QUEER CASES.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume 5, Issue 1567, 24 December 1883, Page 1 (Supplement)

QUEER CASES.

; : :by a surgeon. ; ; What' is moro. : fcroubleaomo to surgeon <jr. Sationt than a needle broken off-short in the. esh-unless it be two, broken needles 1 , Such. «: articles "travel "terribly. There is so little ; -to lay hold of with .the- forceps,: that any . touch which does not effect .its extraction is . bound to give it an onward impulse. Thus: ■ it often happens that a medical practitioner- • can find no trace of the needle, when,'his, i assistance is sought, the, patient' having ■ already pushed it completely in, in his efforts i ■ to withdraw it j and it may become a matter i of doubt whother such a thing; is-really underneath the skin or not, To cut open the ■ flesh on a mere ohance;of finding it would be 1 obviously unjustifiable; examination of the • part by pressure and squeezing is nearly ■ as '■ bad, from the risk of making matters worse; : so an ingenious plan has for " ascertaining whether, a -portion be really inipacted or not,A powerful magnet is held. ■ upon that part of the body for a quarter ofan hour, so aa to.influence the: fragment; then a finely-hung polarised needle is suqpendod overit, any iron.be present, ■ deflection will ensue, :-In, Italy, a kind of : ivory probe traversed by Wo wires hasten iused for the detection of foreign bodies of this nature in a deep wound, it. being connected with an oleotrio battery in suoh a way that directly the probe comes in contact with . anything metallic, the cirouit is completed, - and its presence announced by the ringing of a bell 1 Not many years ago, a remarkable experiment was tried at the Hflpital dos Lazaros,' ' - Sao Christovito, near Rio de Janeiro. A Brazilian physician pretended to have dis- ' covered that" beri'beri,"the mystorious and , deadly malady of that country, half-dropsy, ; half-leprosy, was identical with th 6 true Elephantiasis Gracorum, which the ancient exponents of the healing art used to cure by inoculations of snake-venom. An inmate of ; the hospital, knowing his case to be hopeless as it stood, consented to allow the trial,to be ■ made on his body, So a vigorous rattlesnake was accordingly brought to his bedside, and ■ made to bite his swollen and hypertrophied hand, in the presence of, a large number of doctors, both native and foreign, ,It was noted at the time that the reptile,displayed ■ great apparent reluctance to use« its fangs, ■ and it was not until after much irritation : that it could be induced tostrike, The punc- : tures .were inflicted near the base of the little : finger; but the patient was not aware that • he had been bitten till the bystanders told ; him, so lifeless :was the part. For some ~hop, no results were apparent; the characteristic evidences of blood-poisoning nevertheless set in, and before night the man was a corpse, , : The ease excited a great deal of interest at 11 the time J but the experiment has never beeh , : repeated; nor is there any reason why it 1 should be. The reception of the venoni Into a mass of fibroid and degenerate .tissue slioh' ■ as would compose a leprous limb, Would re- " lard'find might altogether prevent its absorp-' t tion into the current of the circulation; while itwas pure fancy to attribute the/shake's ■ hesitation' in ■ biting to anything' connected ' ■with'the disease, ;• Many prisonous reptiles 1 • mil bear much annoyance, and even ill-treat-' ; ment, befflre they cad be'persuaded to use ' their fangs; and the case in question' really presents no anomalies whatever beyond those ■ to be readily accounted for by the, existing '' oirdumstances. But what a marvellous thing the venom of a serpent is 1 In the whole range of pathology, probably nothing presents such an instance of small .causes producing great effects. An infinitesimal quantity of a clear, apparently harmless, fluid, • introduced by a puncture no bigger than the ' prick of a pin, and with awful rapidity—a • lew minutes', it may be-a strong' man with ' the thews and sinews of a bull, becomes lifeless elay, already far on its way to decom- ■ position; Perhaps 1 the " germs "—if. such really exist—of deadly fevers and other maladies might be found to be just as insignificant in amount, could they be'isolated; but it must be borne'in'mind that there is a • certairi 'period of latency ,or "incubation" after' their, receptitin into the system, and 1 that neither they nor almost any other known poison take effect • with the same fearful 1 .celerity as the worst snake-venoms. The accidents, fortunate and unfortunate ' that , have occurred within the pra&tloe of celebrated Burgeons.abottt whose,skill, there can be no two opinions, would,fill a volume. ; Dupuytren' plunged a knife into a man's brain, and relieved him of an absoess in that situation, snatching him from the very jaws of death ; yet he killed a patient whose shoulder-joint he had set, by lancing an aneurism in mistake for a simple gathering, ' And : for every such accident which has happened, probably a hundred might be : found, were the truth known, that have been prevented only by what we are accustomed -: profanely, to term "sheer luck" or "chance." I was once clinical pupil of a great London surgeon, one who even then was quoted universally as the greatest authority on 'the disease of whicfc the case I am going to relate, was an instance, and whose public appoint-' ■ ments had long testified' to the recognition' ! oMiis talents, In one ward of the" hospital he had a patient who, he told us, was iuffer- , ing frem ah abscess in the region of the hip; . carefully demonstrating this, to, ys, as he \yas „,w,ont to do, and explaining how such a dis-' , was to be diagniaed from other-things 1 with which a want of due precaution mighty • causo it to be confounded, Ho then ordered .' me to get ready his instruments and chloro--1 form by the bedside; as he proposed, to incise ' the'swelling when he had finished his round " of visits in the hospital, and proceeded on his, ' way; but before he returned, the, man sud- , denly mysteriously,,died, .without, a i movement or a, groan, There was a fist:.mortm.examination of course; and it,was then found that what had been mistakenifor an abscess was in reality an aneurism, which.! ' had- burst of itself internally, and caused . instant death by loss of blood, An aneurism 1 is a loealised dilitation of an artery, which. • "go6s on increasing in ijze quite out of jiropOrti6n to the blood-vessel itself, so'that thesao may be as big as an.orange—as it was in this case—or, even larger, upon an artery no bigger' . than a goose-quill, -The chief danger in such a tumour lies in the possibility of its burst- , ing at any time, and to lance > it would, of . course, ibe almost necessarily immediately ■ fatal,''" Gentlemen," said our Professor, 1 as ' the mystery was revealed, and the terrible position from whiclT hd had so narrowly escaped becamo apparent, "the French have a proverb that there is a : special. providence ' for drunkards and children. I say there is a . special providence for. surgeons I". -, 1 Nature is a wonderful surgeon; she com* mences'a conservative process of 1 repair directly_after an injury, "Never too late to ' mend " is her motto. An old man,, of the enormous age of one hundred and two, came under ray notice, with, a, broken, hip-that • commonest of fraotures among elderly people, , whose,bones aro dry and brittle, often caused - by, accidents so slight as tripping the foot in a loose fold of carpet. 'No active treatment • could be adopted: : mechanical appliances 1 would have caused mortification of the skin ■ in a subject enfeebled by senile decay; sOhe "wa's'plaeed on a water-bed and, kept wholly at rest. He'lay there for . twelve , months, suffering but little, pain,., and then peacefully

