The Mount Holly news. [volume] (Mount Holly, Burlington Co., N.J.) 1891-1942, 1896-05-26
WANTED.

can ugly case, !" remarked Jim to me
confdentially; "a very ugly case in
deedp'
The unconscious patient, borne into
our surgery upon a stretcher, was fright
fully injured. That was evident at
glance.
He was passenger by ship just ar
rived from the Cape, and while prepar-
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. 1t was not until late the fol-
lowing evening that he seemed to reoov-
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.
mot to the hospital, for heavens
sakep whispered the poor fellow.
Anywhere but there. Stay here-no
friends-soon be better'' he gasped
painfully.
Matthew. ~ ho6 tho hooV.k %r,1
our patient against his will, though his
stay involved one of US being constantly
in the house and the services of male
attendant as we'll
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 country-did 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, "Tll
tell you what it is, Fraser, our friend
up stairs will slip through our fingers
after all if we don't look 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 lifeP'
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
ly protracted.
One morning remember well. Cliff
ford and 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,
curious, preoccupied look. When Jim
and had left him to the care of his at
tendant, remarked upon this symptom.
"You noticed it, then?" answered
Jim modify. II thought you would
All, but that is only one aspect of the
case, not the most serious eitherp'
Here he broke off abruptly. waited,
without speaking, till he began once
more:
did you ever study the subject of
sense transference?"
/ confessed that l had not done so to
any great extent
"It begins to occur to me, continued
Jim, "that that is what we have to deal
with in the case-nothing more or less
However it has happened, one thing is
very plain to me-that the sense of hear
ing in this case is not absolutely destroy
ed, but, as l may put it, diverted into
the optic region-grafted, as it were,
into the sense of sight -
"But is such thing possible?" / ex-
claimed anxiously.
"Yes, theoretically 1t is, returned
my partner gravely, "but practically no
example of it has yet occurred in the
:ase-that is, of a human being. can
only guess that in the present instance
purely accidental causes have led up to
il. But the fact remains that, as have
just said, the man now sees-actually
sees, remember-thatw which, in ordinary
circumstances, he would have heard. -
My colleagues diagnosis proved to be
true, as we soon found Little by little,
as consciousness returned, it became
painfully evident that the patients
senses had become what may call, for
want Of better word, entangled
With what startling vividness such
sensations thus took bodily shape before
him we could only surmise from his ex-
cited manner Sensitive to an extraor-
binary degree to every breath, every
whisper around him, his staring eyeballs
too plainly showed how the faculty Of
vision was exalted, in his case, to pre-
ternatural extent
''Please, sir, said 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 He was 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 violent
paroxysm, " whispered Jim. HE can't
last long if it continues. -
The sick man sank back on his pill
lows His lips moved. By STOPPING over
him 1 could catch some of his words.
''They are COMMISSIONING now" he
gasped, lever SO far away, but 1 can
see theml Something moves before them
something dark l can't make it outl
Something about to break Will it save
poor OctaveP Will it,
''Visibly worse, said Clifford aside
to me, land the pulse abnormally high.
If this goes on, he will be in high
fever before long.
1t was a breathless summer evening,
but the sky was overcast with murky
clouds, foreboding tempest. The room
already grew dark with the shadow Of
its coming.
Suddenly there was loud knocking
at the front door. Presently heard
voices in conversation then heavy foot
steps began to ascend the stairs.