The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1895-07-21
A BLIND SURGEON.

He Performs Delicate and Dance
Gus Operations With Nerve and
skill.
Boston Correspondence Hartford Timss
When DR.. James R. Cooke of l3s Hum.
ington avenue was two months old bott
Of his eyes were ruined by a blunderi-.
doctor, who administered the wrong mel
icine. Since then he has been totsll,.
blind. He is now 80 years Of age, and he
is consulted in dificult cases by the mos.
eminent Of the regular physicians %
Boston. He has performed the presan.
week two very difficult and delicate
surgical operations, and in both cases -
patients are doing well. He locates -
disease by his sensitive touch, and 10
tells the colors of goods in the sa-,.
way, singular as it may appear. A la5v
who had eight or ten samples of dreSs
goods, each about three inches scuars
and OF different colors and shades of col
ors, handed them to DR.. Cooke the o7be-
day, and he at once told accurately tba
color and even the shade of color OF each
and selected the samples of best quality
When handed several national bank ana
government currency bills. he AT on
told the denomination Of each, and the
eolcr, whether green or black. He tens
the complexion Of a person by TOUCHING
the skin. 1t is difficult to believe that a
blind man could do this. but he is seen tn
do it, and accurately, too.
DR.. Cooke went among Buffalo Piirs
Indians the other day and designated
their character by their voices, smoker
in the Indian dialect. He has three diplo-
mas from colleges in this and foreign
countries, and four certificates of com
mendation from Institutions where he has
taken special courses of study. He went
through a course of study under the
famous Weir Mitchell.
Before DR.. Cooke was p years of age. bs
was employed by large tobacco house to
select the raw tobacco for them He never
failed in getting the best quality and tbs
most desirable colOr-all by the touch
From this source he earned over 81 an
which paid his expenses at a university in
Tennessee, where he stood at the head NJ
his class. From the Tennessee university
he entered a medical school, where bs
was Ito the fore all through the class. Ha
has taken special studies in FIVE other in
situations, a part of them in Europe To at
tain all that this remarkable man has ac-
complished in the higher classics and pro-
fessional studies of the college, required a
large and firmly knit brain, perseverance
and self-reliance to an unusual degree
The two women patients that he oper-
ated upon last week are both doing well
In one case a large tumor was removed:
the other was a still more difficult and deli
cate case. When lifting out the tumor DR..
Cooke found that he had twenty for.
ceps holding veins and arteries He tied
blood vessels quickly and removed the for
ceps. He takes up and ties several arter-
les in difficult cases more rapidly than any
of the clear-seeing surgeons. He has no
idea of the appearance of the iaOon and
planets and stars, nor of the sun; and
night and day are all the same to him, ex-
cept that the stiffness of the night does
not escape his attention. He is a hard
worker and uniagging student He has
typewriter, to whom he dictates. His wife
writes medical prescriptions in Latin.