A Strange Surgical Fact

Feilding Star, Volume XI, Issue 126, 17 April 1890, Page 3

A Strange Surgical Fact

In a former issue we mentioned thai tinman skin was being purchased by th< tanners in England to supply a dera&nc had grown up. Since ther » somewhat remarkable case has come tc light in that connection. A soldier wa: wounded on the chest by a back handed blow from, a sabre at the retreat from Cabul under General Roberts. When the -wound, which was a flesh one extending over the swell of the chest, was being dressed, the surgeon observed that the *kin was beautifully tatooed with a representation of The Last Supper, done by a skilful hand. - For the time, in the excitement of war, the incident was forgotten until after the cavalry troop to which the man belonged had arrived in England. He was invalided, and in gratitude to the surgeon who had treated him so skilfully, lie made a bequest of the ornamental portion of his skin in his favour. This bequest was loyally fulfilled by the man's \ relatives who, after. his death, had the 1 *kin taken off, then carefully tanned and the hair being removed by the •currier to the' Duke of Cambridge. Tlie whole was then framed and made a remarkable picture. The strange part of the fact, however, is that about the anniversary of the date of the battle when the ,-cut was received, the cicatrice^ changes to » -slightly purple hue, and the discoloration •only disapprtn-s after a few days.