Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-12-27
PAIN IN LOST LIMBS.
Physical Experiences by Which Sur
geons Are Sometimes Puzzled.

From the Chicago Inter-Ocean.
Three weeks ago Glen Bachelor of In
diana lost both hands in a railway acci-
dent. The amputated hands were placed
IN 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 crampng pains.
and when he learned how they had been
disposed Of he demanded that they be prop
erly buried. The hands were taken from
the jar, were Strengthened to natural
position. were carefully wrapped, were In
cased In 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 profess
SION. with shakes of the head by the older
surgeons and with ready belief by hundreds
OF men who have suffered as Mr. Bachelor
suffered.
Many a man who has suffered amputati On
CT leg or foot has been kept in anguish
by the feeling of some object between the
toes. by an intolerable itching where a toe
ought to be. or by sharp rheumatic pain
IL the ball Of missing foot. A man who
has lost a hand or an arm has been seized
suddenly with a distressing pain In the
limb or in the finger. and has become al
most hysterical because he could not re-
1ieve it by touching the hand that was not
there.
Surgeons called to treat such cases have
commended that the feeling was simply hall
lucination: that men who have suffered
amputation have read stories of queer sem
sationS in lost limbs. and that these stories
have taken such a hold upon the magma
ton that they experience the pain attrib-
uted to the men whose stories they have
read
with the belief of the man. administers
something to quiet his nerves. and in cases
where the missing hand or missing foot is
accessible, gives directions for it's proper
handling and interment.
However, this does not settle the case.
In a week or a month the man of the lost
foot has other trying experiences, and the
surgeon tries to laugh him out of the hallu-
cination In good time the patient appa-
rently surrenders his belief as to pain in
the lost foot or hand but in his own heart
he holds to 1t. He may not talk about it.
but he will insist that the sensation in the
missing foot is so real and SO exasperat-
ing that 1t 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 responsible for the queer
sensations A few surgeons have admitted
that there may be something in this theory,
but If it be admitted that the theory is cor
rect, 1t 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 before, is it
not a little 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?