St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1888-10-15
Operated Upon With Brute
Force by an Ignorant Ger
man Physician.
His Throat Literally Roasted
by the Application of a
Hot Iron.
Sir MOPell Mackenzie Tells
How the Murderous Job
Was Done.
Special Cable to the Globe.

already published, is amplified by the
full text of the volume, which is made
public here for the first time. Ii; a few
days this book will be the subject OF
burning controversy in both hemi-
spheres. DR.. MacKenzie's accusations
OF incompetency against the German
physicians are far more sweeping than it
is supposed he would make them. In
fact, he unequivocally says that their
repeated blunders gave Unser Fritz his
death blow. The famous physician be-
gins his preface with this quotation
from Henry w.: ''Mark, now, how
plain tale shall put you down." He
says: 'It has been painful task to me
to write the following pages, not be-
cause there is anything in the charges
recently brought against me by some of
my German colleagues which | have the
slightest difficulty in meeting, but be-
cause l feel most keenly the unSeem-
illness of the controversy, which must
necessarily cause additional suffering
to hearts which have already been tried
beyond the common lot" DR.. Macken-
zie then describes the hasty circum-
stances under which he was summoned
to Berlin and his first meeting with the
German doctors, and says: wv hen L
had made my examination of the crown
prince the other doctors and | with
drew in the ordinary way to discuss the
matter. PrOfS. Gerhardt and Tobold
gave the positive opinion that
THE DISEASE WAS DANGEROUS.
and Prof. Bergman, though expressing
himself more guardedly, substantially
agreed with him. All three were unani-
nous in thinking the cutting operation
from the outside would be necessary for
the removal of the growth. The pre-
else nature of the surgical procedure
that would be required was never dis
cuSSed III my presence; when it came
my turn to speak, | said there was
nothing characteristic in the appear
ance of the growth, and that it was
quite impossible to give definite
opinion as to its nature without more
searching examination. | pointed out
that the opinion expressed by my col
leagues had been come to on what
seemed to me to be Insufficient grounds,
and that they had omitted the most es-
sential, and at the same time the most
obvious means of arriving at the cor
rect diagnosis. The first thing to be
done was to pick off piece OF the
growth through the natural passage
and have it eXamined micrOScopically by
an expert. Prof Gerhardt said it
would be difficult, if not impossible, to
do this on account of the awkward sit
uatiOn of the growth and Prof. Tobold
expressed a similar opinion. While
freely admitting that the operation in
this case presented exceptional diff
Guilty, said thought it could be done,
and that at any rate
IT SHOULD BE ATTEMPTED.
| then turned TO Prof. Gerhardt and said
to him: VIII you try?' and he replied:
L cannot operate with the forcepS.' |
next asked Prof. TObOld if he would
make the attempt, but he declined, say
ing: Il no longer operate DR.. Mac
kenZie describes the first operation upon
the crown princes throat in removing
the piece of growth for Prof. Virehow
to examine, and says he walked
home afterwards with the crown
prince, who talked seriously
abobt his condition, and expressed dis
satisfaction with Prof. Gerhardt. DR..
Mackenzie makes an exhaustive defense
against the accusation of the German
doctors that. in this operation, his for
cepS seriously injured the vocal chord.
He also denies the charge that he took
the case out of the hands of the Ger
mans, and says: They had called me
in, and L had given my opin-
ion, to which, Outwardly. at least,
they had subscribed. They distinctly
sanctioned the course of treatment
which had laid before them, and, if
may so express it, | received a man
date from them to carry it out. In
showing that the German doctors were
equally anSwerable with me. l am not
trying to transfer any part of the re-
responsibility off my own shoulders.
wish to show the ShiftleSS character of
the men with whom | had to deal. Be-
fore returning to England L was in
formed that Prof. Gerhardt had
APPLIED A RED-HOT POINT
to the interior of the larynX everv day
for nearly fortnight. In all my ex-
perience have never heard of any one
applying cautery to patients larynX
Oftener than once or at most twice a
week. and l hardly know which to be
most astonished at in the present in
stance, the therapeutic energy of
the physician or the endurance of
! the patient. On twelve consecutive
days, according to his own admiS-
sion did this physician burn the crown
princes larynX with red-hOt wire, and
again. on four subsequent occasions, at
short intervals. Finally, as if all this
were not enough, he thought it neces-
sary to scar the edge of the vocal chords
with fiat burner. There is no record
in medical literature, so far as l am
aware, in which cautery-a most valu
able agent if properly handled-was so
terribly misused." DR.. Mackenzie dwells
in detail, on the visit to San Reno
and the confirmation of his worst fears
in November that the disease was can
Ger. He says the crown prince received
the communication with perfect calm
ness. after moment of silence he
grasped my hand and said, with that
smile of peculiar sweetness which so
we'll expressed the mingled gentleneSS
and strength of his character: Il have
| lately been fearing something of this
sort. l thank you, sir Morell, for being
so frank with me- In all my long ex-
perience l have never seen a man bear
| himself, under similar circumstances,
WITH SUCH UNAFFECTED HEROISAI."
Here is DR.. MackenZie'S description of
| the operation of tracheotOmy: when
| everything was ready the crown prince
! passed through an adjoining room to
| the ordinary sitting room where it was
| arranged the operation was to be per-
formed. The bed was placed opposite one
| Of the windows so there was excellent
| light. DR.. Bramann proceeded to give
| the chloroform, but soon the crown
prince became unconscious and the ad-
| ministration was continued by DR..
Krause while kept my finger on the
pulse of the left wrist. Shortly after
| DR.. Bramann had made his first in
cision, noticed that the pulse had be-
came very weak and the face was
blanchlesS, in fact, there were
evident signs of cardiac weakness. On
! raising the eyelid the pupil was seen to
be widely dilated. The administra-
ton of chloroform was suspended
minute or two, when the pulse became
fairly good again, and the operation was
proceeded with. After this incident
| DIR. Bramann seemed to
! BECOME A LITTLE FLURRIED,