The Worthington advance. [volume] (Worthington, Minn.) 1874-1908, 1892-07-21

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the proof Of my theory,
. That would indeed be high tri.
umph Of human skill I heard : second
voice reply; but consider, dear doctor,
If that man there were to expire nndet
our hands-what then?'
'1mpossiblel' was the quick reply.
tits bound To succeed, and even II it did
not, he will die q 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 hangmau.,
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, thought, they won't
undertake such thing without my
sanctions; and what, after all, was their
intention? 1t must be something terri
BILE, for they had already mentioned the
possibility of my succumbing. should
soon know the fearful truth. for, after
short pause, they continued:
"'It has long been acknowledged
that the true source of life lies in the
blood. What 1 wish to prove, dear
Langner, 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 50 much blood that his death ap-
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, q great mistake to
deprive 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 DR.. Langner. And,
moreover, how seldom is man found
at the critical moment ready to submit
himself at once to such q dangerous
loss of blood
"'That is very natural; no one light
ly undertakes such a thing continued
the other. so much greater will be
our triumph if the operation succeeds.
l hope to show you, dear colleague, that
although we are thinking of taking
that mans blood, even to the last drop,
in a few hours we shall set him on his
feet again.
"'Just SO! do not see why we
should not succeed. At any rate, in the
interests of science we should prove in
q 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. l 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 doctors
overwhelmed me with deadly terror.
could scarcely believe l 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 I had to
listen to in silence filled me with a fear
such as had never before experienced
lnvoluntarily the thought forced itself
upon me that was at the mercy of two
infatuated doctors, to whose mad theo-
ry I should here fall the victim.
II said to myself that no doctor with
a sound mind would propose such a
frightful and murderous experiment
upon living man.
1.-The two doctors now approached
the dissecting table and looked calmly
into my face; then, smiling, took off
their coats and tucked up theft sleeves.
l struggled to get free, as only des-
perate man under such extraordinary
could have struggled. In
vain. Their long-acquired experience
knew how to render me completely
helpless, and, to their satisfaction,
could not even make a sound.
''Dr. Engler now turned to a side
table, and l saw him open q chest of
surgical instruments and take out a
lancet, with which he returned to me.
He at once removed the covering from
my right thigh, and although I lay
bound to the table in such a way that
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 ,convic-
lion that he had opened the principal
7ein of the thigh would have sufficed to
shake the strongest nerves.
''There is no DANGER said DR.. Eng
er, looking into my staring, protruding
yes with terrible calmness. You will |
lot die, my good man. I have only
opened an artery in your thigh, and
7ou will experience all the sensations
If bleeding to death. You will get
weaker and weaker, and finally. per-
1aps, lose all consciousness, but we
shall not let you die. No, no! You
must live snd astonish the scientific
world through my great discovery
II naturally could say nothing in re-
by, and no words can adequately ex-
,ress what felt at that moment. I |