passed away, having. ehded; Ihis - long 'i life iit comparative comfort,,. ( Aften death,. it was found that the fraotiire had actually, healed, though naturally in a false position, 1 ! A disagreeable little mtre-mps haftptas sometimes to young practitioners ; who are called upon'for the first : time to set a dislocated jaw. It rarely happens twice to' the Same operator. When the jawis "putout,! 1 ' the bands, tooffeot its reduction; must grasp it over the teeth as far back as possible, so as to exert forco in -tho necessary direction oii the angle, 'lt ia often no easy matter;';but when it does slip in, it goes back so suddenly that tho mouth shuts to with a snap like a rat-trap; and'the young surgeon' draws ah inference that for the future it will be better to shield his fingers with cork or india-rubber in dealing with cases of this kind. It is a well-known fact that people whose limbs have been amputated tell you that they can feel their 'fingers andtpes for a long time years, sometimes—and .will eTen describe, pain and'definite sensations as affeeting certain.joints of individual digits. This is readily understood when we J remember that the brain is the. only, part of tho ; body that,/«&', all sensations, 1 and impulses being conveyed to it from different parts by. Feelings of pain, heat, cold, touch, and the functions of the special senses aro telegraphed to it; and when-the connecting nerve is divided, it may be some time before it learns to' localise truly the seat of the sensation in appreciates, When we knook our " funny bones," wd experience a thrill in the little finger and inner border of the hand;, the faot being that we have stimulated the bundle of telegraph wiresknown as the,ulnar nerve—which transmit sensations from that finger and part of the next, in the middle,of its ,'cdurse, aa it winds round tho joint of tho elbow. ,•,

