The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1888-08-18
A SURGEONS LIFE.

have always held that it is impossible
| for any man to be great surgeon if he is
destitute, even in an inconsiderable de-
gree, Of the finer feelings of our nature.
| l have often lain awake for hours the
night before an important operation, and
suffered great mental distress for days
after it was over, until was certain that
my patient was out of danger. do not
think it is possible for criminal to feel
much worse the night before mis- execu-
ton than surgeon when he knows that
upon his skill and attention must depend
the fate of valuable citizen, husband,
father, mother, or child. Surgery under
such circumstances is a terrible taskmas-
| ter, feeding like vulture upon a mans
vitals. 1t is surprising that any surgeon
in large practice should ever attain to a
respectable old age, SO great are the wear
and tear Of mind and body.
The world has seen many a sad picture.
will draw one of the surgeon. 1t is
mid day; the sun is bright and beautiful;
all nature is redolent of Joy; men and
women crowd the street srrsyed in their
best, and all apparently is peace and
happiness within and without. In large
house, almost overhanging this street go
full OF life and gayety, lies upon couch
an emsciated figure, once one of the
sweetest and loveliest of her sex, con-
fiding and affectionate wife and the
adored mother Of numerous children, the
subject of a frightful disease of one Of
her limbs. In an adjoining room is the
surgeon, 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 read
mess to follow the knife with his sponge.
The flaps are soon formed, the bone sew
cred, the vessels tied, and then the huge
wound is Appropriated.
The woman is pale and CHASTITY, the
pulse hardly perceptible, the skin wet
with clammy Precipitation, the voice
husky, the sight indistinct. Some one
whispers into the ear of the busy sur
geop, The patient, I fear, is dying"
Restoratiyes are administered, the pulse
gradually rises, and after few hours Of
hard work and terrible anxiety reaction
occurs. The poor woman was only faint
from the joint influence Of the al aesthe tic,
shock, and loss of blood. An assistant, a
kind of sentinel, is placed as a guard
over her, with instructions to watch her
with the closest care, and to send word
the moment the slightest change for the
worse is seen.
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 ais cold
and comfortless meal, with a mouth al
most rs dry and voice as husky as his
patients. He eats mechanically, ex-
changes hardly word with any member
of his family, and sullenly retires to his
study to prescribe for his patients
during all this 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 at the
be II, and servant, bresthless with excite
ment, 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 GRIM
son color, and the patient lies in pre-
found swoon. An artery has suddenly
given way, the exhaustion is extreme, cor
diRls and stimulants are at once brought
into requisitiop, the dressings are re-
moved, and the recusant vessel is secured.
The vital current Gibbs and flows, reac-
ton is still more tardy than before, and
it is not until late hour of the 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
tootstep upon the pavement under his
window, and is in momentsry expecta-
ton 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 morning 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 the re is not an educated con-
scientious surgeon that will not certify to
its Rccuracy.-From the autobiography
of the late DR.. Gross"