The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1901-09-11

case of President Mckinley now, i'm pref
tontis. which it said then was almost
always fatal. On the first evening brandy
and cracked ice helped Gen. Garfield 10
rally. But presently he could not retain
that. On the second evening champagne
and cracked ice aided him. Then his diet
fell to milk and lime water, with later,
some chicken broth and rum of old Vint-
age.
On the Tuesday following the shooting
the patient had as comfortable a day rs
could be expected and on Wednesday, there
was the same waiting for developments,
which it was hoped might be good, but
feared would be bad. All mat the doctors
could do was to try to keep the patient
strength up. They feared bio od poisoning
all the time but could do nothing to prevent
il, as they did not know the course OF the
bullet. They were all ready for instant
operation should it develop, as If 1T did
there must be instant operation or death
would be certain. The patient might APP
pear to be getting well, but suddenly the
blood might come into contact with the
putrid matter sloughing from the wound
and be turned to gall, and then the patient
would die. The operating instruments were
kept to hand and the surgeons stood guard
MEAGER INFORMATION.
The newspapers were printing extra edi-
tions almost hourly and the physicians
were issuing frequent bulletins, but it was
we'll understood-the doctors even saying
so-that the bulletins gave little real in
formation. They merely recorded the pulse
temperature and respiration, and left the
public to make its own deductions. No
diagnosis was made public. From the rise
of the surgical fever on July the varia-
tons of the pulse to July were from IS 10
l26 of the temperature from 1873 to 1913,
and of the respiration from 10 TO "A. Gen
eral Garfield was told that the bullet had
perforated his diaphragm, and on that ac-
count he mustn't talk. He liked TO con-
verse, and the doctors wanted to keep him
very quiet. They got him to the point
where he would even ask mutely for water
by putting his hand TO his lips. Later he
lost all desire TO talk.
Not until Friday was pus-which the ply
sicians said showed that the wound was
healing-seen. Ten days after the shooting
the patients temperature reached the high
est point-lO2S. The doctors all this time
believed that the bullet had passed between
the eleventh and twelfth ribs, through the
liver. and TO the abdominal cavity, where
they said il had lodged in the anterior wall
of the abdomen, from which they expected
to be able TO remove 1T readily, in due time,
without danger.
1t was only learned by the public on
July Is that the President had 'crcum-
scribed peritonitis," and that he had had
it since the second day OF his illness This
| circumscribed peritOnitLs was defined by
a tenderness in the abdomen and IL was
! believed by the surgeons that this located
! the bullet. They thought that the tender
/ ness due TO the pertOnitis marked where
1
/ lump there which they thought was the
bullet they concluded after the autopsv
| must have been hard pus at the end OF a
canal which il had bored for itself from a
\ point near the beginning of the bullet
/ wound. The pus worked forward. while
\ the bullet had gone sidewise across the
back; but IL was many weary weeks before
/ this was learned, and the sufferer from
abundant health I'm midsummer, had passed
/ through all the stages TO the knife of the
! post-mOrtem examiner just before the
/ autImnal equinox
| The surgeons had not relied solely upon
/ the manifestations of the workings
but had employed upon more than one
/ occasion the induction balance" There
\ had been at least two occasions Of serious
/ relapse in the latter part OF July and at
/ length DR. Agnew made an incisiOn Ex-
ploratiOns were made along the pus canal
! the supposed course Of the bullet. where
there was channel several inches deep.
/ experiments To locate the bullet We're made
/ by the induction balance under the direc-
/ ton OF Prof Graham Bell and an assistant.
/ The report OF one OF them on Aug ] said:
| TRYING TO LOCATE THE BALL.
/ Under the supervision OF the attend
ing surgeons Professors Bell and Taintor
/ this morning made another application
OF the electrical apparatus known as the
! induction balance, with a view to COM
Dieting the tests OF last week. which were
not entirely conclusive. and ascertaining
definitely and certainly. II possible. the To-
| cation of the ball They tried this
improved apparatus on the President
/ body for the first time last week, and al
| though il indicated family the location
| of the ball, it was afterward found 10 b,
slightly out Of Adjustment and the ex-