St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1890-03-31
Saved by a Girl Who Receives
the Bite of a Snake In
tended
For Her Royal Mistress--A
Tumor Develops in Her
Stomach.
The Latter Is Removed, and
the Stomach OF a
Pig Is
Transplanted in It's Place
With Wonderful Sue
cess.

| Cincinnati Enquirer New York Letter.
Miss Lola Ferrara, a beautiful Spanish
maiden, was a servant in the household
OF Dom Pedro when the people rose in
their might. knocked the life out of the
Brazilian empire, and banished the I'M
fortunate emperor and his family. Miss
Ferrara was an invalid at the time, and
was left by her master to the tender
mercies of the revolutionists of Rio
| Janeiro.
Miss Ferrara was born in Spain. Her
father was an officer in the Spanish
| army and her mother was peasant
woman. Miss Ferrara came to this city
at an early age and lived with an
| uncle, who was quite wealthy. Her
relative lost his money in Wall street,
and she was thrown upon her own re-
sources and earned her own living by
teaching languages and music. Among
her pupils were the children of the Bra
lillian consul. and when Dom Pedlo
visited this city several years ago. he
| met the poor music teacher and took
great fancy to her. He investigated her
pedigree. found her to be worthy
woman in every respect, and before
leaving for Europe he offered her po-
sition in the imperial palace at Rio
| Janeiro, which was thankfully accepted.
She left here in few weeks, and had
an honorable place in the emperor'S
home until the rupture of the empire.
The emperor'S family was very demo-
| cratic. and often made short trips to the
| little towns and villages within hun
| dred miles of the capital. On one of
these excursions, while passing through
a jungle on foot, the party was attacked
by
"A Large Snake.
There was body-guard of soldiers,
but before they could reach the reptile
with their guns and swords it had
squirmed within striking distance of
the empress. Without moments hes
itatiOn. Miss Ferrara, with rare courage.
Jumped in the way OF the snake. and
| when the deadly spring was made she
| received the poisonous fangS in the
| shoulder. The snakes head was cut off
with blow from a saber while the
! fangs were fastened in the Woman'S
| flesh. Fortunately. there was hut
| close by, and in a few moments an old
| Indian woman was found who had an
| antidOte for snake poison on hand ready
for use, and she ran to the suffering
| girl and gave her some of the drug to
drink. After sucking the wound, the
Indian woman applied a poultice of
| wet leaves. Several doses of the drug
| were given at regular intervals for an
hour. and then Miss Ferrara became I'M
| conscious. She was carried back to the
palace, and was in critical condition
/ when the emperor's physician saw
her. The doctor did not wait
| to find out what the effect of
the Indians medicine would be, but put
| the patient Immediately on diet Of
| rum. the product of cane juice. 1t was
/ ten hours after the bite before the in
/! lection of rum was given hypodermi-
cally, aud the injections were admins
tered in the shoulder every ten minutes
4 for three hours before any favorable re-
/ suit was noticed. The heart responded
| when between two and three pintS of
rum had been injected, and in short
time the patient was restored to con-
seriousness. The rum was poured into
her mouth after she could swallow. and
she took altogether nearly six pIntS.
She was then very drunk, and
went to sleep. She did not awaken
for three days. The snake poison
had been eliminated in the meantime,
but she was still in a dangerous state
from alcoholic poison. She recovered
from this aud her health was good for a
short time. She then began to suffer
!
pecially after eating. The symptoms
indicated an aggravated case of dys-
pepsia, but the drugs usually given in
| this disease failed to have any effect.
AS the disease developed peculiar
symptom appeared. After taking food
the walls of the stomach set up grind
ing motion similar to that of the giz-
card of fowls, and grating sound could
be distinctly heard. This condition
| continued for week, and the pain was
1 very severe.
The Local Physicians
were unable to give Miss Ferrara any
| relief, and she took a steamer and came
1 to this city. She consulted DR.. Knapp,
1 aud took room at st. Luke'S hospital.
| She was very weak and weighed only
| sixty five pounds.
The external examination showed
| that the abdomen was somewhat swOl-
len. and that there was an irregular
| mass within that was very hard and
| could not be indented with the finger.
| Soon after her admittance to the hOSpi-
| tai the patient was unable to take food.
/ Whatever she swallowed was immedi
| ately rejected. A long probe was intro
puced into the esopiiagus, but it could
| not be forced into the stomach. An OBJ
| struction at the end of the esophagus
might account for this, but there was
nothing to indicate what the nature of
| the hard, tumor-like body was.
The Patient
was kept alive by injections of food into
the lower intestine, and as there was no
improvement in the condition of the
esophagus DR.. Knapp concluded to op-
| crate.
After the patient had been given an
| anasthetic, an incision was made in the
| abdomen in the median line, beginning
at the end of the breast. The periton-
4 cum and omentum were cut through
with great care, and large. black oval
substance was revealed. 1t was in the
position usually occupied by the stom-
| ach, and was joined to the duodenum
and esophagus. The surgeon looked for
the stomach. but could not find it, and
then it dawued upon him that the stony
body was the organ itself in a petrified
i state. 1t was about as stiff as SOLE
leather, and this could only be ac-
was caused by the Indian WOman'S
medicine.
The removal of the stomach was post
| poned until the following day. There
was strange spectator at the second
operation in the shape of luSty young
pig, which was destined to play an i'm
portant part in the proceeding. Tie
abdominal wound was again opened
and a rubber band was tied tightly at
each extremity Of the stomach. The
adhesions were broken skilIfuily and
the attachment at each end of the organ
was severed and the stomach was re-
moved. II weighed fourteen pounds,
and turned the edge of fine steel
blade. The pig was then called upon.
He was laid upon the table and his
| squeals were soon stopped with an
4 anfesthetic.
L mI,o Diets Aldornn..