Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1888-03-09
ASURGEON's LIFE PICTURED.

The world has seen many sad picture.
will draw one of the surgeon. 1t is
midday; the sun is bright and beautiful
all nature is redolent of joy; men and
women crowd the streets, arrayed in
their best, and all, apparently, in peace
and happiness within and without. In a
large house, almost overhanging this
street so full of life and gayety, lies up
on couch an emaciated figure, once one
of the sweetest and loveliest of her sex,
a confiding and aflectionate wife, and
an adored mother of numerous children,
the subject of a frightful disease of one
of her limbs, or, it may be, of her jaw,
if not a still more important part of her
body. In an adjoining room is the sur
geon, with his assistants, spreading out
his instruments and getting things in
readiness for the impending operation.
He assigns to each his appropriate place.
One administers chloroform; another
takes charge of the limb; one screws
down the tourniquet upon the principal
artery, and another holds himself in
readiness to follow the knife with his
sponge. The flaps are soon formed, the
bone severed, the vessels tied, and the
huge wound approximated. The woman
is pale and CHASTITY, the pulse hardly
perceptble, the skin wet with clammy
Precipitation, the voice husky, the sight
indistinct. Some one whispers in the
ear of the busy surgeon, "1he patient
fear is dying" Restoratives are admin
istered, the pulse gradually rises, and
after few hours of hard work and ter
rible anxiety, reaction occurs. The poor
woman was only faint from the joint in
fluence of the an9sthetic, shock and loss
of blood. An assistant, kind of senti-
nell is placed as guard over her, with
instructions to watch her with closest
care. and to send word the moment the
slightest change for the worse is per-
ceived.
The surgeon goes about his business.
visits other patients on the way, and at
length, long after the usual hour. he sits
down, worried and exhausted, to his cold
most as dry and a voice as husky as his
patients. He eats mechanically. ex-
changes hardly a word with any member
of his family, and sullenly retires to his
study, to prescribed for his patients
never, during all the time, forgetting the
poor mutilated object he left few hours
ago. He is about to lie down to get
moments repose after the severe toll of
the day, when suddenly he hears loud
ring of the bell, and servant, breathless
with excitement, begs his immediate
presence at the sick chamber with the
exclamation, "They think Mrs. - is
dying" He hurries to the scene with
rapid pace and anxious feeling. The
stump is of a crimson color, and the pa
tent lies in profound swoon. An artery
has suddenly given way; the exhaustion
is extreme; cordals and stmuants are
at once brought into requisition; the
dressings are removed, and the recusant
vessel is promptly secured.
The vital current GIBBS and flows, reac-
ton is still more tardy than before, and
it is not until late hour of night that
the surgeon, literally worn out in mind
and body, retires to his home in search of
repose. Does he sleep? He tries, but he
cannot close his eyes. His mind is with
his patient; he hears every footstep upon
the pavement under his window, and is
in momentary expectation of the ringing
of the night bell. He is disturbed by the
widest fancies, he sees the most terrific
objects, and as he rises early in the morn
ing to hasten to his patients chamber, he
feels that he has been cheated of the rest
of which he stood so much in need. Is
this picture overdrawn? have sat for
it thousand times, and there is not an
educated, conscientious surgeon that will
not certify to its accuracy.-[Dr. Gross
Autobiography.