Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1894-02-19
a NEWSPAPER YARN.
DECEIVED MEDICAL AuTHoR ITlEs ALL
OVER THE WORLD.

4 Mental Hsnlesds ne ssh3ect-Ia spite
u III Abssrdity Il was Widely Copied,
Disssassd, Dsssusesa and Honestly
CrsAlted-A Blg Hoax.
It has been . favorite pastime Of mine
for years to study popular fallacies and to
make calculations az to the percentage OF
acceptances thereof by peopee Of everyday
common sense. II Is as astonishing AZ it
IL interesting when yon come to figure it
out how statement, plausibly put and
leavened with just enough fact to give it
life, will be swallowed without question
by men who should refuse to accept bald
assertions as fact by the very logic Of their
positions. mean by this that bit OF in
genious sophistry should not convince
logician. A problem false in its PROPOSE
tion should not confuse mathematician,
and, to come to the concrete and more
practical, the description OF = surgical
operation that never did and never could
take place ought not to deceive an anat-
omist and surgeon. Let me illustrate this
point first.
cannot recall the precise date, but It
was in the latter part Of 1881 or early In
1882 that a New York newspaper con-
tanned an article describing n most re-
narkable operation in cranial surgery,
which, it was alleged, had been performed
by n Philadelphia physician upon his man
servant Tho operation was not one OF ne
cessity nor of expedience--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 and net without the
presence OF the entire sensOry system. 10
demonstrate this our experimental friend
induced his faithful servitor to surrender
4 few ounces OF his brains. He was placed
under ether, and after a flap OF scalp had
been thrown back circular incision was
made in the right and left parietal region
Of the skull. The pieces Of bone cut out by
the trephine were plnced in an antiscpt'c
LIQUOR, a 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-
yolutiops which his researches led him to
believe governed the seat OF cerebral nc
tivity The bony lids were replaced over
each circular opening, the scalp flaps put
back, and the patient was ready for bed,
where he remained for several days appar-
emily oblivious to his surroundings. All
the involuntary functions OF the body pro-
ceeded rs 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
mn obstruction that hindered farther prog
ress. The physician congratulated him
self on the nicely of his measurements and
calculations, hut as time went on he real
ICED TINT while he had committed no crime
for which the statute books provided n
penalty he was nevertheless, to all intents
and purposes, murderer. He had not ex-
tinguished the spark we call life, but he
had destroyed the ego, or, IL the term
might be employed, he had committed
mental homicide. The story went on to
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
muster, it was said, brooded to such an
extent that he eventually died of remorse,
leaving behind him a history of the opera
tion and its melancholy result, and from
this posthumous paper the story was writ
ten.
IL so happened that was an intimate
friend OF the author OF the queer yarn, ana
he was anxious to learn whether the scien-
tiiic world would give even contemptu-
Gus dcnunciation to IT. With that purpose
in view he marked the article IN 10 or ~
papers. These he mailed to various med
ical journals and scientific societies both IN
Europe and America. III confess surprise
when some three weeks later saw an Ed
fnbnrgh periodical take up the subject,
accept it as fact and criticlse the physi-
clan in the severest terms for having dared
TO trifle with the human brain when there
was no necessity and where there could be
but one result.
The gravcst apprehension was enter
tanned for any medical society that would
permit its membership roll to be dsgraced
with the name Of any practitioner who in
mistaken devotion to science could for
get that he was man and the member of
profession whose mission was not to de-
stroy, but to build up. not to add to the
weight of human woe, but to take from it.
10 clinch the argument It twas shown that
an operation on one of the lower animals
would have been of cqual value to deter
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