The united opinion. [volume] (Bradford, Vt.) 1881-1970, 1896-04-24
Marvel in Surgery.

EDITOR OF OPINION,
Dear S5r:-Wlll you please lend a
column of your excellent paper to the
following article published in a recent
issue of the Evanston (Ill.) Press?
Captain Munn's childhood and five
or six years of his later life were
passed in Orange County, where he
was highly esteemed for his fine natu-
raj abilities and generous impulses,
and his many friends here will be glad
to know that the cause of so many
years suffering has at last been removed, 3,
though little too early to add to the
lustre of the name of the inventor of
the X rays.
Respectfully,
NJ L. M. T.
As announced in a recent issue of The
Press marvellous surgical operation was
performed by which canister ball was
removed from the head of County Commits
sioner James M. Mum, of 2014 Park
Place. AS some have doubted the fact,
The Times inserted diagram of the ball
extracted and gave the following history of
the wound:
On Saturday, Feb. Is, 1862, Captain
Mum, of Company d, 7th Illinois Infantry,
in the charge at Fort Donelson was wound
ed in the head by a ball from a she'll and
left for dead. The following Monday he
was discovered, and being yet alive, was
removed to the hospital and was there iden-
tilted by Dr. Davis, chaplain of the regi-
ment. The wound was probed, but no
ball could be found. A few days later he
was removed to the hospital at Cairo. The
ball had entered the head between the eyes,
and though there was no mark of its exit,
the surgeons failing to find the ball after
repeated probing believed it had passed
down through the roof of the mouth
From that eventful day Mr.. Mum was a
| sufferer from that wound. Frequent in
| f1ammation indicated that there was some
itain9 "tcag, bat 'as pieces of bone
occusronaity came through the mouth, the
physicians attributed the Inflammation to
fractured or Splintered bone, the result of
the old wound. Thus, for more than
thrtythree years Mr.. Mum carried in his
head the iron missile received at Fort
Donelson in 1852 The sight of one eye
was lost by the wound, and for thirty-three
years he had been unable to breathe
through his nose.
Mr.. Mum constantly insisted that the
ball was still lodged in his head, and upon
three different occasions had arranged for
an operation 10 ascertain the exact loca-
ton of the unwelc0me intruder, but some
untoWard circumstances prevented. In
November last Mr.. Mum, unable to longer
endure the presence of foreign substance
which was an enemy to bis happiness and
health, determined to have what he beiev-
ed to be ball removed. Physicians who
examined him declared what he regarded
as bail was but grstly formation back
of the nose occaSioned by the wound of
1852.
November 20, 1895, he went to the Post
Surgeons hospital, on West Harrison
street, Chicago, and at once submitted to
an operation.
DR.. }. b. Murphy assisted by DR.. N. S.
Davis and DR.. Hardy, laid opeu the side
of the nose, and to the aStonishment of all
an iron ball was disclosed to view. The
ball had evidently during its long lodg-
ment in the head gradually worked for
ward so that it was but little removed from
the place of entrance. The skilled surgeon
with forcepS speedily extracted the mis-
Sile which upon examination proved to be
a canister ball nearly TOUR inches in cir
cumterence. During the thirty-three years
and nine months Mr.. Mum was a patient
sufferer, uttering no complaint. He rallied
from the operation so rapidly taht in one
week he w.sS able to return to his home.
Now in better cOnuItion than he has been
for thirty years and feeling like new
man he has entered the race for reelection
as county commissioner.
The remarkable circumstance that a
man could not only survive such wound,
but that he should carry about in his
head for more than third of a century
such weight seems hardly credible. but
the betteTed condition of Captaid Mum
with his SCARED face and the evidence of
the surgeons place this fact as marvel in
medical science.
The ball weighs three and one third
ounces A statement soon to appear in
medical journals will be an attestatiOn of
the fact.