St. Landry clarion. (Opelousas, La.) 1890-1921, 1909-03-06
asp you! ny God! what an ] say.


clenched hands were driven deep In
to the flesh. For a full minute he
stood thus, and then his strong frame
relaxed, and he sank back into his
chair, white as the paper on which !
write, and weak as q babe.
I stepped to the window and gazed
up into the gray sky, as If looking for
4 solution of my perplexity. But my
mind remained as blank as the dull
expanse above the city roofs. Was this
man insane, or was he really, as he
said, in his right mind? Gould the
force Of q mere anaorous passion for p
beautiful woman so carry away one
Of his character unless the mass meas
tai integrity was impaired? ! turned
suddenly, in response to the ycupg
clergyman's voice. He had risen, &A0l
was advancing toward me.
DO Y0u believe In phrenoiogys d.
MarstonT'
sMost assuredly I do not
VIM you perform an experiment
uuon me to test he EsasonsbIeness n
your doubt?
30 ycu mean BY that, viii ! 49,
sumo your case surgtcally?'
Exactly.
I turned TO ne window again. F4s1
vas certainly an opportunity TO eos
tribute something to the discussion o.
3 vezed scientific question. Are A9
functions Of The brain localized in IT,
gtructuyeg
Wei, Will you take the casef@
The clergyman's hand was on mp
shoulder. | turned and looked him
squarely In the face. rs It under
stood that you assume all the risk
and that you do not hold me respon-
sible for the Psychological result OF On
experiment which, so far as / am c0ns
csrned, is purely physical in its char
acter?',
Certainly. We viii have It SO m
derstood."
Then you may call at my once To-
morrow morning at II. Eat a Hight
breakfast, and, as far as possible,
avoid excitement OF every kind"
Il seemed strange instruction to be
giving a clergyman; but the young
man understood and nodded approval
IN a few minutes he took his depart
ure, and I returned to my Medical
Journal-but not to read.
Precisely at IL o'clock the next
morning my singular patient walked
into the office.
Five minutes later my patient, az
vested OF coat, vest and cellar, lay
stretched on the operating table, In
Eve minutes more he was under the
influence of ether.
My first procedure was to shave the
dark, soft, silken hair from the lower
part of the young mans head. / then
made two V-shaped incfsions with q
lancet at the base Of the skull, where
psychologists locate the organ Of anna
tiyeness, and raised the Zap OF skin
from the skull. The next thing was To
get at the brain itself, and this I &C.
complished by boring two fine holes
through the skull with the smallest
trephine known iii surgery. The por-
ton Of the brain thus exposed, / was
amazed to find, was In a highly i'm
condition. Instead Of attempt
Ing to relieve the surcharged brain
with any instrument / now placed d
leech at each orihce, and allowed q
considerable amount Of blood to be
thus withdrawn. I then dressed the
wound antiseptically, and closed It
with sutures.
Ny patient soon came ont from un-
der the influence of the anesthetic, but
appeared very weak. / lifted him In
my arms and carried him to the couch
In my private room. Enioining strict
and, If possible, sleep, | left him
alone for a couple Of hours. At the
end Of that time, considering 1t safe
to permit him to talk, / re-entered the
with considerable curiosity, not
10 say agitation, and asked him how
be was feeling. To my establishment,
be graaped my hand warmly, exclaim-
ing that he would consider me his
greatest benefactor as long as he lived.
FOR he cried, you have saved my
soul from Its otherwise certain ruin.
GOdi / feel now no more emo
ion ut the thought Of that woman
han Of any other of her sex"
I brought my patient some refresh
nent, and at three o'clock he left my
nice IN high spirits, promising to re-
again the next day to report upon
condition.
For three weeks the Rev. Alexander
Haeck-as I win call my clerical
ient-haunted my ONCE every day.
ina we became fast friends. Durins
IL this time he was entirely free
rom disturbing sentiments. The
Of love. he declared, were
luenched, and he was supremeIy
SO favorabiy, / must confess, did
bis experiment dispose me toward the
reelected science of phrenology that
at once began TO direct my studies ID
hat direction, and soon accumulated
large number of expensive books on
he subject. / also began 10 write up
be details of my experiment, SO MS ta
,et the matter into permanent shape
ghile it was still fresh IN my mind.
About six weeks after the occur
ences above related, and Just after I
lad posted an order for several hun
red dollars worth OF chronological
works, the l~etter-carrier came into my
flee and presented me with q large,
I