The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1890-07-04
BACK TO LIFE BY THE scALPsL
The Surgeons Et=ffe Prevents Woman's
Burial while TN q Trance.

] surgeons
Burial While I'm Trance.
| When / commenced dissecting at the
hospitals I had some difficulty In sur
mounting the repugnance which the smell
Of q corpse causes to every human being.
| But it took me stiN longer to overcome the
| horror felt each time l plunged my knife
| into yet organized body, which, although
dead, looks 80 much ike living one. In
time, however, conquered this aversion,
and the interest awakened by science soon
deedened my softer feelings to the CHASTITY
details OF the business.
One dull December morning, on arriving
at the Hospital de la Pitie-where as an
indoor student was training for the medi-
cal professional met one Of the janitors,
who told me that q certain patient in
whom took considerable interest had
died during the night and been placed in
the amphitheatre.
It was, say, cold and dark morning.
The court yard was empty. I entered the
dingy dissecting hall and drew near to the
table Wherein the corpse lay outstretched,
with every line exposed. The body was
that OF a woman, as perfect a fashioned
woman rs I had ever seen in flesh or mar
BILE. She was about % years Of age, with
strongly knit frame and wealth Of au-
burn hair that fell about the slab in disor-
der The face was handsome and serene
The hands and feet were delicate. no
ticed that the fOrelnger OF the left hand
was pricked and betrayed the hard worked
needle woman. Poor, unfortunate girl,
neither mother nor sister had come for
ward to claim her mortal remains.
may here state that during a consultar
r - l.
she was yet alive, at which the students
were all present, l had become convinced
that an operation with the knife might
have saved her. The head doctors, how
ever, thought otherwise, and as | had no
consulting voice in the matter no surgical
operation was attempted. l impaired my
doubts to the students, who agreed that
I should get her body, as / wished to verify
by a post-mOrtem how far out was in my
inference that an operation on the living
woman might have been safely performed.
The patient fingered on for some time SO
long in fact that began to think she would
get well again and be defrauded of an in
teresting pathological case.
So matters stood when the janitor gave
me that morning the welcome intelligence
Of her death l say welcome" because
however fiendish such an expression Of SEN
Jiment may sound to unprofessional ears
l had grown downright impatient to verify
my conjecturcs. Her ailment consisted in
d loose, fatty tumor on the side of the neck
which weighed over a pound. l got my
truss, donned my black apron and was
soon ready 1 determined to operate as
conscientiously on the dead as I should
have done on the live woman. My scaIpels
i IL II
on the table l raised an eyelid, but there
was no trace of life in those dull, lusterless
orbs. The jaws were fast and the members
rigid in death.
inserted the probe and piled theknife
with the utmost care, nipping the arteries
as they were disclosed, until a dozen or
more held the principle vessels of the neck
After working.a half hour or so the alba
ton was complete. Just at that moment
the prosecutor, always an early bird, en-
tered the hall and walked up to the table
where l was busy. He bent over the corpse
and scrutinized with great attention the
cavity in the neck. Suddenly, as he gazed
into the wound, he started back as if he |
had received a galvsnic shock. looked at
him in establishment. He once more bent
down, distended to it's utmost the gaping
uOI6 III Tic ucCA, anu OACldlneu:
"Why, man, the woman is alive. Her
carotid beats. Here, janitor, lend hand
to take this woman up stairs"
1 in turn peered into the wound, and
sure enough a full view Of the main vessel
in the neck which conveys the blood from
the aorta to the head could be had inside,
and it throbbed with a slow, irregular mo-
ton.
The woman was in a trance She was at |
once put into a warm bed, restoratives |
were applied and her neck was properly |
bandaged. Her life, however, was for |
time in great danger, but she eventually |
recovered and left the hospital cu~Nd.
Instances like this, although of very |
rare occurrence, do sometimes happen in |
the dissecting rooms of hospitals, but |
have never heard OF any such case at the |
Amphitheatre of Clamart, whtLo pupils |
prosecute their anatomical lessons. Here, |
although the subjects are unclaimed waits |
from all the Paris hospitals, no patho-
logical dissecting takes place.-Paris Cor.
Chicago Inter-Occan.