knife and
was about to split the trachea below the
point of attack. the muscles relaxed, and
the patient entered into temporary state
of collapse.
Precautions were taken before the oper-
alton began to guard against suffocation
from temporary spasms, and a tracheot-
omy tube had Teen provided. An assis-
tant was instructed, if the spasms could
not be broken within certain number of
seconds, to hand knife and the tube to
the surgeon, who, to save the patients
life, must within minutei open the ira
chea, stop the hemorrhage and insert the
tube. The chances of saving the PATIENTS
5 life when this part of the operation be-
came necessary were slight indeed.
Il After the patient had recover from the
shock of the spasm, being told that the
danger Of the operation was greatly in
creased, he told the surgeons to fire
away he would rather be suffocated in a
second than pass another night like the
last.' Time and again the forceps were
introduced in the throat, and the opera