The Birmingham age-herald., 1903-07-10
Beginning With Renewed Hopes and Closing With
 Grave Fears
DR. MAzzONI RIDICULES
 OPINIONS OF CRITICS
Taks of the Present Condition of the Pope and Denies That a Second Operation Has Been
 Performed.

Rome July 10, 10 a. m.-Another day of alternate hopes and fears has passed, and Pope Leo's life still hangs in the bal- ance Beginning with renewed hopes. the day closed with the scales tending slowly but surely downwards. How long this ag- onizing period of suspense will last not even the attending doctors dare to say.
 To night bulletin was issued but at 12:lb o'clock this morning 1t was learned from Dr. Mazzoni that the, condition of the pontiff had not changed since the issue of the evening bulletin, which announced that the patients state was grave At 7;SO o'clock last night pr. Lapponi declared his fear that there was no hope, but that death might not come during the night At midnight report coming from the vatican itself gained currency that Dr. Mazzoni had again operated on the pope and extracted serum which had again gathered in the pleural cavity. The sur geon was found at his home at 10:30 o'clock this morning, and although ex- t;emely tired, Dr. Mazzoni said:
 Rldicules Criticisms.
 Tt Is untrue that new operation has been performed. I was with the pope from Il D. m. until after midnight. and found his general condition stationary, no change having taken place since this afternoon, when the consultation with Dr. Rossoni was held. To strengthen the pa- tients heart and to help the eircula- ton of the blood, injected camphor and caffeine, after which the pope, who seemed somewhat relieved, said he remembered having been treated on a camphor basis when he was nuncio at Brussels sixty years ago."
 In reply to a question Dr. Mazzoni said: T really cannot say whether the serum in the pleural cavity has increased since the consultation this afternoon, as l did not examine his holiness for such pur- pose. It must be understood that the pope is too frail to be handled like other people. Besides, his thorax, through old age, has become bent in such way that the right side, where pneumonia was first detected, curves out in pronounced manner, while the left side curves in.
 Tn tomorrow's consultation attention will be directed especially on the progress in the secretion of serum. Then a de- cision will be taken as to whether a new operation is necessary"
 Mazzonl Denies Report.
 Dr. Mazzoni ended by ridiculing the criticisms, objections and advice which he said people, most of whom famous only for never having been heard of al- lowed themselves to advance. Many of these persons had seen the pope only in photographs.
 The greatest regret Is that pleurisy fw, .rtof fo1 he pope for the first time on Sunday. On Monday evening l discovered the fluid and on Tuesday I removed it. Any stu dent of medicine knows that sometimes weeks pass before the pressure of serum is detected. I myself once had pleursy which the doctor did not discover until fifteen days after I was taken sick"
 Bright Hopes Disappear.
 The condition of Pope Leo at times yes terday morning seemed so favorable that the hopeful Dr. Mazzoni and the more conservative Lapponi united in express ing the belief that there was some slight prospect of recovery, but within feS hours these brighter prospects disap- peared before the most alarming conclu- sions reached after the lengthy consulta- tion of the doctors. The earliest hopes had been inspired largely by the pontiffs external appearance of vigor. he was able to command his faculties, but the latter consultation disclosed that these outward evidences of strength were tirely deceptive, as the real danger con- sisted in the gradual internal progress of the insidoUs diseases.
 The mere fact of the consultation in it. self gave rise to the gloomiest forebod- ings. Indeed. this was the first actual consultation, as the previous frequent meetings of the doctors were not regarded formal consultations. Today, however, Dr. Rossoni. a specialist of the baccilli school. was called Into consultation last ing two hours. Every phase of the pa- tient's case was minutely gone over. The conclusions announced in the 7:30 o'clock bulletin showed that liquid was again rapidly gathering in fne pleural cavity and that the pope's general condition was grave.
 Doctors Express Opinions.
 Following the issuance of this bulletin the doctors freely expressed their personal convictions regarding the extreme gravity of the case. Dr. Lapponi said without qualification that the patients condition was beyond hope. He did not expect a final collapse tonight but rather gradual sinking until the end came. How long the sufferer may last, the doctors will not venture any prediction. Ordinary calcua- tions they say fail to apply to this extra ordinary case. One of them remarked to- day:
 Here is a man almost hundred years old retaining all of his mental and most of his physical faculties and bravely com batting the approach of death Although the conditions change from hour to hour, the essential conditions of mental alert ness and physical vfgor continue un- broken. Never yet has there been the slightest lapse into incoherency."
 Vatican Awaits Death.
 Whatever may be the outcome. the vati- can world has fully made up it's mind that the demise of the pope Is only a question of days at the most and probably only of hours With this being the prevalent :. view. every detail for conducting the af- f fairs of the church during the interre- gnum and for carrying out the election of Pope Leo's successor is systematically