Jasper Banner, Volume 4, Number 20, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 15 July 1857 — THE SURGEON’S REVENGE. [ARTICLE]

THE SURGEON’S REVENGE.

' The following deeply interesting story was related by Dr. Gibson, in one of his lectures before the medi-1 cal class of the University of Pennsylvania. The hero of the story is Vesale ; one of the most eminent Italian surgeons. Andrew Vesale first saw light in the city of Brussels.*’ His father was an apothecary, attached to the service of the Princess Margaret, aunt of Charles V., and governess of the low countries. Up to the period when Vesale first rendered himself conspicuous, the anatomy of the human body was so imperfectly understood as! scarcely to merit that the terms of I science should be applied to the.! dim and confused idea relating to it. Vesale was the first to break through the trammels with which ignorance and bigotry had crippled the march of science ; surmounting with admirable courage and constancy the disgust, the terror and the peril inseparable from this._descqptiou of the labor in which he had devoted himself, he was to be seen whole days and nights in the cemetries, surrounded by the festering remains of mortality, or hovering about the gibbets, and disputing the vulture for its prey, in order to compose a perfect skeleton from the remains of executed criminals, left there by the carrion bird. It was during a sojourn aVßasle, after his return from Italy, that Vesale first beheld at the house of Hans Holbien, the painter, Isabella Von Steenwrak, the daughter of a merchant of Harlaem, who was destined to exercise some influence over his future life. He was scarcely twen ty-eight years of age, and already he had attained the summit of well directed ambition. The family of Von Steenwrak was wealthy and honorable, far superior to that of Vesale in birth and fortune : but the distinguished position the latter had acquired for himself, entitled him to an alliance even more exalted. The son of the Princess Margaret’s apothetary would have been rejected by the rich Harlaem, but as .the Emperor’s first physician, was accepted by him as a most eligible son-in-law. JThc solemnized, Vesale. ac-| companied by his young bride, set! off for Seville, where Charles then. held his court. Though she loved her husband, there was so much awe mingled with her affection as to throw an appearance of restraint over her demeanor towards him even in the privacy of , domestic life. The very nature of his profession and occupation was calculated to increase that awe, and even to create some degree of repugnance in a shrinking mind, which nothing but strong affection could overcome. Isabella’sjiature required skillful drawing out and tender fostering. Vesale,. unfortunately, mistook her timidity for coldness, aniLtesented it accordingly ; this led to estrangement on her part, which he attributed to dislikd, and jealouu 1 distrust at last took possession of< his soul. Vesale’s house beoame. the resort of all that was noble and gallant in 14

Seville, and he for a time 1 believed his own scientific conversation to be the attraction. At first the young wife showed her usual calm indifference to the admiration that followed wherever she was seen ; but, at last, something in her manner and countenance, whenever one par - ticular person appeared, or his name was mentioned, betrayed that there did exist a being who had discovered the secret for causing the blood to flow more tumultuously through her veins. That person was Don Alva de Solis ; and as he was young, handsome, gay, and the most inconstant gallant in Seville, the suspicions of Vesale were painfully aroused. He took silent note of the unusual emotions that agitated Isabella whenever the nobleman was in her presence. » The general conduct of Don Alva was calculated to bailie suspicion, being marked by indifference. This would have misled the vigilant husband, had he not on one occasion when his back was turned toward Don Alva, perceiyed him in an opposite minor, fix his kindling eyes upon Isabella with an expression not to be mistaken, while she 'grew red and pale by turns, and then as though unable to surmount her agitation, rose and left the room. Shortly afterwards Vesale received an anonymous note, saying—- “ Look to your Wife and Don Alva 'de Solis, and be not deceived by api pearance. They only want a fitting opportunity to dishonor you. Even now he carries about him the gloves she dropped for him at mass-” Vesale shut himself up to ponder over the most effectual means of avenging himself. His resolution was soon taken. Having established schools of anatomy at St. Luear and Cordova, he obtained the Emperor’s permission to visit them, quitted Seville ostensibly for that purpose, but returned the same ■ night and concealed himself in a i tenement belonging to him at some i distance from his abode in Aleazar, which was devoted to the double purpose of a laboratory and dissecting room. He had taken no person into hisconfidence—he was alone in his own counsel. At dark on the following evening he issued forth, muffled to the eyes in a womart’s mantle and hood, and left a note at Don Alva’s habitation, containing an embroidered glove of Isabella’s and these words — “ I have obtained the key to Vesale’s laboratory during his absence; be at the gate an hour after midnight and you will be admitted on pronouncing the name of Isabella.” The assignation was promptly kept by Don Alva. At an hour past midnight he left his house alone, but never to it. Whither he had gone none could say ; nor could any trace of him ever be discovered. It was supposed he must have missed his footing and fallen* into the Guadalquiver, near which his abode was situated; and that his body had been swept away by the waves into the ocean. Such an occurrence was calculated to produce a great sensation in the place where it happened ; and Vesale, recalled three weeks after the illness of- his wife, found the disappearance of Don Alva the theme of every tongue. The altered appearance of Isabella was attributed by Vesale to grief for the mysterious absence of Don Alva, and that conviction took from him all pity for her sufferings. It chanced to be the festival of i Santa Isabella, and to dojtipnor to (her patron saint, as well as to celel bratc the return of her husband, Isaibella put on her wedding dress, and seating herself by an open casement that overlooked the Alva garden, she watched for his coming. But whilst her eyes were vainly fixed upon the path by which she expeeteff hijn to (appear, a hand was laid on her shoulder, and turning around she beheld Vesale standing beside her. “ I have ordered the supper to be laid in my study,” said he, and taking her hand, he led her away to the room in question, dismissed Uie attendant and closed the door. Everything wore a festive air; yet the repast was cheerless. Perceiving that she had tasted nothing, Vesale poured a few drops of elixir in a cup of Malaga wine, and presenting it to her : L “ Drink this,” he said,“ it is a sovereign cure for the disease you are suffering from.” "Pledge me the draught,” she re-

