The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1915-12-04
LITTLE BLOOD
AT OPERATIONS
Visitor Finds Event Void of
Crimson Stain.
Patient Has No Time to View
Operating Room.
HUMAN FLESH like BEEFSTEAK
Takes Four Surgeons to Do
Good Job of Cutting.
Nurses Are Plump, Pretty and
Generally Young.
HUMAN FLESH LIKE BEEFSTEAK

That blood does not squirt when a
patient is operated on was the dis
covery of a sightseer at an operation
this week. Mighty few people be-
sides the surgeons ever see an opera
ton" the doctor told the visitor
would you like to watch the next
one -
ing by the way the nurses scauD ered
to and fro and congregated to peer
at the observer. The elevator was
forgotten and everyone raced up and
n garment which closely resembled
a night shirt and pinned up the back.
Believe in Sanitation.
Come, the plump little nurse
said, "and be careful not to touch n
thing for it's all sterilized."
In q diminutive fountain were
bowls of blue and clear water and
demijohns of a brown color stood on
ilizing outfit and several trays with
instruments and thingamajigs strewed
the room.
The operating room was spotlessly
white with a skylight and plenty of
window space. Four surgeons were
preparing for the business in hand,
and four nurses fingered numberless
scissors. knives and shiny steel in
struments which they were sterilizing
in more pans of treated water
Nurses Arc Pretty.
There were tables in the room and
everything had either a silvered or
white finish. The surgeons muttered
among themselves and all the nurses
looked serious and worried. For
nurses are human and sweet just the
same as other girls. a great mistake
has been made by the public in look
ing upon the Starchy fronted nurses
as cold blooded heartless persons who
take up the calling as the easiest way
to make a living. The nurses were
nearly all good looking and young.
Blue eyes alternated with brown and
there were many sweet looking faces.
Many nurses are married by their pa
TENTS and all of the hospitals have to
maintain regular recruiting station,
said one OF the doctors.
The patient was wheeled in on
rolling bed too deathly sick to take
an interest in what was going on.
She was a pretty girl, s years old and
had an arm badly mashed. The mo-
ment she was transferred to the oper-
ating table she was Swathed with
blankets and sheets until only the
wounded arm showed, and her face
was covered with a mask No time was
wasted stropping a butcher knife as
we expected and letting the patient
view the room but doctor stationed
at her head began to administer ether
which he poured on her mask from
freshly opened bottle. The patient
never said a word and promptly
slipped off to sleep as peacefully as
Gurgiing Death Rattle.
The most horrible thing about the
entire performance was the gurgling,
death rattle made while the sleeper
was getting her breath. At times she
would make a little noise as If not
sleeping well and all the time the doc
tor kept pouring on ethe- and feeling
her pulse. A nurse whispered that she
was snoring.
Taking up his shiny knife in his
rubber covered hand, the principal
surgeon started to work when there
was no doubt as to the sleepers being
awake. All four men wore rubber
gloves and had their heads tied up in
addition to wearing their gowns and
tennis trousers One man held the
girls arm while the principal made
ever so easily little slice.
This was successful and the knife
kept up a slight splitting sound audible
over the room. Taking tool similar
to a fork with the tines bent, the sur
geon pulled the flesh apart and hung
clamps on like clothes pins while he
further pulled open the gap. Soon
there was a nice pink bone in sight
nice beefsteak-preferabl porter
house-instead of like mutton or pork.
Blood Didn't Squirt.
Little blood flowed-the doctor
knew the tissues too well-but what
did ooze out was sopped up by cloths
which were dropped the floor. The
going on and sunlight streamed in on
the sleeping body. Two surgeons would