The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1904-12-17
PAIN IN LOST LIMBS.
Physical Experience by which Sur.
geons Are Sometimes PUSHED.

ny aANsAA AA4RCEAChEC W SUR
geons Are Sometimes PuEzIed.
From the Chicago Inter Ocean.
Three weeks ago Glen Bachelor of
Indiana lost both hands in railway
accident. The amputated hands were
placed In a jar OF alcohol and Mr.
Bachelors arms received the most
careful surgical attention. He suffered
however, for two weeks from severe
and peculiar pains where the hands
formerly were.
Mr.. Bachelor insisted that his lost
hands were crowded in such a way as
TO give him the sensation OF severe
cramping pains, and when b. learned
how they had been disposed of he de-
manded that they be properly buried.
The hands were taken from the Jar
were Strengthened to a natural posi-
ton, were carefully wrapped, We're in
cased in n box. and were buried. As
soon as this was done Mr.. Bachelor
was relieved of the pains that had kept
him in agony for two weeks.
The story will be received with smiles
by the younger experts of the medical
profession. with shakes of the head by
the older surgeons, and with ready be-
lief by hundreds of men who have suf-
fered as Mr.. Bachelor suffered.
Many man who has suffered ampu-
tation of leg or foot has been kept
in anguish by the feeling of some OBJ
ject between the toes, by an intolera-
BILE itching where a toe ought to be-
or by sharp rheumatic pain in the
ball of a missing foot. A man who has
lost hand or an arm has been seized
suddenly with distressing pain in the
limb or in the finger. and has become
81 hMctortroI he
relieve it by touching the hand that
was not there.
Surgeons called to treat such cases
have contended that the feeling was
simply hallucination; that men who
have suffered amputation have read
stories of queer sensations in lost
limbs, and that these stories have taken
such hold upon the Inauguration that
they experience the pain attributed to
the men whose stories they have
read.
Acting on this theory the surgeon
falls in with the belief of the man, ad-
ministers something to quiet his nerves,
and, In cases where the missing hand
or missing foot is accessible. gives di.
rections for it's proper handling and
interment.
However. this does not settle the
case In a week or a month the man
trying experiences, and the surgeon
tries to laugh him out of the hallucina.
ton. In good time the patient APP.
parently surrenders his belief as to
pain in the lost foot or hand, but in
his own heart he hold to it. He may
not talk about it, but he Will insist
that the sensation in the missing foot
is so real and so exasperating that II
'at times drives him almost to the point
of insanity.
There are strong men who have had
such experiences, and their theory is
that some careless treatment of the
nerves severed in amputation is respon-
sible for the queer sensations A few
surgeons have admitted that there may
be something in this theory, but If il
be admitted that the theory is correct
it does not explain the sensations ex.
perienced by Mr.. Bachelor.
In this age, when the nerves of men
and women receive more attention from
the medical profession than ever be-
fore, is it not strange that these So
called Authorizations as to sensations
in missing members of the body have
not been more closely investigated :?
Are these sensations the work of the
imagination, or are they the result Of
real physical conditions?