The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1899-06-16
PECULIAR AND UNUSUAL

PECULIAR AND UNUSUAL
Were the Wounds Received by
Many of the Victims.
The arrival of the first special train
bringing in the wounded from New Rich
mond was the beginning of busy scenes
In the operating rooms of the hospitals.
At st. Josephs DR.. Quinn and DIR. Shi-
monek, the attending staff, were kept
busy Tuesday afternoon from 3 until
midnight caring for the injured and at
tending to the severest of the cases,
which almost without exception necessi-
tated operations of greater or less degree
Of seriousness. The largest number of
operations was recorded at st. Joseph's
and the operating room on the top floor
with It's glass tables and movable stretch
erS, has been almost constantly in uSe
Many of the operations were peculiar
and unusual, even in hospital practice
The flying splinters and debris Of the
storm had the effect of decorating in
peculiar manner the faces Of all exposed
to its fury and the wounded without ex-
ception bore innumerable scratches and
cuts on exposed portions of the body.
many OF which were filled with splin-
tiers, dirt and gravel making ugly
wounds. A number of cases of compound
fractures of the arms and legs were
treated at st. Joseph's. in which it was
necessary to expose the ends of the brok-
en- bones and wire them Two cases of
fracture of the skull were operated on.
the pressure of the bones on the brain
being relieved by trepaning. Both pa
tients were in critical condition when
taken to the operating room and d.ed
from the effects of their injuries.
An unusual case was that Of a man
who had suffered a downward dislocatioa
OF the right hip, a serious injury of itself,
and In addition a compound fracture of
the ankle on the same SIDE a compound
fracture CT the nose, laceration of the
per1oneum. cuts on the scalp necessitating
the use of the needle and innumerable
decorations on the face and neck. each
OF which had to be sterilized with an
antiseptic solution and cleaned out before
1t could be bandaged. He was put I'M
DER the effects of ether, with the use of
the dropping bottle and cone, and went
through the ordeal safely with an excel
lent chance of recovery.
"A most painful case was that of a
woman brought in Tuesday, whose spine
had been injured The surgeons made an
examination and found that the lower
Vertebrae had been severely strained and
that spl1nters of bone had worked into
the joints, severing the ligatures and
making unusually painful wounds Each
splinter was extracted separately and the
pain, while the patient was under the in
f1uence of the anaesthetic
"A man living in New Richmond was
operated on for a compound fracture of
the right leg, compound fracture Of the
lett arm and a compound fracture of the
nose. Each OF the fractures turned out
10 be surrounded by dozens of small
bone splinters and the ends of the bones
were brought to the surface and treated
He will recover
A young lady was brought into The
operating room suffering from an ugly
nesh wound of the right thigh, caused by
"a sharp splinter which struck her pence
trat1ng downward and coming out on the
inside of the leg at distance Of eleven
inches. The entire course of the wound
was filled with foreign matter, and Dartt- j
cles of wood, and sutures had to be in
,troduced to draw off the excess of blood
pe[ore the operation could be performed.
Inc wound was. treated and bandaged
and the young lady left the operating
room suffering almost no. pain ,.i.s
IN the case OF another young Iady a |
nying TIMBER had struck her on the right
thigh A sharp corner tore the flesh in
terrible manner, gouging out a mass
or muscles as large as base ball, The
cut was so severe that the pelvic bones
were exposed. In addition, the abdo-
men, and side, in the region of the wound
was badly lacerated, and to all appear
ances the wound must of necessity prove
tatal. An operation cleansed the wound
replaced the muscles in their proper
places and drew together again the edges
OF the wound. The young lady will re-
cover and will be able to walk without
difficulty.
The most unusual case treated was
that Of a man who complained of intense
pain at the root of the nose. His face
was cut and bruised until his features
were hardly recognizable, and the sur
geons made an examination It was
found that a stone as large as a cherry
was lodged beneath the frontal bone
above the base of the nose An opera
ton removed the obstruction. The root
of the nose was destroyed, but, strangely
enough, the patients eyesight will not
be injured. The surgeons state that the
stone struck the man to the right of his
left eye, beneath the frontal BONE TAX
ing course upward and lodging against
the bones at the base Of the nose. The
force exerted must have been tremen-
dous, for the course of the wound strong
ly reSembled that of a bullet.
The surgeons called attention last night
to peculiar feature of all the opera
lions conducted at st. Joseph's, which
though very unusual has proved almost
providential to the sufferers. In every
instance where an operation has been
performed, without exception, the pa
tents have passed through it in a men
tai state closely resembling catalepsy
though removed from it in many ways
AS. DR.. A. Shimonek expressed it, Sin a
mental state of anasthaesia, produced by
natural causes" The condition of the
patients was peculiar, inasmuch as their
state made them almost oblivious to the
pain which they suffered. The condition
was almost that of anaesthesia as pro-
duced by ether, chloroform, the bengue
or other artificial means, the nerves
seemingly numbed by the shock and
refusing to do their work. Even in the
most painful operations, the patients
gave almost no sign Of pain, but lay on
the operating tables in a state similar
to the drowsiness which accompanied
sudden awakening from sound sleep.
EXCURSIONS NOT ENCOURAGED.