Evening star., 1896-03-21

III.
This is very doubtful DR.. Frank Hamil-
ton, who was the chief surgeon in charge
Of Garfield, said that no one SO wounded
has ever recovered The real story Of the
search for Garfield's bullet has never been
told. 1t was kept out of the newspapers,
and it is not generally known that num-
Der OF experiments were made to locate it
by electricity. The results were of no
value to Garfield, but they brought out in
ventions which have been worth rluch to
medical science. These Inventions were
made by Professor Alexander Graham Bell.
the inventor Of the telephone. 1t was he
who was gfver charge of the matter OF To-
eating the bullet by electricity, and during
a visit which I made to mis- laboratory he
showed me- the instrument which was used
1or this purpose 1t was piece of mahogany
board OF about the size and shape Of flat
iron. 1t had handle upon its top, and the
bottom of the board was covered with
green cloth.
Locating the Bullet.
THAT" said Professor Bell, rs the in
strument with which we attempted to find
the bullet in President Garfields body.
There is an electric coil inside that
board, and 1t is so made that when the
board is moved over anything in which
there is lead or other metallic substances
1t will buzz. Now, If you held a bullet in
your hand. and. having the proper electric
connections, should rub this over the back
OF your hand, you would find that the
board would make a loud buZZing noise,
ard that it would buzz the loudest when
Just over the bullet. When Garfield was
lying almost at the point of death with the
bullet in his body. a number of inventions
We're proposed for locating the exact posi-
tion OF the bullet. Several inventions were
sent here by electricians to be tried. The
mat mater OF making the experiment vas put
into my hands. l invented this balance,
and We tested 1t, but failed"
HOW did you happen to fail. Mr.. Bell"
sad l, IF the machine will locate the ex-
1stence of metal as you describe?"
Il will tell you" replied Professor Rell
We took the balance TO Garfield's bedside.
and Dr. Hamilton and myself tried it upon
PRESIDENT Garfield We moved 1t over his
pCdy. 10 our surprise, the instrument
buzZcd whenever it came near him. Ac
cord1ng TO Ii, he was full of lead, and we
gave the matter up in despair 1t worried
me exceedingly. l could not see why the
Dalance mad acted as it had. But a day or
two later, in thinking about it, 1 came to
the conclusion that there must have been
something metallic about the bed upon
which President Garfield was living in
qu1red, and found that his mattress rested
On net of steel springs. 1t was the steel
that made the machine buzz We did not
however. try it again, and the matter was
allowed to drop
he ahvent1On a Success.
ut was not long after this Mr.. Bell
continued, that 1 tested the invention
again. and this time successfully 1t was
in the case of an army officer who had
been shot in the neck. All attempts to To-
cate the bullet failed until we attempted
to do 1t by electricity. We found, through
this instrument, that the bullet lay under
one of the ribs in the chest, and took it
out. In locating the bullet we moved the
instrument up and down the mans body
until we came to the point where it buzzed
we then drew two parallel lines up and
down the chest on each side Of where the
noise occurred. We moved the balance
back and forth across these lines until it
came again to the point of buzzing where
we drew other lines at right angles to the
hrst, making square in which we
thought was the bullet. We found the ball
as soon as We probed for it, A report of
our success was published in the surgical
journals. thought that the result would
be great demand for these Instruments
l made number of them, but no one
seemed to want them, and they remained
here until the death of Dr. Frank IamiI-
ton. DR. Hamilton considered the invention
very valuable, but he died before he could
take it up. At his death his chief assistant
told me he would like to test the instru-
ment. He was connected with enc of the
large New York hospitals. I went to New
York to see him, and told him of our trou-
BILE with Garfield and warned him that
the patient must be removed from all
metallic substances while the experiment
was being made.
How an Old Soldiers Leg Was Saved.
"soon after this continued Prof Bell,
"an old soldier was brought into the hos
pital. He had a very sore leg and there
seemed to be no apparent reason for it.
The man had been shot IN the leg during
the civil war. The ball had struck his shin
bone, but it was thought to have glanced
Off The wound soon healed and for twen-
ty years the old soldier moved about on
that leg without trouble. Then one day he
stubbed his toe and the shock caused his
limb to swell. 1t soon became as big as
two legs, and the hospital surgeon said
that his life could only be saved by its
amputation. There seemed to be the
shadow Of chance that there was a bull
let in his leg. The doctors told him so, but
he insisted that there was no bullet, and
that he knew that it had glanced Off He
was told, however, that he would certainly
lose his leg II there was no bullet, and
that there might be chance of swing it
If it was found that he was mistaken. He
then consented to any experiments the doc
tors might choose to make. Well they tried
the instrument on him. The machine acted
in the same way that it did wnen it was
applied to Garfield The man was evident
ly made of lead, And the electric buzz sound
ed out whenever the machine was brought
near him. They examined the bed and
found the mattress had been fastened to
soldier to a lounge and held his leg out
from it so that it might be free from any
metal in the lounge. Still the balance
buzzed. At lasto the doctor noted that he
had gold ring on che hand that held the
instrument. THIS was taken Off and the
buzzing stopped. The instrument was then
run up and down the mans leg, and when
it came to a certain point it buzzed. The
man was now put under the influence of
ether and the flesh Of his leg was laid open
to the bone. Still there was no bullet. The
doctors then cut away a piece Of the bone,
and 10! there under the bone they found
bullet. 1t had gone in between the bones
of the leg and the bone had grown over it
so as to completely cover it. It was taken
out and the man got well.
1.-The story of this experiment was sent
to me-" continued Prof Bell st was much
pleased and 1 asked that he allowed to
have the bullet. Shortly after this Mrs.
Bell was passing through New York. She
stopped over night at one of the otels. and
while there she received little pasteboard
jewel hox marked Tiffany She thought
it was a present and opened it, and there
in the center lay the bullet"
AS Mr.. Bell said this he picked up a H.
tie bcx which lay on one of the shelves
of the laboratory. He opened 1t and there
on a little piece of cotton wool lay this
battered ball of lead, which had been car
ried by the old soldier for twenty wears
vv1fhni.f hiS kpoyyino rNha