The Doctor.

Evening Post, Issue 232, 4 November 1865, Page 2

The Doctor.

-Ttis pleasant to record the fact that nearly every literary man or woman with whom I have heen acquainted, or whose lives I have looked into, has found a generous and disinterested friend in a doctor. I could, of my own knowledge tell many anecdotes of the sacrifices made to mercy by members of the profession ; of continuous labours without a thought of recompense; of anxious days and nights, by sick or dyinsr beds, without the remotest idea of " fees." I may tell one — of a doctor, now himself gone home; it was related to me by Sir James Eyre, M.D. Unfortunately, I have forgotten the name of the good physician ; but there are, no doubt> nnny to whom this story will apply. Sir J.tmes called upon him — and saw his wuiting-room thronged with patients. " Why," said he, " you must be getting on famously." " Well, 1 suppose t am," was the answer ; "hut let me tell this fact to you. This morning I have tseen eight pnfcients; pix of them gave me nothing — the seventh gave me a guinea, which I just gave to the eight." Such a physician providence sent to Thomas Hood. — C. S. 1 1 all, in the Art Journal. A Medical Dispute.— l was greately surprised at this time by the fortitude shown by a Russian prisoner, who was | brought in wounded in the arm by a musket 1 ball. The limb hung helplessly at his side, and the doctors perceived at once that amputation must he performed. On being informed of this decision, he carelessly replied in Russ that they were to do as they liked, and stood perfectly unconcerned, smoking a short pipe, while his arm was cut off at the shoulder. A boy of about 15 years of age, and said to be his son, bad remained on the field with his father, and ao was taken prisoner with him, and the poor little fellow appeared to suffer most while the operation was performed. The dismembered limb was at once buried,'

while the two Russians, father and son, were placed in an ambulance and sent to the rear. A day or two afterwards a party was sent on fatigue to disenter the arm, to settle an argument which had arisen among the surgeons as to whether it ought to have been amputated where it was — at the shoulder — or lower down. But I never heard what decision they came to; and after it was performed, it seemed very little matter which way would have been the right one. — Soldieriny in Sunshine and Storm. An Arab Grisi.— Of all the falsehoods I have heard about the East, the assertion that women are old hag? at thirty is the greatest. Atuong the poor Fellah w.»men it may be true enough, but not nearly so true as in Germany, and I have now seeu a considerable number of Levantine ladies looking very handsome, or at least comely, till fifty. The lady wo visited yesterday was forty-eight, and her daughter a good deal above twenty. The mother whh extremely handsoon, though very untidy ; ami the daughter, with two children, the eldest of whom was four years old, looked sixteen. I saw the same in four or five cases tit the fantasia. Sakenah, the Arab Grist, is fifty five. Her face is ugly, lam told. She was veiled, and we only saw her eyes and glimpses of her mouth when she drank water, out she lias the figure of a leopard, all grace and beauty, and & splendid voice of its kindharsh, but h rilling, like Malibran'a. I guessed her thirty, or perhaps thirty-five. When she improvised, the finesse and eleeance of her whole manner was ravishing ; and I was on the p«int of shouting out ?« Masha-allah !" as heartily as the natives. The eight younger "A'Jimeh" (i.e., "learned women," which we English call Almeh, and think it an improper word) were ugly, and sereaohed. Sakeneh was treated with great consideration and quite as a friend by the Armenian ladies, with whom she talked between her songs. She is a Aluslimeh, and very lich and charitable. She gets at least fifty pounds for a ni^hts's singing.— Letters from Egypt. By Lady Duff Gordon. A RbGiMEisT Struck by Lightning.— Dr. H. S. Plurnmer, surgeou of the 152 nd Illinois Volunteers, stationed at TuUahoma, Tennessee, under date the 1 9th of Juue, furnishes to the Medical and Surgical Re« porter the following account of tvn attack on tliat regiment by lightning : — "Our regiment was yesterday the scene of one of the most terrible calamities which it has ever been my lot. to witness. ( About 2 o'clock p.m. a violent thunderstorm visited us. It being thtt Sabbath, the 'guard mounting' was deferred until two o'clook on account of the morning being occupied in grand review. While the old gu.ird was being turned out to nceive the new, a blinding of lightning was seen, accompanied instantly by a terrible i peal of thunder. The whole of the eld gusird, togi ther with part of the new, wefe thrown violently to the earth. The shock was so severe and sudden that in most cases the rear rank men were thrown across the front rank men. One man was instantly killed, and thirty two others were more or less severely burnt by the electric fluid. The men were mostly injured in the region of the shoulders, arms, aud hips, the men having been standing at shoulder-arms, in which oase the barrel of the musket would rest in the hollow of the right arm and shoulder, the but of the piece resting against the hip. One man who was on guard in front Of the hospital tent had his musket thrown from his hands, and the bayonet stuck into the ground. The man himself was shocked pretty severely, but not thrown down. One man, who had been to the rear and was returning, was struck down and severely injured in the eyes. In some instances the men's boots and shoes were torn from their feet and torn to pieces, and, strange as it may appear, the men were injured but little in their feet In all the cases the burns appear as if they had been caused by scalding hot wat< r, in many instances the skin being shrivelled and torn off. The men all seem to be doing well, and a part of them will be able to resume their duties in a few days."— New York Army and Navy Journal. Gallant Capture op a Shark in the Bristol Channel. — Last week, one of the navvies employed on the Brean-down Works, near Westou-super-Mare, was looking down over the " tip," when he espisd o large fish close on the shingles at the foot of the rocks With all speed he made his way to the spot" and the fish remained within arm's length of the edge of the water. The man, thinking he could pull it ashore, laid hold of its tail, but soon found that it had more power in its

