The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1894-01-20

body, stretched upon the table, naked,
and living in the light of the lantern,
was that of q man suddenly struck by
tnifcently formed, of tall, commanding
stature, and with round and well-de-
veloped muscles. he would have been a
model for an artist.
There was profound silence
in the room as the doctor began his
preparations to open the body.
This" he said, carefully adjusting
the instrument to the neck of the corpse,
'the point at which we shall begin the
examination, is the oesophagus, or
gullet, the pipe that supplies the wind
to the lungs" and with short, swift
turn of the wrist, the doctor buried the
scalpel deeply. AS the instrument sank
into the flesh the man started up, his
pale face violently contracted. His eyes,
opening again and again, fixed them
selves upon US with strange and
untranslatable looks, a hoarse and
strangled cry forcing itself from the
purple lips. At this horrible sight, The
doctor became as pale as death, then as
red as fame With sudden, rapid
movement OF the scalpel, using all his
strength, he opened the breast of the
man from windpipe to diaphragm. At
the same time, in voice made hrm by
q prodigious effort of will, he said to his
pupils: "Give me your attention
please; galvanic phenomena are OF no
importance-the lesson now begins.
All this passed in less than q second:
felt my temples covered with cold
sweat-my legs bent under me. 1 was
forced to hold to the upright OF the Ian
tern to keep myself erect. That cry
that hoarse, gasping, agonizing cry
terrified and appalled, me. raised my
eyes to Gonzales and to the rest of the
class-they also were CHASTITY with
fright-but no one spoke, no one moved,
no one dared to risk even a gesture.
They understood instinctively that the
doctor, convinced of the impossibllltY
of restoring the man after the wound
The had given him, had,taken the surest
and promptest means of finishing him.
No matter what had been the ruling
motive in this mangling OF the poor
wretch before us, humanity, philan-
thropy, self-interest, he had neverthe-
less been assassinated. What must
have been the feelings OF that physician
as, never for an instant losing his pres
ence OF mind, he forced himself to con-
tinue the lesson! He perceived, Of
course, the embarrassment of his audi
tors, distracted by memory OF that ter
| rible cry, that implorine look; yet
nothing in face or manner betrayed 1T.
After the first involuntary tremor not
a muscle quivered; his voice was never
| calmer, his sentences more generously
rounded, fluent, or eloquent.
The uneasiness was general, and at
the close of the lecture-the length of
it considerably abridged. I can tell you
we hurried them from the room, the
doctor going with US, but not without
first clipping in some clever words
about the 'sas yet unravelled mysteries
| OF SCIENCE" professional secrets" and
! ''discretion generally" as necessary a
| quality to the success of a physician. so
| the doctor stated, as knowledge OF tho
calling, itself. All the same he took
| good care not to refer to what we had
seen and heard at the opening OF the
! lecture, but he knew that we had under
stood his meaning, and read upon our
faces, as if by tacit consent, the promise
Of inviolate secrecy. = $ Well,
and we have kept it, said Gerald, lay
| ing aside his cigar and rising to leave
the room, but it is needless to say that
| 1 have never since attended dissecting
| seance. AS for Pietro Gonzalez, he is
not doctor. In the peaceful avocation
of Calabrian sheep raising, insomnia no
| longer sits upon his pillow and plaques
him with a scalpel.