, Some years ago, a nurse in one of .our Metropolitan hospitals, mistaking one bottle for another in,the dim dawn.of a foggy morning, gave a poor woman;a, teaoupful.of concentrated carbolic acid, instead of black draught', The unfortunate patient drank half of it, and might have taken it { all before discovering the mistake, had- Bhe not paused for breath. 3he died in gr?at agony in a .few minutes, Medical men were of course on the spot 'j bnt nothing could be, done, There is no antidote to carbolic, acid; and the mouth, .throat, and—as we afterwards found—the stomach were so burnt that it was impossible to use tho stomach-pump; they were in faot charred white, like a stick. It appears extraordinary that ;any one should drink such a quantity, of a fluid so intently corrosive-as this acid without finding the mistake directly it touched tho lips; but medicines, never agreeable, are usually swallowed as hastily; as possible, and the patient does not stop to analyse any speoially unpleasant sensations, when lie knows that some inevitable,. ■ ■

A curious parallel to this case was brought before me,at sea,-where a quarter-master went into the cabin of an officer on watch in the middle'of the night, und seizing what hetook' to be a bottle of' brandy,' drank about six ounces of th'e ! contents, It was pure carbolic acid, and' the man fell'dead before he could summon assistance; but here, too, we may account for the largo amount, swallowed before the character'of the liquid' was recognised. He was consciously in the commission of a thoft, and being, moreover, in danger of deteotion every moment, no' doubt hurried to secure the brandy as' rapidly as he could, the expocted fluid, being'also of a burning nature to tho palate and throat, In this last case, the carbolic acid, though not in its own characteristic bottle,' was labelled "Poison," and was kept in the officer's washing-looker. 1 The quarter-master had no doubt caught sight of the bottle there, and imaginedit was stowed away for concealment,. About a tablespoonful of this excellent disinfectant in the morning's bath is a great luxury in the tropics, not only allaying the maddening!irritation 'of existent ".pricklyheat " and insect bites; but acting;as a preventive to other' eruptions, : and; offering ,a discouragement'to mosquitoes and other peats of these regions,

Water-spectacles.-During the bathing' season, some of our readers may hear with interest oE a recent invention calculated to enhance the pleasures of that healthy and agreeable pastime. . Most practised swimmers vary tHeir watery evolutions by an occasional aive; in these descents, however, all attempts to discern objects generally result in little more than a vague vision 'of shimmering patches of light and color. This indistinct perception is oaiised of course by the very different refractive power of water from that of air—the medium to which the complicated and' delicate apparatus of our eyes is adapted, To restore, then, distinct sight to the immersed eye, such a lens is neeaCd as will compensate for the difference in refractive power between air and water, and cause the focus of rays of light, reflected'from visible objects to our eye, to fall' flush upon the retina, as is the caSe when we are in our normal element, instead of falling beyond it, as occurs when' the eye is'submergedi' Such a lens has been devised by Dr, Dudgeon; arid diving-spec-tacles fitted with a pair of such glasses are manufactured by a London'optician, Mr, ; Adie, of Pall Mall,'-Cktiikrs' Journal, '

The Running-man ; Target.—Last year we took occasion to notice the.invention and patenting, by Mr, W. B.Blaikie, Edinburgh, of a running-man .target for rifle-practice.. The target, as; then explained, is made ,of stout millboard,, cut to represent a : man, life-size, and painted to the fancy of the shooter, It is suspended from a wire, along which it runs; and can be worked by one man, who, while operating, is proteoted in the ordinary marking-butt or mantlet,, and can signal thei hits: without leaving cover. The,purpose.whiohthis.target,is meant 'to serve—namely, to test a rifleman's ability to hit a moving objeot-iB a commendable one, To shoot at a fixed target, and to shoot at a moving figure, are very .different things; and if our Rifle Volunteers are to be serviceable in the field, they must be able to, do more, than merely ,make, : "points" at an, object that never moves, To show how much practice is needed in shooting at some such moving object as the running-man; target, we have only to instance what .took place at this year'B meeting of the .Edinburgh and Mid-Lothian Rifle Association, There were ; competitions at the running-man target (lifesize), moving at from,four to eight miles an hour, and at two hundred yards' , distance, The great proportion of the competitors were crack-shots j :yefc the .following: was the resuit: Out of eighty-four shots fired on the first day of the meeting, there were seven hits; on the second day, out of eighty-eight there were four hits, and out of a i hundred, nine hits;.,and,on. the third day, out of seventy-two shots, five hit; and on ,the fourth day,:out of two hundred shots, eighteen hit, -That is, outof five hundred and forty-four;shots fired by otherwise competent marksman, only forty-three in. all—or eight per cent.—struck the "tunningman. This seems to . speak strongly for some more efficient means: of rifle-practice than by fixed targets, being, adopted both for our Volunteers:and the regular army,

