Omaha daily bee., 1888-10-16
PROFESSOR VlERCHOW TALKS
The Great German Specialist Gan
Form No Opinion.
THE TESTIMONY NOT YET ALL IN.
More Light on the Emperor's Throat
tisease-He Denies the Re-
sponsibility OF the
Diagnosis.


NterChOws Opinions.
lCoplright 1888 bp Jdm,s Gordon Kenneth
BgRLrs, Oct. H-GNew York Herald
Cable-Specal TO The BEE Prof Ru-
dolf Vierchow speaks English fiuently and has
read every line of Mackenzie's defence as
published in Fridays Herald This eminent
man, who has surprised perhaps more of
natures secrets than any other scientist liv-
ing, lives in neatly furnished hut unpre-
tentous apartment at No. 10, Shellingstrass.
Skins of several superb specimens of wild
animals and rare birds and plants indicate
the nature Of his favorite studies. The al
most coorless face with the eyes somewhat
dimmed by unremittng years Of scientific
and literary labor looked up for a moment
from his perusal of the Herald, 1t was with
great reluctance that no finally consented to
touch upon a subject that IN his opinion has
been already more than sufficiently dis
cussed.
"ln regard TO the death OF the Emperor
Frederick" he began, "There is no doubt
that he died from the after-effects of an in
fammation of the lungs, brought about by
the inspiration of gangrenous particles de-
tatched from the gangrenous surface OF the
trachea. This Inflammation could not have
been caused by the operation performed by
ITD1. bergman Ou April ~ dS JOO lOllS
time had elapsed since the operation. The
Inflammation, in my opinion, only ante
dated the emperor's death by about one, or
at. most, two weeks / can form no opinion
as to what caused the gangrcnous affection
of the larynx, which already existed at San
Reno. Whether this afterward descended
into the trachea down to the artificial open
ing, am not prepared to say"
4 4. ..e,,, 60. IAft no.
ing room for his library and returned in a
few minutes with aportfolio filed with many
closely written sheets of paper, his memo
randa in the Emperor Frederick's case.
a"I also received" he continued, "on Janu-
ary II, 1898, piece Of the tissue expectorated
by the crown prince during a coughing fit.
On this piece, which already show ed the OK
istence of a gangrenous proce IS, l made a
written report. | did not see the crown
prince at all during his illne SIS until short
time before his death on May 2S, 1888. had
already seen pieces extirpated on three diff
fcrent occasions by DR.. Mackenzie. They
were decidedly non cancerous, though all of
them showed signs of disease They were
not taken probably from the central portion
of the tumor; they were not taken from
the right spot and it was impossible to base
all OlbliiOu upDh Souiu
the whole course of the treatment obtain a
definite statement as to the exact spot
the extirpated portion had been OBJ
tained FROM l had not then, nor have
now any positive opinion as to the
course run by the malady for l was
never informed Of where the exact seat of
the disease was, nor did | ever meet Macken-
zie until about three weeks before the en-
peror's DEATH nor had ] ever received any
written communication from him. Wegner,
the Emperor Frcderick's lebarzt, brought
me the particles Mackenzie had removed,
but could not tell me positively what part of
the vocal chords they had been taken from.
There was space of about nine centimetres
between the gangrenous affection noticed at
San Reno and the opening afterwards made.
TN the trachea, at the post mortem, this in
terestiBg space showed as one continuous
gangrenOus surface. The pieces sent me for
examination by DR.. Mackenzie were all re-
regard to each one of them was published at
the time None Of these pieces
was canccerous, and still
hold to the opinion that they did not
form portions of the cancerous surface. To
what extent and in what portion of the larynx
cancer existed during the early stages of the
disease could not then be ascertained, and is
not explained even now by what has been
published on the subject. Professor Won
Bergman then Thought that a fssure of the
1t would be necessary to remove, and what
sort of operation was needed Whether par
tial or complete eXtirpation of the larynx
should be resorted to, or whether simply re-
moving the growth from the moucus mem
brane would suffice, nobody at that time, as
far us l can Judge, had any positive opinion
As to the exact seat Of the disease or its de-
Erce of develodment during the month of
kenzie says, that the publication of Professor
Nirchows first report, which he hopes may
be given to the public, would prove very in
teresting reading. He evidently is not aware
that it was published as a portion of the
transactions of the Berlin Medical society
during their meeting held Novem-
Der l6 1887. Here it s," tap
ping small grey pamphlet. ~ made this
report because so many newspaper corre-
Bpondents claimed to be in constant commu-
nication with Sir Morell and kept repeating
that he declined to accept the responsibility
Of the diagnosis. This meant shifting the
responsibility to my shoulders. In this re-
port, that took the form of an address, set
definite limits TO my responsibility, saying
that only gave my opinion on those por-
tions OF the growth submitted TO me and not
on any other portions. Sir Morell sent me
the last piece on July l, 1887, and since that
time nothing was communicated to me. In
regard TO the development of the disease in a
fresh place. the portion of the larynX visible
TO the observer through the larynxoscope
IS very small one, and only IN
this region can the operator reach
the diseased parts. A little behind the re-
gion a great process of degeneration may be
noticed by the observer. / can only say that
what have read of Sir Morcli's defence in
the Herald, gives no description of the
growth as It originally appeared nor of its de-
Velopment during the summer of 1857. He
does not speak of what he observed, but OF
what he thought and did. No one can form,
from his defense, any opinion as to the
nature and extent of the original growth
thn nth old ~ v,t.
can express an opinion until all the testi
mony is in, Us 1t certainly will be some day
THE LIE DIRECT