The Portland daily press., 1892-07-02

cit astoniShed me not little that
there should be such an operating room
in such q house, until remembered that
DR.. Langner, as the district physician,
had to carry out the postmortem exam
nations for the circuit, and that in the
small provincial town no other room
was available for such purpose. Ifelt
too miserable, however, to think any
thing more about it. But [ soon no.
ticed, after another vain effort to free
myself, that was not alone in the room,
for l heard the rustling of paper, and
then some one said in quiet, measured
tones:
"tYes, Langner, I am quite convinced
that this man is particularly suited for
the carrying out of my highly impor-
tant experiment. How long have been
wishing to make the attempt-at last,
tonight. shall be able to produce the
proof of my theory
""That would indeed be high tri
umph of human SKILL heard a second
voice reply; but consider, dear doctor,
if that man there were to expire under
our hands-what them
'Impossiblep was the quick reply.
1T is bound to succeed, and even if it
did not, he will die glorious death in
the interests of science; while, if we
were to let him go, he would sooner or
later fall into the hands of the hangman.'
81 could not even see the two men,
yet their conversation was doubtless
about me; and, hearing it, shuddered
from head to foot, They were propos-
ing some dangerous operation on me,
not for my benefit, but in the interests
of medical science.
cat any rate, I thought, they won't
undertake such thing without my
sanction; and what, after all, was their
intention? 1t must be something terri
BILE, for they had already mentioned the
possibility Of my succumbing. I should
soon know the fearful truth, for, after
short pause, they continued:
s''It has long been acknowledged that
the true source of life lies in the blood.
What wish to prove, dear Langner, is
this. Nobody need die from pure loss
of blood, and yet such cases occur only
too often, while we must all the time be
in possession of means to renew this
highly important sap of life and thus
avoid fatal result. We read of few,
but only a few, cases of man who for
some reason or other has lost so much
blood that his death appeared inevita-
BILE if some other noble hearted man
had not offered his own blood in order
to let it flow from his veins into the
veins of the dying man. AS you are
aware, this proceeding has always had
the desired effect. | consider it, how
ever, great mistake to deprive fell
low being of necessary blood, for the
one thereby only gains life and strength
at the cost of another, who offers him
self for an always dangerous sacrifice
Eyes, I do not think that right,
either replied DIR. Langner. And.
moreover, how seldom is man found
at the critical moment ready to submit
himself at once to such dangerous loss
of blood
" THAT is very natural; no one lightly
undertakes such thing continued the
other. $50 much greater will be our
triumph if the operation succeeds. |
hope to show you, dear colleague, that
although we are thinking of taking that
mans blood, even to the last drop, in
few hours wc shall set him on his feet
again
GO Just so! l do not see why we
should not succeed. At any rate, in the
interest of science, we should prove in a
practical manner the correctness of our
theory
"'And this proof, dear friend, we will
undertake without delay. Let me just
repeat my instructions, for we cannot
go to work too carefully to preserve the
life of this man. will open vein in
his thigh and measure exactly the guam
tity of blood which flows out, at the
same time watching the beating of the
heart. Under ordinary circumstances
nothing could possibly save him, but
just before the extinction of the last
spark of life we will insert the warm
blood of living rabbit into his veins,
as we have already arranged. If my
theory is right, the pulsation of the
heart will then gradually increase in
strength and rapidity. At the same
time it is important to protect his limbs
from cold and stiffness, which will nat
urally take place with the loss of arterial
blood
1.-The conversation Of the two doctors
overwhelmed me with deadly terror.
could scarcely believe was really
awake and not the victim of some cruel
nightmare.
1.-THE fact remained, however, that !
lay helpless on the dissecting table, that
a threatening skeleton stood in the cor
ner of the room, and, above all, that
| terrible conversation which | had to
listen to in silence filled me with fear
such as had never before experienced.
Involuntarily the thought forced itself
upon me that was at the mercy of two
infatuated doctors, to whose mad theory
l should here fall the victim.
II said to myself that no doctor with
sound mind would propose such a
frightful and murderous experiment
upon living man.
"The two doctors now approached the
dissecting table and looked calmly into