The Wilmington daily Republican. (Wilmington, Del.) 1890-1902, 1898-01-21
NO VITAL SPOT NOW.
WOUNDS OF HEART AND BRAIN THAT
HAVE FAILED 70 KILL.

Living with Bullet Embedded In His
Hesrt-Persons Who Have Been Shot
Through Their Brains and survivsd-Ad-
vances In Treating Such Cases.
"For my own part, !" said the doctor,
with shrug, ~ would prefer not to be
shot at all, whether in the heart, head,
lungs, liver or brain, and yet have
taken note OF rSany cases recently in
which persons have sustained gunshot
wounds of supposedly fatal character
who are still alive and going about their
business.
The doctor and his companion were
passing down town museum when the
conversation took this turn. Among
the freaks pictured and caricatured in
front Of the building was man with a
ragged bullet wound torn through his
heart-whioh organ was wildly exposed
in the faring daub-while the angel of
death was lowering over him, ready to
snatch him away at any moment.
"Then," said the Doctors friend, "a
shot or stab in the heart is not neces-
sarily fatal, as it is understood by mod
ern SURGERY"
''Not at ALL" returned the doctor.
"But, of course, we are not speaking of
wounds as big and terrible as the one
in that museum picture. That is appar-
emily even worse than the thrust re-
ceived by Mercutio-looks about as deep
as well and as wide as church door.
No man who has been wounded like
that ever survives more than minute.
"That man In the museum is alleged
to be Charles B. Nelson, who was mys.
teriously shot one evening while in the
company Of Mrs. Edith Marguerite Sta
pies in Washington park. The shooting
occurred on a night five months ago,
and the man with an ounce OF lead in
his heart IL still alive. Whether he
sleeps well and has good appetite I
am unable to say. He was formerly
cyclist Of some note. Nelson's breast
was subjected to the x rays, and, &C.
cording to sciographs which were made
at the time. the bullet lodged in the
septum Of the heart-the fourfold par
tition Of muscular fiber that divides the
interior Of that organ into right and left
auricles and ventricles. There it has
continued to throb up and down about
100000 times day ever since that mys-
FERROUS shooting, and at every pulsation
refuting the old theory Of medical sci
ence that the touch Of hostile metal to
mans heart brings death.
1.-THE most skillful and daring sur.
geon on earth, if he were asked to re-
move the bullet from Nelson's heart,
would shake his head in the negative.
So this man must carry his leaden ham
dicap as long as life shall last. Seems
strange, doesn't it?
And yet, Notwithstanding what I
have said, we have surgeons nowadays
who do undertake and carry to sue
oessful conclusion operations on the
heart. This is done by opening the peri
oardium, for example. in cases Of drop
sy Of the heart, and drawing off the
fluid by aspiration. A man may have
his heart punctured with the point Of
knife or needle and still recover from
the injury. It used to be held that
wounds Of this character were inyaria-
bly, fatal But wound of che heart is
not necessarily fatal, as is shown in the
case where a needle was removed by
Calender from tho substance Of that
organ. Gases Of like nature have been
reported by Drs. Hahn, Agnew, Stelz-
ner and others. More than 80 cases
where rupture of the heart walls did
not result in immediate death are re-
ported by DR.. D. J. Hamilton. a we'll
known Scotch surgeon and pathologist.
1.-THE case Of Poole. prizeighter,
was one of the most remarkable Poole
was shot in the heart while engaged in
an encounter with man named Baker,
in New Jersey, in 1866. To all outward
appearance he recovered rapidly and in
four days felt so we'll that he expressed
q wish to finish the interrupted contest.
Twelve days later, however, he sudden
ly dropped to the ground. Within five
minutes he was dead.
"More remarkable still, perhaps, are
the numerous injuries to the brain and
spinal cord, which on first view would
be pronounced fatal and yet from which
the wounded persons recover. At Val
paraiso, Ind, man named Herbert j.
Fish while in fit Of temporary insan-
ity put a .38 caliber bullet through his
brain, and at last accounts he was still
alive and apparently getting well. The
bullet, by all accounts, passed through
the right and left anterior hemispheres
of the brain, lodging finally in the pos
terror bone wall of the left eye socket.
In its course the ball destroyed large
amount of brain matter. At the same
time it cut the optic nerves of both eyes,
destroying the sight. In some way the
sense Of smell, too, was destroyed. 4
MANY Chicagoans will remember a
tragedy at the Briggs House in this city |
several years ago, in which a man who |
was shot in the brain got we'll. J. 8.
we'll known veterinary |
surgeon, and his wife were boarders at
eho hotcA' ~ Wnp Al mug uoU, 1901. Wv |
day there was q great uproar and excite
ment over shooting ARRAY in the apart
ments of the McDonnells. In the quar-
rel Mcdonnell was shot by his wife, the
bullet entering the side Of his head in
the parietal bone above the ear and PEN
etrating the brain. Within the next 4S
hours the ball was removed by DR.. Lis.
ton H. Montgomery, and the wounded
man got well. The wife at the same
time shot herself in the head, but her
injuries were not serious. Old time doc
tors used to pronounce wounds like that
Of McDonnells fatal in every instance
md made very little effort to save the
patient. Brain injuries are most serious
md most often prove fatal when they
occur near the base Of the brain.-Chi-
,ago Tribune.