Democratic Sentinel, Volume 8, Number 44, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 28 November 1884 — How a Grest Doctor Works. [ARTICLE]

How a Grest Doctor Works.

To see my own work, I have been honored with the visits of a large number of surgeons from this continent, some of whom I see here now. I believe thev came with the belief that they would find I had some secret antiseptic agent, the use of which was the explanation of my success. If I have such an agent, it mnst be of universal (existence in nature, for I have made I some of my visitors take water from the tap and' put it into the basins for the sponges, and over the instruments, and into the abdomen. I have made them drink it, and have offered it to them for analysis, and so far I have not been detected in any exercise of magic. My visitors always ask to wbat I attribute my success, and I answer that I cannot tell. If I may formulate my own answers, they would be briefly to this effect: I have given up my life to this work, and I engage in no other kind of practice; therefore, I have a constant weekly experience of five or six of these operations, sometimes as many as eight or ten. I pay the most minute attention to every detail, and maintain an absolute rule of iron over my nurses and my patients. I will not, if I can avoid it, operate in a private house, for there I have no control over nurse or patient, still less over foolish friends. Finally, I gave great personal attention to cleanliness in every detail of my work. I trust no nurses or servants without overlooking; and I am constantly, and at unexpected times, turning up carpets, taking down shelves, and routing out cupboards. In this way, and by a process of weeding, I have obtained a large staff of good servants, and have founded a large establishment in which every available precaution is secured. I can give no other reasons than these for my success, and jftobably they will, commend themselves to you. —Address by Dr. Lawson Tait.