plied filling up a goblet from the same flask, and handing it to him, “ and it will bring a quicker healing tome. Let us drink to our absent j friend Annre.” Vesale accepted the offering, and they emptied their goblets together. , Talking of absent friends,” said i he, and suddenly fixing his eyes | upon her, “you nave not spoken to, me of Don Alva de Solis. Are alli hopes of hearing from him relinquished ? He was a braggart and a libertine, and boasted that no woman ever resisted his seductions, that no husband ever 'suspected the injutv he was preparing for him.” Then grasping his wife by the hand ha led her up to the door at the further end of the room, and throwing the door wide open, revealed to her vifew a skeleton, suspended within, holding in one of his bony hands one of her embroidered gloves. " Behold,” he said pointing to the ghastly spectacle, J‘ the gallant and beautiful Doti Alva de Solis, the object of your guilty love—contemplate him well, if the 'sight can render your few moments any happier, for you are.about to join him in another world—the wine I have given you was poisoned 1 ” When the last dreadful sentence, and its most dreadful illustration, fell uyon ner affrighted senses, she became with excess of emotionj.the scream which had risen to her throat, died there in strangling murmurs, and sinking back, she fell as one dead upon the arms of Vesale. She was not dead, however —he had not poisoned her; the crime he had hesitated to commit; yet hei was none the less her murderer. Convulsion and at last she died; and in that supreme moment, the hour that preceded her death, her husband, who never quitted her, beheld one of those phenomcnas which sometimes attend the dying. Awakening from a' torpid slumber, consciousness and ’ memory returning at once, and with i them a calmness and courage she i never possessed in the flush of life : " Andre,” said the dying woman, fixing her eyes on her husband. “I am dying by your hand, yet I am innocent ; I ijever wronged you by thought or by deed; Don Alva pursued me with lils IbVe and threats, but I repulsed them. “ I never loved but you. I feared and honored you as much as I loved, but I dared not tell you of his pursuit. Oh ! Andre, believe my words, the dying deal not in falsehoods. | Should 1 be thus calm were 1 guil- j ty?” ’ Vesale, sinking upon his knees, i solemnly protested his faith in the j of his wife, and with cho- j king sobs abjured her to believe he only feigned to give her poison—that he could not nerve his hand to ■ tatrfe her life; but the terror of, death, not death itself, was upon her. And while he yet spoke, Isabella murmured — ‘Thanks be to" Heaven for this,’ and drawing his hand towards her, laid it upon herjieart, and as she did it ceased to beat. A Sentiment —The Ladies—May their virtues exceed even the magnitude of their skirts, while their faults are still smaller than their bonnets.— Ex. / And may their- love be as endless and encircling as their hoops; their smiles radiant as their artificials and their acts of charity as numerous as their store bills: — Ex. On Saturday night last, in Broome Co.,N. Y-, Mary Shannon Shot a negro under the following circumstances: He went to the house and demanded admittance, and threatened to break open the house and shoot her, if sjjc did not let him in. On her refusal to do so, fie broke open the door and lighted a match, by the light of which she shot him. ■ —7—— Munificent Bequest.—Mdses Sheppard, of Baltimore, who died on. Sunday, supposed to be wotth SBOO,OOO, has left nearly the bulk-of his fortune forthe founding of an insane Asylum. By the provisions of the #ill, thd institution ie to be located near Baltimore, and to be free to all sects and' denominations, except in the-eveMt oLits.being cr.Qvyded, when preference is to be given to members of the Society of Friends. IT ,Mary Howitt'has' become a