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


knew l Vas lying on the operation-or
dissecting-table of doctor, a dis
covery which naturally troubled me
greatly; at the same time l perceived
that my mouth also was firmly gagged.
What did it all mean? Had some
accident befallen me, so that a surgical
operation was necessary for my recov-
cry? But l remembered nothing of the
kind, and also felt no pain; neverthe-
less here lay stripped and helpless, on
this terrible table, gagged and bound,
which indicated something extraordi-
nary.
at astonished me not a little that
there should be such an operation room
in such a house, until / remembered
that DIR. Langner, as the district ply
stefan, had 10 carry out the post-mor-
tenn examinations for the circuit, and
that in the small provincial town no
other room was available for such a
purpose. / felt too miserable, how
ever, to think anything more about it.
But soon noticed, after another vain
effort to free myself, that I vas not
alone in the room. for l heard the rust
ling of paper, and then some one said,
in quiet measured tones:
Eyes, Langner, am quite convinced
that this man is particularly suited for
the carrying out of my highly impor-
tant experiment. How long have l
been wishing to make the attempt-at
last, tonight, shall be able to produce
| 4 bx, ,,v,~<>f - vv,y xhoorv
THAT would indeed be a 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 then?'
Tmpossibler was the quick reply.
tits bound TO succeed, and even if it did
not, he will die glorious death in the
interests of science: whilst, if we were
to let him go. he would sooner or later
fall into the hands of the hangman.'
II could not even see the two men,
yet their conversation was doubtless
about me; and, hearing it, I 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!
"At any rate, l 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. l should
soon know the fearful truth. for, after
short pause. they continued:
est has long been acknowledged
that the true source of life lies in the
blood. What l wish to prove, dear
Langncr. is this. Nobody need die from
pure loss of blood, and yet such cases
occur only too often, whilst 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
a man who for some reason or other has
lost SO much blood that his death APP
peared inevitable, 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. con-
slider it, however, a great mistake to
deprive "a fellow-being of necessary
blood, for the one thereby only gains
life and strength at the cost of another,
who offers himself for an always dan
gerous sacrifice
".Yes, ] 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 dange rous
loss of blood
THAT is very natural; no one light
" undertakes such a thing continued
the other so 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 we shall set him on his
feet again
".Just so! l do not see why we
should not succeed. At any rate, in the
interests of science we should prove in
a practical manner the correctness of
our theory
land this proof, dear friend, we will
undertake without delay. Let me just
repeat my instructions, for we cannot
20 to work too carefully to preserve the
life of this man. will open a 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 stiff ness, which will nat
urally take place with the loss of all
arterial blood
1.-The conversation of the two docto
overwhelmed me with deadly terror. l
could scarcely believe I was really