Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1896-05-29
WANTED.

our surgery upon stretcher, was fright
fully injured. That was evident at a
glance.
He was passenger by a ship just ar
rived from the Cape, and while prepaf-
ing to come ashore heavy box, swung
aloft by the vessels crane, had slipped
and fallen on him.
Jim Clifford and I were partners in
an east end practice, close to the docks.
His blood soaked clothing bore no
marks which could lead to his identifi
cation.
No limbs were broken, but the neck
and shoulder were fearfully lacerated,
and one side of the face was dreadfully
mangled. It was not until late the fol-
lowing evening that he seemed to recov-
er his Senses and then Of course he was
too weak to converse.
Jim was strongly in favor OF his re-
moval, as soon as practicable, to the
nearest hospital. The sick man must
have overheard our conversation, for he
signed feebly to my colleague to stoop
down.
'tNot to the hospital, for heavens
sake!' whispered the poor fellow.
Anywhere but there Stay here-no
friends-soon be better!" he gasped
painfully.
Neither Of us had the heart to remove
our patient against his will, though his
stay involved one of us being constantly
in the house and the services of a male
attendant as well.
Days and weeks slipped by, and,
though our patient lowered between life
and death more than once, he continued
to stay with us and to engross more or
less of our attention.
The singular thing was that apparent
ly the patient was without relatives or
friends in this countrywide not know
a soul in London. So he told us, bit by
bit, adding that his name was Octave
Henry, and that he had been in South
Africa for many years. A couple of rude
sea chests, sent up from the ship, con-
tanned all his belongings.
"I'll tell you what it is, - said Jim
in his own emphatic way as we sat to-
gether in our snuggery one night, "I'll
tell you what it is, Fraser, our friend
up stairs will slip through our fingers
after all if we don't lock out. There's
brain mischief setting in from some
splintered bone, and unless we can do
something to remove the brain pressure
well, goodby to his chance Of life!"
Our patient willingly gave his con-
sent to the operation. and the whole af
fair was arranged and carried out with
in a week.
Recovery from the operation Of ire
panning is always tardy. In the case Of
the man Henry, with his already shat
tered physique, it was more than usual
~ protracted.
One morning I remember well. Cliff
ford and I were by the bedside. The
patient, for the time being. had revived
sufficiently to show himself conscious Of
our presence and feebly to sign his
wants.
But there was something about the
appearance Of his eyes that morning
which struck me as being unusual, a
curious. preoccupied look. When Jim
and had left him to the care of his at
4endant, / remarked upon this symptom.
f'You noticed it, then?" answered
Jim snoodily. II thought you would.
All, but that is only one aspect of the
case, not the most serious either!"
Here he broke off abruptly. I waited,
swithou5 speaking, till he began once
more:
Ibid you ever study the subject of
sense transference?''
I confessed that I had not done &C to
amy great extent.
sit begins to occur to me,'' continued
Jim, that that is what we have TO deal
with in the case-iaothing more Or less.
However it has happened, one thing is
very plain to me-that the sense of heas-
ing III this case is not absolutely destroy
ed, but, as I may put it, diverted into
she optic region--grafted, as it were,
into the sense Of sight.
''But is such a thing possiblef'' I ex-
claimed anxiously.
eyes, theoretically it is, returned
my partner gravely, "but practically DO
example Of it has yet occurred in the
case-that is. of a human being. can
only guess that IN the present instance
purely accidental causes have led up to
1t. But the fact remains tIlat, as have
gust said, the man now sees-aetually
sees, remembeG-thatw which, in ordinary
circumstances, he would have heard
My colleagues diagnosis proved to be
true, as we soon found. Little by 14ttls.
as consciousness returned, it became
painfully evident that the patients
senses had become what may call, for
syant of better word, entangled.
With what startling yigidness such
sensations thus took bodily shape before
him we could only snrmise from his ex-
cited manner. Sensitive to an extraor-
binary degree to every breath, every
whisper around him, his staring eyebalis
too plainly showed how tbs faculty Of
vision was exalted, in his case, to pre-
ternatural extent
please. sir" said a maidservant at
the door; ''please sir, DR.. Clifford
wants you up stairs at once -
Clifford and the attendant were hold
ing down the patient by main force
upon the bed. Hewas struggling to rise,
and the expression Of his face was one
Of terror. His eyes seemed as if start
ing from their sockets,
Something has induced a violent
paroxyEm, - whispered Jim. 'He can t
last long il it continues. -
The sick man sank back on his pill
lows. His lips moved. By STOPPING over
him I could catch some of his words.
''They are coming coming now," he
gasped, lever so far away. but I can
see them! Something moves before them
something dark can't make it out!
Something about to break! VIII it save
poor Octave? Will it,
'Visibly worse, % said Clifford aside
to me, "and the pulse abnormally high.
If this goes on, he will be in high
fever before long"
It was breathless summer evening,
but the sky was overcast with murky
clouds, foreboding tempest. The room
already grew dark with the shadow Of
~ u..s.--