Elmore bulletin. [volume] (Rocky Bar, Idaho) 1889-1906, 1893-04-22
OUTSIDE PATIENTS.
BUSY MORNING SCENES IN A NEW
YORK HOSPITAL.

Dressing Wounds by the score-Monoto-
nous Calling of Numbers-The Brusque
Manners of Gentle Fingered Surgeons.
Scenes Tha; Arc Touching.
rs there anybody under seventy" They
are all under seventy, so far as age i con
eerned, but that is not what the surgeon
Is crying abodt. Is there anybody under
seventy" he repeats, and then, very rap.
idly, .'seventy-onc. sevonty.two, seventy
three, seventy So here YOU are,'i And
be takes q man, seats him ON stool.
hashcs pair OF scissors around band
aged arm, and in a twinkling has laid
the hesh bare and Is examining it. Then
without asking any questions, he washes,
dries. cleans, gnoints runs his ribbonlike
bandages around the wounded limb again
with swift aud skilifu fingers. and lifts
the man from the stool IL j, all done IN "a
flash
Come again tomorrow" he saws, and
then again: as there any body under sew
enty' Anybody under seventy, seventy
one, seventy-two''---
That Is the way it goes on for hours in
terminabiy, IL seems To the watcher lis
there anybody under'-
II j. in the surgeons room Of hospital.
where the daily flood Of wounded humani.
~ Is being carried up by the tide Of dis
Iress 10 be cared for and handaged There
are dozen surgeons there, and always
two score or more Of patients The owners
OF crushed skulls. broken limbs, bruised
faces and slashed or burned flesh are let
into the room in "batches.n They are
numbered at the door like checked hats.
aud they are cared for as their number
comes around. No. is first; No IS has
something Of a wait, aud No. i:2 finds "a
long interval between the time he Is
checked" at the hospital door and the
minute he finds himself in busy sur
eeon's hands 1t is first come, first served,
and that is why that monotonous cry con
stanIly arises from the surgeon "Is there
anybody under''--
Ii is "a s0rry side OF life that one sees here
The people are nearly all of them poor
desperately poor. They cannot afford the
luxury of a private physician. however Sc
we're their wounds, or however eager they
are To get back TO their work; and so they
come and stand in line waiting for their
numbers 10 be called, that they may 20 up
aud suffer, perhaps a great deal, that after
ward they may suffer less. They are OF all
aces in rags many OF them, some of them
limpiug on crutchrs, some of them with
their heads and faces swathed deeply IN
tandage~, some of them with hands
wrapped around and around until they are
as big rs feather pillows, some Of them
with feet crushed and manglcd. and all of
them miserable and suffering Aud among
them are the white aproncl. swift fingered.
hurrying surgeons dressing wounds by the
dozrn. dressing some Of them maryelOusly
quick, and always going ON to the next
without a pause, with no tremor at the
touch of any wound. however deep or foul
aui with no twitch Of the lips at any cry
or ilinching from pain.
rs there body under eighty-fivey
Eigbty-siX. eighty-seven-- So here YOU
are! No; 20 To the next table. You can't be
dressed here; you are infected. l. there
anybody under righty-eightrr
There i a short pause; then, sharply:
"Ei-htynincl Is there anybody under
uinrt!s All, here you are. Let me see
your card" Tor every patient has "A card,
on which Is written Il little history Of his
reception at the hospital, his trouble and
how he has been treated. Where's your
carisn
No answer TO this
where's your card, card, cariY"
Still no answer
Cant speak English, ehg"
Then follows series of pantomime. The
card l. ished ont, the patient is placed an
the stool, and of come the bandages from
his hand. The surgeons fingers move 80
lightly and rapidly that before one knows
that the man has been touched he has
Slipped of his stool To the floor and on his
knees, with his stomach pressed close TO
the stool. bis eyes shut, his teeth locked,
and his one whole hand clinched and quiy-
ering he fights his pain while his wound is
dressed. He has not opened his mouth
tlts .
have 70 bear il, bnt when bc gets up five
minutes later with a spotlrssly white and
clean looking handage on his hand he looks
as If he had marched into the valley OF tor
ture and had only crawled out again.
Come again day after tomorrow SAYS
the surgeon, and then the same old, Els
there anybodyn-
II il a boy this time, When the linen
strips are removed from his head YOU see
that he has a deep cash over his eye. He
Is little pale. but lac does not even whim-
per, for he has been through it all before.
and knows what mlist be- must be.
Now, when | was a little boy" says the
surgeon, taking the boy hrtween his knees
and looking down into the young eyes,
you should have seen the cut had. That
was cut, and he rattlos along with his
cheerful talk, all the while his skillful
fingers fitting around that wound until
he leans back, gives half sigh and says.
You needn't come till next Monday" II
IL all over before the boy knows H.
lisa busy day today, " lac says brightly,
and then, is there nyhOdy below i40s Is
there Anybody And then yon get uut
and walk through into the open air which
Is sweet and pure and refreshing. But
something seems 10 follow you. II Is the
odur of earbolic acid and ioloiorm. and II
sends n dizzying sensation through your
brain 20 that out Ia the street, wherO
wheels are pounding on the pavements and
men are pushing and hurrying, you can
almost hear it-that monotonous. never
ending rs there anybody UNDER
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