Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1898-07-02
SKIN FULL OF GOLD.
Row 1t WINS Absorbed by stapdtuu a.,
a Yukon Stream

| iukon stream.
From the Chicago Trilune
| superintendent Woodson of State Lunatic
Asylum NO. 2. at st. Joseph, Mo-, recently
ieceiNcd INTO the institution for treatment
d patient whose case is without a precedent
AZ nhedlcai annals 1t may also have a de-
teiring effect upon some Of thosA who aro
madly seeking TO join the exodus 70 ,ba
Alaska gold fields at the sacrifice of every
| ether interest
Abe Boyle, the patient. went 10 Alaska
In the summer of 1896 and sueoeeded a.
reaching Circle City ir September of thar
year. When the news of the big strike ar
Dawson City reached the camp he was one
OF the FIRST to set out for the J<londike dig
ehss. He spent the winter months I'm un-
foreground mining, the output OF which was
10 De washed when ice broke on the Yukon
in the spring.
he was moderately successful but his
ciaiih was one OF the few from which the
nuggets ana coarse gold had, TO a Consider
aoie extent, been carried lower down the
CREEK while tbs washing from above left
the gravel heavily impregnated with what
Is known as flour gold" This is the finest
form taken on by the yellow metal. There
Is no known method Of saving flour gold"
which will escape over the quicksilver
plates OF stamp mill IN spite OF all efforts
70 capture ii.
the nrst great bonanza strikes were renor,
eu from the hlondike placers. was much of
thS tne immersed to the waist in the wa
ters ol the Yukon The ice that comes
down from above is rich with gold absorb
| ed from the sands of the shallow streams
ihe cakes get aground on a bar and as
they melt, deposit their treasure 1t Is in
ms way that placers are sometimes form
4 ffl.ar han
from the bar and obtains his reward
Boyle washed the gravel from his own
claim On one of these bars, hoping TO reap
a double harvest. Being in the water con-
stantly, his body seems to have accom-
pushed what no invention of man has vet
done, Tor through the poras of the skin
there was absorbed an incredible quantity
or flour gold-' He was seized with what
ne thought was rheumatism, but kept on
with MS work until his limbs became un-
manageable. 1t was as If Justification IL
not putrefaction, had set in. His condition
gradually spread upward, ami he lost his
appetite and eventually became a victim of
dementia-
There being no physician in the camp
capable Of handling the case, he was sent
to the states in charge of a friend, who
kept him for several months at his old
home in Lander, Wyoming. His condition
uid lot Improve even under a course of
treatment at the Saratoga wyo.) hot
springs. and he was finally taken to Lara
ME, Wyo.
There DIR. William H. Harris. ain old army
surgeon, made a careful examination of
Boyle, ard thought he had located the
source of his trouble. He resolved upon an
experiment to test the correctness of his
theory. Boyle was given temporary lodg-
il.gs in Turkish bathhouse. and was sub
naitted to a treatment in which the medi-
cine administered consisted largely of mer-
curry, which. as is well known, will carry
from the human body every alien and poi
sonous matter.
When he had hear, +bara a1Nout . ,.-oztx
being dosed constantly with mercury, Boyle
was given thorough Turkish bath being
Kept in the sweating room as long as II was
&C nsidered safe for him to remain there
His chair in the sweating room was placed
In shallow basin of zinc, so that the per-
spiration that poured down from his body
would all be retained He was afterward
rushed through the remaining features of
the bath and put to bed When he awoke
from dreamless sleep he was found to
nave entirely recovered from the hitherto
ur'accountable stiffness of his limbs, his
mesh being soft and pliable an infants.
This was great step toward the demon
stration Of DIR. Harris theory, notwith-
standing Boyle's mind was still affected.
Inc next thing done was to examine the
contents OF The zinc basin In the sweating
room. An assay of its contents showed
that the mercury administered in the form
OF pills had passed on through the open
pores of the skin, carrying with IL the
-four gold with which Boyle's body had
been saturated. An assay by Superintend-
emit NJ. A Grant Of the Keystone mine
showed that the value of the flour gold
drawn from Boyle's body by means of the
mercury appropriated $2T0.
1t was evident that the treatment had
been pre-eminently successful so far as
boyie's malady was purely physical Its
effects upon the mind were something with
which his physicians did not choose TO ex-
pertinent. and so he was sent to Asylum
No. 2, in this city. He is now apparently
IN the best of health, physically and Su-
perintendent Woodson believes that he will
De able In a short time to restore his rea-
son and make him a sound man.