The Ohio Democrat. (Logan, O. [Ohio]) 1886-1906, 1892-07-23

his hand on my heart, at the uame time
making remarks which only increased
my horror.
after he had put his hand on me
for at least the twentieth time, and felt
the beating of the heart, he said to his
assistant:
"'Are you ready with your prepara-
tions, Langner? He has now lost an
enormous quantity of blood, and the
pulsation is getting weaker and weak
er. See, he is already losing conscious
ness, and with these words he took the
gag out of my mouth.
"A feeling of deadly weakness, as
well as of infinite misery, laid hold of
me when the physician uttered these
words, and on my attempting to speak,
| found that scarcely a whispering
murmur passed my lips Shadowy
phantoms and strange colors fitted be-
fore my eyes, and / believed myself to
be already in a state past all human
aid.
What happened the next few min
utes do not know, for l had tainted.
When l reopened my eyes, noticed
but was sitting in an armchair in a
comfortable room, near which stood the
two doctors looking at me-
"Near me was a flask of wine, sew
eral smelling salts, few basins OF cold
water, some sponges and galvanic
battery. 1t was now bright daylight,
and the two doctors smiled as they
looked at me.
"When | remembered the terrible
experiment 1 shuddered with horror,
ard tried to rise. l felt too weak, how
ever, and sank back helpless into the
chair Then the circuit physician, in
friendly but firm voice, addressed me:
"'Compose yourself, young man. You
imagined you were slowly bleeding to
death; nevertheless, be assured that you
have not lost single drop of blood.
You have undergone no operation
whatever, but have simply been the
victim of your own imagination. We
knew very well you heard every word of
our conversation, a conversation which
was only intended to deceive you as
much as possible. What l maintained
was that mans body will always COM
llO bhC Va
he himself firmly believes, while my
colleague, on the other hand, held the
opinion that the body can never be
hurt by anything which only exists in
the imagination. This has long been an
open question between us, which, after
Your capture, we at once determined TO
decide. So we surrounded you with
objects of nature to influence your
imagination, aided further by our con-
versation; and, finally, your conviction
that we would really carry out the
operation of which you heard us speak
completed the deception.
"'You have now the satisfaction Of
knowing that you are as safe and as
sound as ever you were. At the same time
we assure you that you really showed
all the symptoms of a man bleeding to
death, proof that the body can some
times suffer from the most absurd un-
reality that the mind can imagine
"Astonishment, Joy and doubt at
finding myself neither dead nor dying
struggled within me, and then the rage
of having been subjected to such an
awful and heartless experiment by the
two doctors overcame me. l was
quickly interrupted by DR.. Engler,
however, on trying to give free scope to
my indignation.
"'We had not exactly any right to
undertake such an experiment with
you,' he said; but we thought you
would pardon us if we delivered you
from certain punishment, instead OF
having to undergo a painful trial and a
long imprisonment for burglary. You
are certainly at liberty to complain
about us; but consider, my good fellow,
do not think so. On the other hand,
we are quite willing to make you a
fitting compensation for all the agony
you have suffered
Under the circumstances" con-
tinued George Martin, 81 considered it
wise to accept their proposal, although
l have not to this day forgiven the two
men for so treating me.
1.-The doctors kept their promise.
They made me a very handsome pres
ent, and troubled themselves about me
in other ways, SO that since that time
have been a more fortunate, and, ]
hope, better man. STILL have never
forgotten the hour when lay on the
dissecting table-the unexpected victim
of terrible experiment lin the inter.
ests of science, as Dr.. Engler ex
planned"
Such was the strange story of my
friend. His death, which recently took
place, released me from the promise OF
secrecy given to him about an event
which he could never recall, even after
lapse of thirty years, without feel
ing of unabated horror.-Strand Mag
azine.