The age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1897-1902, 1899-03-02
POPE SUBMITS
To OPERATION
Cyst Removed from Left Thigh
Of the POntif,
AN ANASTHFTIC WAS USED
As the Docs ? cared the Effects
SIS .'0r0f0rm'
lSS
C.S
RAPID ''EHf is EXPECTED
Although the Extreme Age Of the Pa'
tient May Interfere.
HE DISPLAYED GREAT COURAGE
While the Operation Was Being Per
formed, and Even Joked With the
Surgeons After the Knife
Had Been Applied.
Although the Extreme Age Of the Pa
tient May Interfere.
HE DISPLAYED GREAT COURAGE

Rome, March 1.-The pope passed fair
ly good night and was better this morning.
DR.. Mazzoni shortly after o'clock this
morning removed cyst from the left thigh
of the pontiff. The operation was perfectly
successful and the patient bore 1t well.
The reports are that yesterdays feverish
symptoms were entirely due from the cyst,
from which the pope has long suffered.
He now has no trace of fever, and DR.. MAJ
zoni thinks no complications will ensue.
Strict measures have been taken to ex-
clude outsiders from the vatican.
Some of the morning papers asserted that
the pope was suffering from rheumatic
fever following a chill, and that 1t was
feared pleurisy would supervene.
Des red That 1t BE Lanced
The pope yesterday desired that the cyst
be simply lanced, but he consented to Its
removal on the doctors insisting upon the
point.
Drs. Mazzoni and Pappeni, who left the
-pope,s apartments at O'Clock, expressed
satisfaction at the condition OF his holi-
ness. They said his temperature was $685..
The stream of callers continues. There IS
no sign of anything unusual at the vatican.
During the operation the pope asked his
private chaplain, Father Angel, to say
mass. After the surgeons had completed
their task he was in excellent spirits and
even joked with them. His holiness slept
two hours during the day.
At 6 o'clock Drs. Mazzoni and Lapponi
again visited him and found that the
pain caused by the operation had SO far
abated as to allow his holiness to lie on
his back. At that hour his temperature
was lower and his general condition sat
isfactory.
The cyst removed was about the size OF
an orange.
The semi-official vatican organs, in their
details of the illness, confirm the dispatches
to the Associated Press in every particular
and warn the public against exaggerated
statements published in certain quarters.
Bulletins strictly Accurate
The physicians assure the public that the
official bulletins regarding the popes con-
dition would be scrupulously accurate.
According to Italie his holiness suffered
great pain during the operation and re-
marked afterward to his doctor:
"I understand now the seriousness OF my
Illness You must have had great courage
to operate upon an old man like myself.
The physicians, according to ltalie, are
anxious about the weakening effects of the
dysentery, but If the pope has good night
there is every reason, in their judgment,
to look for rapid recovery.
The hematic cyst had been forming, prob
ably. for thirty years. Although the cour-
age which the patient displayed gave the
doctors courage, they feared to use chloro-
form and used instead liquid anaesthetio
consisting of cocoaine chloride of sodium
and morphia.
Owing to the size of the growth, the In
cision occupied some time, but Dr. Mazzoni
quickly traced the extent of the growth
and the actual operation lasted twelve
minutes The pope displayed great forti-
tude Once the feeling of faintness. due to
shock and loss OF blood had passed away,
he appeared quite calm. The fever quickly
subsided, confirming the diagnosis of the
doctors.