Elmore bulletin. [volume] (Rocky Bar, Idaho) 1889-1906, 1894-07-14
A NEWSPAPER YARN.
DECEIVED MEDICAL AUTHORITIES ALL
OVER THE WORLD.


Of It's Absuraity IL was widely Copied. |
Discussed. Denounced and Honestly |
creditca--.A Bis Hosx.
II has been q favorits pastime OF mine
for years 10 study popular fallacies and 10
make calculations M Go the percentage Of
scccptances therenf by people of everyday
common sense. II II as astonishing as IL
b interesting when you come 20 figure II
out how n statement. plausibly put and
leavened with just enough fact to give Il
life. win be swallowed without question
| by men who slsxsald refuse 10 accept bald
assertions as fact by the very logic Of their
positions. l mean by this that bit Of In
genious sophistry should not convince a
iogiclan. A problem false In Its PROPOSE
tion should not confuse mathematician,
and, TO come to the concrete and more
practical, the description Of a surgical
operation that never did and never could
take place ought not TO deceive an snat-
omist and surgeon Let me illustrate this
point hrst.
cannot recall the precise date, but II
was IN the latter part Of 1881 or early In
| 1882 that a New York new spaper con-
| tained AN article describing n most re
markahle operation In cranial surgery.
| which, il was alleged, had been performed
by Philadelphia physician upon his man
servant. The operation was not one of ne
cessity nor OF expcdience--it was made
simply to satisfy the operator by ocular
demonstration that the functions of the
motor and sensory centers were independ-
ent, or, more specifically speaking, that
the motor could exist ard act without the
presence of the entire sensory system. To
demonstrate this our experimental friend
n. 81
a few ounces OF his brains. He was placed
under ether, and after flap of scalp had
been thrown hack a circular incision was
made in the right and left parietal region
Of the skull The pieces Of bone cut out by
the trephine were placed In an aDtiseptic
liquor, n surgical spoon was introduced,
first into one cavity and then into the
other, and the operator removed from each
side about an ounce of brain from the con-
voiutionS which his researches led him TO
believe governed the seat Of cerebral nc
tiyity The bony lids were replaced over
each circular opening, the scalp flaps put
back, and the patient was ready for bed,
i where he remained for several days appar-
entity obliyious to his surroundings. All
the involuntary functions of the body pro-
ceeded as before. and when the man had
sufficiently recovered from physical shock
he was put ON his feet.
He could not maintain his equilibrium
In stationary posture. but when started
walking would continue the motion Of
legs and feet until he brought up against
AN obstruction that hindered farther prog
ress. The physician congratulated him
self on the nicety of his measurements and
calculations, hut as time went on he real
ized that while he had committed no crime
for which the statute books provided a
penalty he was nevertheless, TO ell intents
and purposes. murderer. He had not ex-
| singnished the spark we call life, but he
had destroyed the ego. or. II the term
might he employed, he had committed
mental homicide. The story went on tn
tell how the victim was eventually placed
In an asylum for the insane, where he was
regarded as congenital idiot and so en-
tered on the books of the institution. His
master, 1t was said, brooded 20 such an
extent that he eventually died OF remorse,
leaving behind him history OF the opera
tion and it's melancholy result, and from
this posthumous paper the story was writ
: ten.
I Il 50 happened that was an intimate
friend of the author OF the queer yarn, and
he was anxious 10 learn whether the scien-
! tiflc world would give even a contemptu.
Gus denunciation to it. With that purposs
/ in view he marked the article In Is or q
papers. These he mailed to various med
. icai journals and scientific societies both In
Europe and America. I'll confess surpriss
{ when some three weeks later | saw an Ed
: inburgh periodical take up the subject
| accept it as n fact and criticise the physi
: clan in the severest terms for having dared
r TO trife with the human brain when ther'
i was no necessity and where there could b
but one result
!, The grayest apprehension was enter
! tained for any medical society that wouls
: permit its membership roll to bs disgracet
{ with the name Of any practitioner who IN
: a mistaken devotion 10 science could for
Y get that be wan a man and the member o
!. profession whose mission was not to de
! stroy, but to build up. not 10 add TO tn
weight of human woe, but TO take from II
To clinch the argument 10 was shown tina
an operation ON one of the lower animal
Q would have been of quail value TO deter
= mine the exact seat of certain cerebrxl
o functions as though made ON a human he
= ing.
n One or two western newspapers repro
tuced the article without comment, and
Melbourne weekly, copying from one Q
these, said In footnote that II was nj
!, ''audacions act that none but Yankee sur
gcon, regardless OF criticism or results
g would undertake. In none OF these pub
y iications was there any challenge OF th
p veracity OF the statement per Sc As
q matter OF fact. the only basis OF truth fo
10 the publication was the fact that a med
n ical student, who had strong prediction
n for the study OF nervous. diseases, ha
!. evolved n theory that condition like tina
8 described might be produced by such a
operation. lie did not place his thought
2 In the assumptive future but In the n
q snmptive past, and his written reoor
10 made II appear that a surgeon had actual
10 iy found a man fool enough to permit him
IL self 10 be deprived Of bis senses completed
IL without reward and without hope Of N
: covery.
From this the story was woven, wit
= nich ingenuity as "a completely cloak th
y vital point--yiz. that In 10000 men
n would be impossible 10 find one, even
u weary OF life, who would be willing 10 NJ
y dergo such = transition even for a previou
reward Of temporal comforts. This parti,
ular fallacy II nnc that would possibly |
maintained by the thoughtful more tina
by the thoughtless.--Ne York Mail an
- Express.
Q, Couldn't Fool Him.
K Waiter lto party from the country, iul