Tulsa daily world. [volume] (Tulsa, Indian Territory [Okla.]) 1905-1919, 1917-09-30
An American Who Has
Won a Victory Over Pain
Nikalgn the Invention of Gordon Edwards is Remarkable
Local Anaesthec Which Has Been Adopted by the War
Hospitals After Long Fight for Recognition.

fused to recommend II. Neverthe-
less. the success Of the experiment
gavo Edwards the needed confidence.
tie began to send samples to various
British and French hospitals. In
many cases 1t was tried and the users
enthusiastically ordered more. But
in the majority of cases 1t was not
even tried. Nothing daunted. Ed
wards established a laboratory in
England and sent letters to all the
war hospitals. In this way he finally
persuaded a few military surgeons to
use nikalgin. They Immediately or
dered more and eventually their rec
concentrations resulted in the official
| adoption of the solution by the Brit
ish war office. This was i'll Jdly'
| 1916.
Mr.. Edwards soon realized that he
had made mistake in trying TO sell
his invention to the war office. The
authorities, tho appreciating its ner-
its, declared that 1t was too expen-
sive and tried the experiment OF pi o.
viding the surgeons who orderedig$t'
with n substitute consisting of the
two principal Ingredients, which are
well known. These ingredients were
, to be mixed and used as needed by
tho hospitals. Tie substitute did not
anesthetize. Seeing the pas; to which
| things had come, Mr.. Edwards re-
sorted to a typically American ex-
pedient. Declaring that nikalein
must he used, he filled the orders
from the hospitals himself, sent his
solution direct and then mailed the
| bills to the war office. 1t was n
piece of Yankee impertinence. OF
course, but the war office paid the
bills"
| Edwards then did another sensa"
! tional thing He offered to supply
tho entire French army with nikalgin
! for nothing. For the soldiers sake
1t shall be used" he declared. He
had been manufacturing his product
at his own expense. When this eX-
| peuse became more than he could
stand, certain American friends pro-
vided him with funds. OF these
friends probably the most loyal and
courageous was Miss Anne Morgan.
Miss Anne Morgan's Part.
Miss Morgan had considered 1t un-
belieyablc that the open-minded
| French would refuse to accept the
gift. Faced with the facts, she ex
pressed the opinion that Mr.. Edwards
had not presented the matter in the
| right way. At the latter's sugges-
ton. she undertook to do this her
self. This resulted in an invitation
to Mr.. Edwards from General Nivelle
| to coma to the Second army at YER
dun. Before this occurred Edwards
had tried nikalgin at La Panne on
the belgian front with glowing sue
cess. His experience there resulted
IN his development of n special atom
lZer with which to spray the solution
thru the thickness OF bandages.
/ ct Golfers contributor tell the
sto,y of the hospital at Verdun.
"fIe reached the building late one
evening. After dinner he said to the
staff Tomorrow bring all your
W orst cases of external wounds into
the operating room. I'll treat them
each once, and after that you can
take the pressure jets and the solu-
ton and do il YOURSELF
"Never was brought together a
more terrible collection of manned,
charied and mangled living bodies
than the one in the operating room
the following morning. The surgeons,
used to the worst, grew pale at the
sight Of some of the cases. Edwards,
the layman, had never imagined any
thing so awful. Twice during the
mornings work he nearly tainted;
but he did not faint.
after a few comparatively simple
cases the attendants wheeled forward
a closely swathed figure half upright
in a chair. II was victim of liquid
fire. The head was almost entirely
enveloped in gauze. one hand and
arm had been burned black, and they,
too. were partly covered with white
bandages. But there was worse.
The victim had been struck in the
chest by the fluid, and the result
surpassed Dante's imaginings.
sheet OF gnuze IS inches square COW
cred a burn on the body that
stretched from neck to navel. The
outlines of the gaping hole wherein
the flesh had been burned away
showed thru the stuff which in
places was stuck to the flesh be-
meath. What one could see Of the
face, black, spotted with flaming red
holes. gray where the flesh had beer
reduced to cinder. shocked the
spectators almost to nausea Fol
from out this frightful ruin stared
two living eyes! Chance had saved
them for the owner. perhaps at the
expense of hand and arm.
within that roasted heap Of flesh
| life stirred sluggishly Suffering had
, been so intense, shock so unsettling
, that the man had been reduced TO o
, half bestial organism capable or nc
sensation but pain. The expression
was as vacant as that OF an idiot
hiding nothing but fear. For In