The Colfax chronicle. [volume] (Colfax, Grant Parish, La.) 1877-1981, 1892-09-24


my right thigh, and although I lay
bound to the tai &C in such a way that l
could not see my limbs, was able to
| watch the doctor busted with his prep
| arations
Directly after removing the cloth l
felt prick in the side of my leg. and at
once felt the warm blood rush forth
and trickle down my leg. The ronvic-
ton that he had opened the principal
vein of the thigh would have sufficed to
| shake the strongest nerves.
There is no danger said DIR. Eng
Ter, looking into my staring, protruding
eyes with terrible calmness. You will
not die, my good man. 1 have only
| opened an artery in your thigh, and
you will experience all the sensations
of bleeding to death. You will get
weaker and weaker, and finally. per-
haps, lose all consciousness, but we
shall not let you die. No, no! You
must live and astonish the scientific
world through my great discovery
IL naturally could say nothing in re-
ply, and no words can adequately ex-
press what l felt at that moment. l
could, in one breath, have wept, i'm
plored, cursed and raved.
meanwhile / felt my life's blood
| flowing, and could hea- it drop into a
vessel standing under the end of the
table. Every moment the doctor laid
his hand on my heart, at the same 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? lie 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.
l found that scarcely 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 reopened my eyes, noticed L
no longer lay on the dissecting table,
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, a few basins of cold
water, some sponges and a galvanic
battery. 1t was now bright daylight.
and the two doctors smiled as they
looked at me.
"When l remembered the terrible
experiment ! shuddercd with horror,
and tried to rise. | felt too weak, how
ever, and sank back helpless into the
chair. Then the circuit physician, in a
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 a 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 a mans body will always COM
pletely lie under the influence of what
| 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
yOnr capture, we at once determined to
| decide. So we surrounded you with
| objects of a nature to influence your
imagination, aided further by our con-
versation; and. finally, your conviction
that we would really carry out the
completed the deception.
"sYsu 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 DIR. 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 painful trial and a
long imprisonment for burglary. You
are certainly at liberty to complain
about us; but consider, my good fellow,
if such step is in your interests? 1