: / READY RETORTS, * ■ The number of witty.replies, ready'retorts, i ' and'" good things <" • 'generally attributed; to, ■Swiftj Foote, Sydney; Smith,, Sheridan; anil, 1 Other departed' celebrities,' would 1 doubtless l considerably astonish .those gentlemen, werjci they to return ■to life, i Happy tboughts'are notconfiued to' acknowledged wits, however, 'Most'of us have sometimes had occaaion to, say:'> What.a : good;repartee:such and such an answer l would: have been, had we only; thought of'it in time.'' 1 : But there is the rub. It is not given to every one,: perhaps fortunately for the general peace, to be as ready atretort, 1 for example, as the critic to whom the: following question was addressed by ah artist: " Don't you think it is about time I. exhibited something?" '"Yes; a .little talent, for instance,", was the reply.—To a. grocer who had retired from business, a friend said': "'My dear'fellow, you are looking thin;, idleness does not agree with you." - " Well, no," instantly 'replied the • grocer.j " I don't ■weigh so much as I did." : Another tradesman j a' Quaker;' who sold 'hats, was asked by a iustie the' price!of : one, "fifteen shillings," was the reply. • Thein-, tending, purchaser offered twelve shillings, 1 . ■'! As Hive," said the Quaker, "I-cannot afford to give it thee at that price.'' ; , ' "As you live I" exclaimed the countryman ; "then "live more .moderately, my: friend." ' A tailor and his son were doing a day'p-

- work at a farmhouse, The prudent; wife, ,to secure a good day's .work, lighted candles when daylight began to fade ■ Tqe tailor looked at hisson and said:" Jock, confound them that invented.working by candlelight I" "Ah," replied the snip, "or (laylight either I "—"You have no idea of % hard work, there is in this business," said a canvasser to a shopkeeper, "I tell you it is either talking or walking from morning till night," " Beg pardon," replied the victinj, " I have a pretty distinct idea of the talking, part of your programme..: Now, please favour me with an exhibition of the walking ■part," ■ • ..... i A sarcastic question may sometimes do duty for the severest of reply, " I never consider a dinner perfect without soup,',' said one man to another; "I always have soup when I dine," 11 And do yon ever have anything else?" returned the other.—A panning retort is also at times-very effective. "jl hadno time to stuff the chicken," apologised a landlady, l "Never mind, madam; it's tough, enough as it is,"'quickly replied the boarder. Another landlady, who tried to be. smart, was ; as effectually silenced. " I think, the goose has the advantage of: you," she remarked jo an expert boarder who was carving, Guess it has, mum, in age," was the ready retort., ." Here, waiter j what do you call this, you've brought me?" inquired a customer, I Waiter. " Ham, sir; you ordered ham." : : Customer. " When was it cooked ?" . Waiter (snappishly), "Idon't know,sir; we don't put tags on with the date and time of cooking I" . . : Customer. 'J You ought.to. This ham was . cooked thirty or forty years ago, Bring. me some,that .was cooked this year," , The customer; does not at all times have tho victory; sometimes itfalls to the waiter, A. bustling, fussy !.* commercial," waiting' impatiently for his dinner, called out to thie waiter: "John, how long will that, steak of mine be? " Why," repliod John quietly, "about the usual length, Bir—about, eig&t inches": ~

, Two American gentlemen in the course, of ,their travels , stopped at a small caf6 t in the suburha of Paris, for,'refreshments, Their repast was a light one, consisting of , tea, toast, and eggs; but the bill was a heavy one-nine francs in all," Garcon," exclaimed one of the tourists, " how's this ? Please, explain,'! , „ ; ," Well you see. Messieurs," , explained the waiter— 11 two .francs for the tea and toast, and seven franes for the.eggs,";, ; "Ah, then, are very scarce .about here?" . ; " No, Monsieur; eggs are not scarce, but Americans are I". " What do you mean by a cat-and-dog life?" said : a husband to his angry. wife. "Look at Carlo and Kitty asleep on therug) I wish men lived half as agreeably with .their wives,",: "Stop 1" said the lady. "Tie them together; and see how they will agree!" —As ready, but more curious, was the.reply of a nurse, She was telling about a man who had become so worn-out through intemperance that he could not keep any food on .his stomach, when one of her listeners asked: "What does he live on, then?" "On his i relations, ma'am,"'was the answer, ,

