The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1895-08-29


was an inquest at the time, but this paper
whieh might have thrown light upon the
tragedy which the coroner's Jury found 10
be accidental death" was not discovered
then, and, indeed. It laid in It's envelope
many months unopened in the mail box OF
the medical man referred TO. who was
away IN attendance on the international
congress In Rome. and who afterward ex-
tended his travels.
MY Dears Friend and Preceptor: The
horror and remorse which overcame me
this afternoon when again saw the poor
match girl, Mary Lindsay, in the street
car. seem to weigh upon me tonight more
heavily than ever. Not even the cause OF
science, for which do not hesitate 70 at
tempt startling experiment, and in which
l was almost completely successful, may
ever profit by my experience. unless you
see Mt TO make this public at some time
when its authorship can no longer be con-
nected with any sudden death. But the cir
cumstances by which I was led to attempt
what mad hitherto been regarded as an i'm
possible feat of surgery. and the strange
consequences OF my audacity. may. when
discreety diVulged by you, serve as a
warning to my fellow investigators.
You remember my pet chimpanzee. and
how 1 shed tears. 20 your intense amuse-
ment, when poor Bob was buried. You
thought threw him out to be hauled away
street refuse. But his skeleton. neatly ar
ticulated by his masters hand, Is in sight
as l write these last words to you. 1
couldn't bear TO part with him, so 1 head
ed him up in barrel of quicklime in the
closet back of the college dissecting room.
and then boiled his bones until they were
as clean as the paper l write on. For Bob
and L owned between us a secret, a terri
BILE secret, of which you are henceforth
the only other witness. If you come here,
as / should like you to do, and get Bobs
skeleton, you will find missing a section
of the parietal bore.
His skull wa mutilated by design, not
accident, and ii as that thought which even
now cuts me most deeply. Bob and had
been chums ever since bought him from
a Congo trader down on a South street
wharf. He was little beggar then, but
quite like a little man." we used to say.
When i got to drinking laudanum ] got
to giving 1t to Bob, for fun, and when
cut into the poor beasts brain, as / fondly
imagined, in the interests of science, he
was on my table clean supplied from a
dose l had wantonly persuaded him TO
take.
I'VE had been talking brain grating at
the clinic, W-n. SIS. and l, and were
just about TO put away our working
clothes and go home when there came a
knock at the door, and without waiting to
be asked, in walked Mary, the match girl
You know she has been a familiar figure
about the college for years, and was con-
sidered a sort of privileged character. DO
you know why she has Disappeared will
tell you. W-n and SIS had already taken
off their aprons and were discussing how
we should get Bob home, when Mary, who
had advanced toward us with her basket
on her arm. suddenly saw him lying across
the operating table. and sprang backward
with an exclamation of fright.
ut was her hrst-and last view of Bob.
AS she jumped back her feet struck
against the table leg and she fell sprawling
toward the stationary iron washstand. AS
she lay motionless, we ran to help her,
and picked her up. But she seemed quite
limp, and, when we lighted the gas. we
found blood on our hands Her head had
come in contact with the edge of the stand
and a compound fracture of the parietal
bones of the skull was the result The
force of the blow having been so severe
as TO depress the fractured bone TO an
alarming extent.
We laid her on the table and set to work
at once to raise and cut away the de-
pressed bone. A button Of the brain sub
stance followed the trephine, protruding
from the opening and showing such con-
gestion that we hastily cut away a larger
area of the bone and found that the brain
itself had been injured severely and one or
two of the upper parietal convolutlons
were bleeding. We had more on our hands
now than we had ever dreamed. but we
couldn't stop; there was no time to call
for assistance. A jagged piece of bone had
almost severed a considerable portion OF
that conformation which controls the mo-
tor nerves of the right side. ! proposed
we cut the injured portion of the brain
away and nobody dared oppose the auda-
ciOus suggestion.
Like a flash, as we bent over the girls
unconscious form, 1t came to my mind that
/ now had at hand the long coveted OPP
portunity to try a brain graft. Where
was the other subject? Why, Bob,
stretched there himself unconscious ready
for the sacrifice. / left the two others
bending over Mary, cleansing the wound
and preparing the sutures, and almost as
quick as had come the thought followed
the deed. / opened Bob's skull, and, laying
bare that portion of his brain correspond
ing removed by few deft strokes enough
to replace what had been cut away from
the brain of the match girl
my brain was on fire with the craze to
try q great surgical experiment. Hot from
the skull of the chimpanzee the severed
brain matter was skillfully placed In posi-
ton in the skull of the girl, and when, in
half an hour, a plate had been superim-
posed and the scalp replaced and seWed
over the drainage tub the girl positively
seemed to be at ease. 1t wasn't any trou-
bic 10 have her removed across the street
to the hospital. And when we said she had
fallen and hurt her head, and that we had
dressed the wound. there was nobody to
ask any awkward question. SIS and W-n
took turns about visiting her ward for
a while, but there never seemed to be any
obstacle to her speedy recovery She WAS
out or the street again in two months.
One day when she was well enough to talk
/ noticed as l stood with W-n by her cot
that she raised her right arm toward her
mouth and rolled her eyes slightly. as II in
mockery of a gesture Of WINS. You
know he has a slight attack of st. Vitus'
dance at times lie didn't notice it, but
did; and was thrilled with an awful In
terest as ] remembered-Bob!
After that watched with morbid eager
ness for a temperance of this symp-'
tom. 1t never failed to show Itself. When
no one else was present ] permitted her.
she. poor thing all the time unconscious
to initiate my gestures as she cnose. The
nurse whispered to me that she thought
moor Mary would never be herself again"
She thought she was crazy.
But when Mary did begin to talk at last,
che conversed nationally II was only when