Delaware gazette and state journal. (Wilmington, Del.) 1883-1902, 1893-08-10
mrs PHANTOM LEG.
AmpuLated Long Ago, Gives Its Former
Owner Pninful SonsatiOns.

Amputated Long Ago, Gives Its Former
owner Painful Sensations.
have been requested by many friends
to note for publication some OF the nerve
phenomena characteri2ing the sensations
have suffered from my amputated
limb, says writer in the Muscatine
Qa.) NeDs.
For years past have heard and read
of similar sufferings Of soldiers and
others who had lost leg, foot or hand,
and have known of the superstition in
respect to these sensations being due TO
the burial of the lost member in a
crampied condition, and the sensations
ceasing upon the limb being relaid in a
natural position, so that was not
wholly unprepared for what have to
relate. But no previous warning or IN
formation can give to one any antlcipa-
ton of the strange, ghostly, but terribly
substantial, pains which arc so ire
quently the sequel to amputations.
There is little heed to be paid to aught
but the pain of what are called the surgi-
cal and nervous shocks following thigh
amputation. 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 con-
sclous of my leg not having been dis
severed 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 natural
as its fellow. The pain in nearly all its
members would have sufficed to make IT
realize itself to me, but | found l could
raise it from the bed, work its foot,
articulate its toes, and gently move it
from one place to another. 1t began to
be intensely painful, and soon COM
manded my whole attention. From that
time to this, about three weeks it has
caused the only suffering l have en-
dured. The wound itself has been free
from pain and the rest of my body in a
fair normal condition, while my appe-
tite has been fair and my spirits COM
paratively cheerful. But let no one
make the mistake, by my saying that
these nervous emotions have been my
"onlv" sufferings, of supposing that
they have consequently been slight On
the contrary, had | been stretched night
and day on the storied rack of the in.
QUESTION, my torture could not have
| DbGu STBHbels lldt DdhtO ouAtoiSN
similar amputation, he could have
added pictures surprising anything tt
= be found in his "lnferno." And yet, al
/ have said to myself, and sometime
} out loud, hundred times, there is abso
lutely nothing there, and all these tor
lures occur where nothing eXistsl
The reader will be curious to know
4 the kind and method of these tortures
!. They partake Of every kind which thu
: spirit of cruelty could devise. At times
S stream of fire courses down the cal
:, with violence that tears the flesh open
i then it wreathes its flames about tn
II ankle and heel and makes its escape b
e deep grooves along the foot TO the toe:
This changes to the limb being held i
C terrible wise of jagged wood, q
Z torturous clamps are put on the ankl
n and heel until they seem crushed a
u out of form. Small balls of fire al
l. pressed against the hollow of the fot
h and appear to be burning themselvt
Ie through. The toes are twisted as by
l. sharp wrench, and to vary the pain
l. keen knife proceeds to slit open the ba
4 of each toe One of the most excrucla
&c ing tortures consists in binding foe
~ ankle and leg with innumerable corr
20 and strings attached to the toes al
IN then drawing tension on them tn
Is threatens to disjoint every member.
| sit writing these cords are on and n
e. foot seems drawn nearly to the seat.
nd have lain in bed for hours watchil
ed these varying tortures and wonder
an what devilish appliances would col
at next. These sensations are not 80 vi
re lently severe as the surgical and nj
Nv vous shock, but the latter are of nome
de tary endurance, and one has the sat
he faction of knowing what they mea
ne while the other sensations are consta
he and are yelled in mystery.
Ca Surgical science calls these sensatio
the effect of NERVE habit" but l
DIR. Little he would find some otl
definition if he once had them. l he
wondered at tunes if this phantom
his so aflame with feeling, might not be
de part of the spirit body which Swed,
ton borg taught existed within the physi
frame. If there be such a body
as course it could not be dismembered, a
,us would remain intact in spite of o
90 physical amputation. Being connec
with its discovered physical limb
,on would probably be subject to pain, 3
~, all the greater and more acute beca
as of its finer material. When the wor
m. had completely healed the spirit Ii
" would feel no painful sensations, VIII
agrees with what the doctor tells
IN, ine and after such headings these sensati
~ will disappear.
n asked the doctor what under the
W they meant, and he sharply answe
that had no business to be SO nerve
the and have to confess that there
TO grounds for his insinuation, but the
llar swer is not satisfactory.
ong As walk on my crutches | feel
ton amputated knee bending under me
the foot extending out behind.
hat | could dispense with my astral Ii
'Om with infinite zest.