The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1897-12-23
THE HEROIsM OF PHYSICIANS.
Many Sacrifice Their Lives For Hu-
mainly.


mainly.
From the New York Advertiser.
Most of the heroic deeds of physicians
must go unchronicled. The heroic deeds
of other men flash forth intermittently.
but the physician pursues his way quietly.
rlsklng his life for the benefit of human
ity. The general on the battlefield dis
misses the loss of life as an accident of
war. The physician counts each life pre-
cious, and to save it he makes great sac
rifces.
FIFTY years ago it was not uncommon
Tor physicians to ride horseback fifty and
one hundred miles through cold and snow
to attend patients. That was taken as
matter of course, and, though it called
Tor superior courage and self-sacriice.
those men went unf1inchingly The medi-
cine and instruments they carried in sad
die bags DR.. Mcdowell, the discoverer
OF oVarotomy, was called to attend a pa-
tient who lived 100 miles from his home
IN Danville. The streams were swollen
beyond their banks. The physician's wife
toresaw the danger and impored him not
to go. He was resolute however. and set
out through the wilderness. He had ridden
about forty miles when he came to a
stream overlooking its banks and filled
with driftwood. He hesitated for a mo-
ment and then threw the bride over the
horses head and the animal plunged into
the torrent. A heavy sawlog struck the
horse, almost causing it TO drown The
animal managed TO swim to the opposite
shore. The physician arrived a his desti-
nation finally, performed an operation and
saved life that hung in the Balance.
The story of DR.. McDowelIs discovery
Of axr arfs. t<.V,,
in medical history. Physicians love to
talk Of it as an. achievement which re-
fleets glory on their profession.
On Dec 49, 1909, DR.. Mcdowell was sent
for to visit Mrs. Crawford living in Green
county, sixty miles from Danville Upon
his arrival he found the woman's condi-
ton critical He informed her of the op-
Grafton he wished to perform, of its naz-
ardous nature, and of the fact that the
operation had never been attempted be-
fore. With Spartanike courage, she told
him to proceed Anaesthesia had not been
discovered, and the only provision made
was cloth thrown over Mrs. Crawford's
eyes to shut out the flashing of the in
strumeuts. While the doctor was perform
ing the operation d crowd of Infatuated
men gathered in front of the house. NUT
tering threats against the inhuman wretch
who was "butcherng a woman" The re-
suit of that operation has been to save the
1VeS OF more imam lU1UUU women.
In the College of Physicians and Sur
geons a tablet inscribed with the words
"Haec mea ornamental sunt" bears the
names of Gorham Beaes, William w
Calhoon, Henry w. Curtis, Horato w.
Gridley, Henry w. Porter, Lefray Raven
hill, John Snowden, Francis Bullock, Fran
els p. Cation, Enoch Green, Elihu T.
Hedges, A. Judson Rand, David SeIigman
and Sydney B. Worth.
During the typhus pestlence of 1851
when death held high carnival in the hos
pital wards, those men died while minis
tering to the sick. 1t was known to be
almost certain death to go into the wards
and yet as soon as one physician fell an
other stepped forward to fill his place.
John M. Rhinelander graduated from CO.
lumbia College in 1911, and from the Col
lege of Physicians and Surgeons in 1924
In 1882, while the cholera was raging in
Canada, he was sent to investigate its ma
ture and the method of it's cure He was
in imminent danger of his life, but went
without flinehing. He returned and was
the means of saving many lives during
the cholera plague in this city. AT that
time the city extended only 10 Prince
street (Comboldt's Garden), but 500 cases
of cholera and Ill deaths were reported
in one day. The heroism of New Yorks
practitioners at that time can never be
chronicled. Every day saw sacrifices and
every hour saw the physicians going
calmly to what seemed sure death
DR.. Isefray RaVenhill, 26 years old, who
had graduated from Columbia at the head
had graduated from Columbia at the head
of his class, was another victim of the
tvDhus fever. He contracted it in Belle
vue, which was then the Almshouse hospl-
tai. DR.. Benjamin Dewitt, the vice pres
ident of the College of Physicians and
Surgeons, to whose eXertions the college
owed a grant of $4,000 from the legisla-
ture became the port physician. During
the performance of his duties he contract
ed yellow fever and died at the age of IS
years. Richard Bailey was another New
York health officer who contracted a pes
tilential disease and died in the discharge
of his duty.
1t is related of DR.. James r. Wood that
while driving TO his home he saw a man
who had been slashed and left bleeding on
the sidewalk He alghted hastily and
performed a difficult surgical operation
which was necessary to save the mans
life, while the gathering crowd denounced
him as a butcher. one man threatened
TO have him arrested. When he had fin
ished the operation he drew card from
from his pocket and handed it to by
stander, saying that the police could find
him readily. Then he got into his vehicle
and drove home.
The achievement of Or. Valentine Mott
will go down In history. While performing
an operation for the cure of apuerism he
discovered that the trouble was nearer the
heart than he had anticipated. He per-
formed successfully the experiment of ty-
ing the large artery OF the heart, consid-
cred by physicians one Of the boldest ef-
forts of surgery. DR. Valentine Seaman
who introduced vaccination into New York
city against strong prejudice and opposi-
ton. experimental on his son, notwith-
standing the statements that had been
made that the virus was a virulent poison.