native element than he gave it credit for, and ¦with a flap of its fins it pulled him knee deep into the water, and moreover turned upon him, showing a pair of huge jaws armed •with three rows of teeth, which he savagely snapped at him. The navvy, however, wa s not to be soared so readily. Holding on by the tail of the creature, he sang out lustily to some of his comrades, and three others went to help to land the strange and really formidable fish. It was fortunate for the man that it did not succeed in biting him, for the fish was nothing leas t)mn a shark from five to nix feet hi length, and an arm or a leg would not be worth much if once fairly within the reach of Us jaws. The first man who arrived on the spot seized hold of the dorsal fin. The monster now became more violent, and pulled the two men further into the brine, and it wns not until a third rendered assistance that they succeeded in dragging the fish ashore. The final stiuggle was fierce and exciting. The shark, finding that it could not bite the ineo, snapped at everything within reach. Catching hold ot a large pebble, it ground at It savagely, leaving the marks of its teeth in the solid stone, and breaking them with the violence vi the effort. Ballooning at Maschkstir— Disgraceful Outkage.— Captain Adams tne wellknown aeronaut from Creniorn^, made an ascent on : aturday evening from (he Pornonagardens, Manchester. Having been in the air from thirty-flve to forty minutes, Captain Ad.ims descended in a brck croft, near Great Ancoats-street. A dense crowd soon gathered, and surrounded the balloon, when suddenly an Irishman rushed from the crowd, and his fanaticism and religious fervour being excited, it is believed by the name of the balloon, the Garibaldi, he struck at it with a stick, and made a rent in it fully a yard long. This caused Home indignation, and the three or four policemen who were present interfered and took the man into custody. A fight ensued, the police-officers were surrounded, and the man rescued. The balloon was again attacked, and torn in three or four more places. Captain Adams escaped into a public house called the Pineapple. The police laid about them wiih their staves to keep back the mob ; but the house was noon sii * roundc', nnd he was obliged to leave the public -house by the bank door, iinJ talte refuge In a eottuge. Directly his whereabouts was discovered he had to leave again, curl he waa tlius limited out of three or four places of refuse. With a great deal of difficulty he was thrust into a cab, and driven away from his fanatical assailants. In the meantime, with considerable difficulty, the ballotm was wrapped up and placed in a cart. The cart was surrounded, but the person in ctinn:e of it contrived to get off after a severe struggle. -English Paper.