~ The. wpliea ■ , by ; impulß\y/e phildr en,, , .whqn scolded jinii so] forth, are often .(is,', apt, '.as! the; instance, a bright.'little, girl was sent'.to. get, 'isom? ,eggs,; t and ( ,o'n^, her ' ( way; .back' b tumfiled i and fell,-, making sad, hayoo .'among; the/.con-j tents'of .her; basket, ",'".W]6h't yo'u' batch, it, home;tho'ugh!" exclaimed her companion. . "No;„indeed. I answered,;' "I've , got' a, grandmo'ther'.,"— " Sophy,.if, you,'.doht be.,quiet, j shall have', to'whip you," aaid the fathoi' ,'of- a large, •family, who, always left .the.,'disagreeable., duty of punishing the ' unruly!to his 'wife. Pooh 1" contemptuously fetprted.'the little, incorrigible, he addressed,; tossing her'curly head,' " you, ain't the mother.''—'.' How,old are you, my little man ?" salted a gehtleman. of a youngster of . three;, years, to lie, was being..introduced. 'Tm not old," re-, plied the litile m an,; " I'm almost^ew,", , Boys' retorts are, as may be expected, gene-, rally of the rude' kiiiily .as'. wlien ;a woinali. .said, tp,a youngster wjip| impudent to.herj'.":Little,boy; have,you a.mother?" .."iNo j but, Pad wdiildn't; marry yoii if,thei;e wasn't "ahhousekeeperr r in the .whole blessed land," .the. .reply.—", Charley," , t |a„ .mother to her seven-year-old.- boy,, .".you| must not. interrupt, me |when I am talking with ladies.. You must wait.till,,we.stop, andthpn you can talk,' 1 ; "But you never stop 1" retorted the boy.—Little Tommy.was having his. hair combed by. his mother, !,and

he grumbled at the operation, " Why, Tommy,, you oughtn't to make such a fiis^.' I don't when my hair, is bombed."' "Yes'; but/o/ir hair ain't'hitohed to your head," ■ Equally ijertiuont was the answer givon by a great musical composer to a remark. When a-youth., he was clerk to a very rich but ex-' ceedingly commonplace, in fact stupid employer, One day, an acquaintance commiserated the clever lad on his position, saying : " What a pity it is that you are not the master, and ho your clerk," "Oh, my friend," returned the youth, "do not say that.. If he-were my. clerk, what on earth could I do with hini

" People'living-in jthe 'country have 'man? 'advantages over those; pent, up in r, ordwdeplv Cities,' but there aro some of the conveniences Of town-life which cahnot be left 'behiic,without ; a.feeling of'Mgretj i' ! ' '■ I : Who'lias not experienced: the misery-' (f( reading' ! by candle-light'• during; a r : . holiday at tho'seaside? aud although the use'.' Of- kerosene; is'rt great improvement; yet there; is 1 no : incdnsiderable risk ■of accident 1 with lamps, in ! a house Where there'-are l children! living:"' 1 ''' : l I ■■ •' ' ■'>"'! ; | f " Young' people must be' aiAUsed; 'but.tvheh' tliey take 'to'romping tound'W'table'with a lamp on it; one's flesh bfegitis to'creep'; lest,- in ; a moment of excitement, they should clutch the table-cloth and' jerk the lamp on the flooj,; This has been the cause of many a fire, Badly destructive tO'life andproperty, 5 J; I, : At sublva time, the wish'is natural -that' 'our country friends-should have sonie mean'sI .of d l cheap; light,' passing j through fixed pipes' dbd bfa'cfets, instead l cp' those dangerous movable lanips,- ''■ j i I,;! Coal, gas) metallic, gas, Jight,'! and all these,big coippany 'sbhemes 'of. public,' lighting,can never : supply : single'houses;in ! .sparsely inhabited districts, for they're only .applicable to populous centres, 'and the want; of the times, therefore, is a handy, portable machine, by wliich gas can be,madein every household just as it may be' required. Wo