The Washington times., 1901-09-09
TIE TINES W WASHINGTON, MONDAY SEPTEMBER 9. 1901.

tion of the ball. : They tried this
improved apparatus on the Presidents $
body for the first time last week, and al
though il indicated family the location
of the ball. 1t was afterward found TO he
slightly out of adjustment, and the ex-
pertinent was not regarded as perfectly
conclusive. The results of this morning $
tests. however, are entirely satisfactory
both to Profs. Bel and Taintor and to
the attending Surgeons, and ii is now
unanimously ag"eed that the location of
the ban has be n ascertained with rea-
sonable certainty. and that 1t lies. as here
tofore stated, in the front wall of the alb
domen, Immediately over the groin, about
five inches below and to the right of the
navel"
Improvement and relapse continued
through August, and on September the
President was removed from the White
House to Eiberon. his case then being
really hopeless. Three thousand five hun
dred feet of track were laid from the rail-
road station at Elberon to the Francklyn
cottage, to which the President was
taken, so that the train could run prac-
tically to the door His condition fuc-
tuated from shat time, until his death at
1875 p. m on September 49, The autopsy
was made the next day the knife being
used by DR.. d. S. Lamb. Of the Medical
Museum in this city, in the presence of
the other surgeons. The official an
nouncement of its results said:
1T was found that the bail. after frac-
turing the right eleventh rib, had passed
spinal canal, fracturing the body of the
first lumbar vertebra, driving number
of small fragments of bone into the ad-
jacent soft parts and lodging below the
pancreas, about two inches, and half to
the left of the spine and behind the peri
toneum, where il mad become completely
encysted. The immediate cause of death
was secondary hemorrhage from one OF
the mesenteric arteries adjoining the
track of the ball. the blood rupturing the
peTitoneum and nearly pint escaping
into the abdominal cavity. . An
abcess cavity, six inches by four in di-
mensions was found in the vicinity of
the gall bladder, between the liver and
the transverse colon, which were strongly
adherent. 1t did not involve the sub
stance of the liver and no communica-
tiUn was found between 1t and the wound.
A long suppurating channel extended
from the external wound between the
loin muscles and the right kidney almost
to the groin. This channel now known
to be due to the burrowing Of pus from
the wound. was supposed during life to
be the track of the ball"
The report of the autopsy was signed
by Drs. d. w. Bliss, J. X. Barnes, ]. ].
Woodward, Robert Reyburn, Frank H
Hamilton, D. Hayes Agnew, Andrew II.
said that the injury to the spine would
have caused death in any event. DR.. Bliss
in review of the case mentioning the
points revealed in the autopsy which re-
quired consideration by the profession,
said:
Would the condition of the President
Immediately after his injury have justi-
fled more thorough exploration of the
wound, or would such a procedure have
been safe at any time before primary re-
action was established? Considering care
fully the condition of the President during
the entire period of his Illness, and the
facts revealed by the autopsy, would not
any operation for the purposes before
mentioned have placed the Presidents life
in great jeopardy and at best have hast
ened the time of his death without af-
fording any signal relief? l de-
sire to make the enquiry whether more
extensive explorations could have been
safely made? i would ask If any
known instrument or means of expIora-
tion has ever been presented to the pro-
fession capable of tracing before the
death of said patient the course of this
bullet?''
There was discussion both lay and pro-
fessional after the result of the autopsy
was made known and, of course, opinions
differed. The general conclusion was .hat
the wound was mortal anyway, without
reference to the mistaken diagnosis.
One rather delicate point raised was as.
to the exact part taken by Drs. Hamilton
and Agnew. They were called In consul
tation after the other surgeons had taken
preliminary measures and they approved
what had already been done. 1t was said
afterward that instead of making explo-
on their arrival in this city, they accept-
ed the reports of the other attending sur
seons and gave their approval of the
course already taken
On one hand 1t was said that they were
bound to accept the reports OF the other
doctors who We're first in charge. On the
other. it-was said that their profession
and the people expected them to be their
own judges wholly and that the profess
sion all over the world when informed
that these two men had been summoned
felt satisfaction that the President was
TO have the best medical and surgical
skill and knowledge available. and that
this implied initial examination on the
part of these surgeons. The case, by rea-
son of the remarkable mistake in the di7
agnosis of course became famous one
in surgical annals as well as in the
worlds general history.