The morning call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1878-1895, 1893-02-26
A PHANTOM LEG.
An Iowa Editor Describes the Sensa-
ton Following an Amputation.

G. W. Van Horn in the MuscatIne News-Tribune.
/ have been requested by many friends to
note for publication some of the nerve phe-
nomena characterizing the sensations have
suffered from my amputated limb.
For years past have heard and read of
similar sufferings by soldiers and others
who have lost leg. arm, foot or hand. and
have known of the superstition in respect
to these sensations being due to the burial
of the lost mem Der in a cramped condition,
and OF the sensations eeasing upon the limb
being RELAXED IN natural position, so that |
was not wholly unprepafed for what have
to relate. But no previous warning or In
formation can give TO one any anticipation
of the strange, ghostly but terribly sub
stanlial rains which are so frequently the
sequel OF these amputations.
There is little heed 10 be paid to aught but
the pain or what are called The surgical and
nervous shocks following a thigh amputa-
ton. All one can do is TO hold on to life
with the grit he possesses while passing
through this severe ordeal. | think it was
the fourth day after the operation that |
became strangely conscious Of my leg not
having been discovered at all. 1t was lying
there in bed by the side of its companion,
perfect in knee, calf, ankle, heel instep and
hollow Of foot and toes, and as nauralas its
fellow. The pain In nearly all its members
would have suf1iced to make it realize Itself
to me, but / found | could raise IL from the
bed. work its foot, articulate its toes and
gently move ii from one place to another. 1t
began 10 he intensely painful and soon CON-
manded my whole attention. From that time
to this, about three weeks, thas caused the
only suffering have endured. The wound
itself has been free from pain and the rest
of my body in fair normal condition, while
my appetite has been fair and my spirits
comparatively cheerful. But let 70 one
mistake by my saying that these nervous
emotions have been my ''Only" sufferings,
In suDpOsing that they have consequently
been slight. On the contrary. had | been
stretched night and day on the stored rack
Of the inqusition, my torture could not
have been greater. Had Dante suffered a
similar amputation he could have added
pictures surprising thing to be found In
his Inferno" And yet, as have said to
myself, and sometimes out loud a hundred
times, there is absolutely nothing there,
and all these fortunes occur where nothing
exists.
The reader will be curious to know the
kind and method OF these tOrtures They
partake of every kind which the spirit of
cruelty could devise. At times stream of
fire courses down the calf with violence
that tears the flesh open; then 1t wreathes
its flames about the ankle and heel and
makes its escape by deep grooves along the
foot TO the toes. This changes 10 the limb
being held in terrible wise of jagged wood.
As torturous clamps are put on the ankle and
heel until they seem crushed out OF all form,
Small balls OF fire are pressed against the
hollow Of the foot and appear to be burning
themselves through. The toes are twisted
as by sharp wrench. and 10 vary the pain
a sharp knife proceeds to slit open the ball
of each toe. One of the most excrueiatinc
fortunes consists in binding foot. ankle and
leg with lnuumerable cords. and strings at
tached 10 the toes, and then drawing a ten
sion on them that threatens to disjoint
every member. AS | sit writing these cords
are on and my foot seems drawn nearly 10
the seat.
/ have lain in bed for hours watching
these varying tortures. and wondered what
devilsh appliances would come next. These
sensations are not so violently severe as the
surgical and nervous shock, but the latter
are OF momenary endurance. and one has
the satisfaction Of knowing what they mean,
while the other sensations are constant and
are yelled in mystery.
Surgical science calls these sensations the
effect of NERVE habit" but tell Dr. Little
he would find some other definition if he
once had them. | have wondered at times
IL this phantom leg. so afiame with feeling,
might mt be part OF the spirit body which
Swedenborg taught existed within the ply
steal frame. IL there be such body. of
course II could not be dismem bered, and
would remain intact in spite of any physi-
cal amputatioD.
Being connected with its discovered phys
ical limb it would probably be subject to
pain. and all the greater and more acute
because Of its finer material. When the
wound had completely healed the spirit
limb would feel no painful sensations, which
agrees with what the doctor tells me, and.
after such healing. these sensations will
disappear.
| asked the doctor what under the sun
thew meant. and he sharplv answered. that
had no business to be so nervous, and have
TO confess that there are grounds for his
inslnuation, but the answer Is not satisfac-
tory.
AS ! walk on my crutches l feel the
amputated knee bending under me and the
foot extended out behind
l could dispense with my astral limb with
infuife zpst.