The Eve of All-Hallows; Or, Adelaide of Tyrconnel, v. 3 of 3Hartstonge, Matthew Weld
General
The Eve of All-Hallows; Or, Adelaide of Tyrconnel, v. 3 of 3
Hartstonge, Matthew Weld
Fiction
Accordingly a Dutch surgeon, _cognomine_ Mynheer Van Phlebodem, a
practitioner of considerable repute, was called in, who, in conferring
with his learned brethren, after a minute examination of the patient,
whom he found labouring under a restless accession of fever, and having
understood that Sir David Bruce had not sustained any loss of blood
worth noticing, as issuing from the wound, the sage Mynheer considered
it advisable to open a vein immediately, as he was decidedly of
opinion, from a course of long established practice, that repeated
and copious bleedings, promptly and immediately adopted in the
commencement, seldom or never fail of being attended with success. They
prevented too, he said, much pain; kept down likewise inflammation,
and diminished the assaults of fever, &c. &c.--This determination was
accordingly carried into effect.
At one time, from long continued pain and continued loss of sleep, it
was found necessary liberally to administer opium; at another period
the medical attendants, fearing symptoms of mortification to appear,
were not sparing in administering doses of Peruvian bark, with which
they drenched their victim.
For the first fifteen or twenty days considerable apprehensions
were entertained for the safety of the patient's life. We feel,
however, most happy to state that none of those predicted evils
ensued, although certainly circumstances existed to call forth such
apprehensions--namely, the violent heat of summer, the deadly pain
of the wound, the irritation caused by fever, the inflamed state of
the patient's blood; these certainly were conducive in exciting those
melancholy forebodings. A constantly cooling regimen was rigidly
enforced, and the patient kept quiet, free from noise or irritation. At
another stage of the patient's confinement gangrene was again seriously
indeed apprehended; however, from the external application of warm
emolients, &c. &c., this apprehended danger was completely obviated,
suppuration was successfully brought on, and the learned triumvirate
freely acknowledged that the patient might now be pronounced as
nearly out of danger; and in about ten days, or longer, the ball was
cautiously and safely extracted, and with no other ill result, we are
happy to state, than the operation having caused a considerable degree
of torture in the shoulder of our wounded hero.
Nothing could exceed the manifold attentions which were shown, and the
intense interest that was felt by every individual in the family of
Tyrconnel, and that innumerable kindnesses were fully manifested from
a certain quarter our readers will not be at a loss to guess, during
the illness and progress of recovery of the wounded patient, whose
convalescence, we are happy to state, had so far advanced that he was
daily permitted to walk for an hour in the garden pertaining to the
mansion of Tyrconnel.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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