Rensselaer Republican, Volume 19, Number 41, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 16 June 1887 — LESSON IN ANATOMY. [ARTICLE]

LESSON IN ANATOMY.

It was at Naples that the incident occtwTed of which I am about to speak, said Gen. Geraldi as he seated himself at a table in the Napolino Club room and lighted a cigar. It was many yfears ago and when I was a very much younger man than I am at present, but I have only to close my eye* ami the place—ihe scene, even to its smallest detail—is before me as distinctly as upon the day it happened. The name of the principal actor implicated in the horrible affair I withhold for obvious reasons, but 1 will say that he was a well known physician, celebrated in the profession of medicine and scientific surgery, and that he is dead. He died regretted, beloved, and honored by all who"knew him, though it might have been' otherwise* in spite of his generous and kindly nature, had everything been told; but I am getting too far ahead in the story. In the winter of 1860, the General continued, addressing the group of gentlemen gathered about the table with him, most of them in the semiofficial dress of men Who have at one time served in the army, business called me to the eity of Naples. I had been there six months or more when accident brought me the acquaintance of Pietro Gonzalez, a youth from the Island of Calabres. who had come to the Capital of the Two Sicilies for the the purpose of devoting himself to the profession of advocate. Pietro detested the profession of advocate, was wholly unfitted for iL, in fact, and had adopted it only to gratify the wishes of his father. However, at, the time that I met him he had given it up and was going through a course of medical studies as conscientiously, even though as perfunctorily, pursued as the former course of law. —— Perhaps you are not aware cf it. but it is nevertheless true that the parents of the youth of Italy, particularly of Naples, whether of the higher or of the middle classes of society, recognize but two suitable careers for their sons—one the bar. the other medicine —the "liberal professions'.’ as they call them—arrff: so far "do thprvaiTj'” Theperjudice that a young man who .persistsin the choice of a profession other than one of the two named is immediately turned out of cloors by "his parents, the ceremony being accompanied by appropriate maledictions. Under the circumstances it is not remarkable that Neapolitan circles are singularly lacking in notable architects, authors, poets, and painters, and singularly overcrowded in other directions; but to .return. A warm and close intimacy had gradually .established itself between Gonzalez and myself. One day. meeting him in the street on his way to one of his interminable lectures, lie invited me to accompany him. With little fancy for amusements of this kind I tried to get out of it, preferring to study the structure of the human body frpm books of physiology, or, better still, from living beings. It was not as realistic, of course, but sufficiently instructive for one whose business required him to make instead of mangling, corpses. Overruled at last by Peitrus persistency, but still against my will, I consented to go with him. No, decidedly. I have not forgotten the scene which chance or fatality made me a witness of. nor the theatre of its occurrence; but when I sav theatre, I do not use the right word—amphitheatre would be more correct, for we were in the disx>ot«ng-room of the “Hospital des Incurables, a cruel and sinister name for the unfortunate ones brought there to be treated.

Pietro told me as we walked along that Dr. X., we will cal! hiin.Anr the. sake of eohveaienco,' tew? filiysician to whom I referred a while ago, was not to deliver one of his Usual public lectures. but a semi-private lesson in anatomy to a dozen or so of his best pupils, demonstrated, of bourse. Ty the seapel. “ _ Pietro wasr occasionally permitted to bring a friend with him. He had invited—nay, more than that—lie had, kidnaped me, . . . The huge, circular ball appropriated to the making of autopsies in the Hospital des Incurables wa£ lighted— I had forgotten to .-at that it was a night lectum—by a large and peculiarly con- - struyted lantern hanging low from the center of the eeiimg. A powerful um-brella-shaped reflector, supported Upon’ an upright, was so arranged above the lantern as to throw all the Ilght fronF the burners down upon a marble table standing just beneath it. The rest of the lugubrious apartment was plunged in a black obscurity. * The class of students was already assembled when we entered the dissect-ing-room, talking, laughing, and rallying each other with the levity us thoughtless youth, and at the moment of our arrival- two of the hospital attendants were bringing in the body, the “subject” of the coming lecture, wrapped in an bid and dingy shroud. Judging from the panfjng and puffing

as thetnen, theirntating shuffle of their feet upon the floor, and tlie haste with which they tumbled it upon the slab, the “subject - ' was in an unusually robust condition. - A moment later 'the* doctor entered the room and with a courteous inclination'in the direction of the students at. once approached the table. “I will occupy your attention this evening; gentlcmeir, 1 ’ he began, carefully. uncovering the I sidy and scrutinizing it closely, “with the organs of respiration, and, as Jou see, the subject before us is particularly well adapted to display their wonderful nmehanism. He is young, perfectly-formed, and what is more essential still, has not died from any disease either of the trachea, "Bronchial tubes, or the lungs. We shall therefore beriible' to see these organs in an entirely natural state. Wo shall begin with physiology—pathology will in its turn.” Tlie doctor said all this in a sort of preamble, as lie drew from his satchel a case of instruments, and from the case of instruments a superb seapel. , The students gathered about the table with that expectancy oflouk, that eager attention shown by all truc#eekers after knowledge. It was not amusing, I can assure you, but since I was there I did j as the others did and joined tlie circle j about the body. You all recall Rembrandt's “Lesson in Anatomy,” do you not? said Gen. Geraldi, appealing to his companions. Well, add to that the timings, the shadows, the groupings, of a Guerard Storer, better known as the “painter of nights.” and you will have some little idea of that lugubrious scene. The body, stretched upon the table, naked, and lying in the light of the lantern, was that of a man suddenly struck by death in the very prime of -life. Magnificently formed, of tall, commanding stature, and with round and well-developed muscles, he would have been a model for an artist. • * * * There was profound silence in the room as the doctor began his preparations to open the body. “This””said he, carefully adjusting the instrument to the neck of the corpse, “the point at which we shall begin the examination, is the (esophagus, or gullet, the pipe that supplies the air to the lungs,” and with a short, swift turn of the wrist the doctor buried the scalpel deeply. As the instrument sank into the tlesh the man started up, his pale face violently contracted, his. hands clinched, his breast heaving, His eyes, openii g again and again. | fixed themselves upon us with strange and untranslatable looks, a hoarse and strangled cry forcing itself from the purple lips. At this horrible sight the doctor became, as pale as death,-then as fed as flame. With a sudden, rapid movement of the scalpel, using” all his strength, he opened the breast of the man from windpipe, to diaphragm. At the same time, in a vfiice made firm by prodigious effort of will, he said to his pupils: “Give me your attention, please; galvanic phenomena are of no importance—the lesson now begins.” All this passed in less than a second I felt my temples covered with a cold sweat—my legs bent under me. I was fom-d to hold to the upright of the lantern to keep myself erect. That cry—that hoarse, gasping agonizing cryterrified and appalled me! I raised my eyes to Gonzalez and to the rest of tlnclass—they also were ghastly with fright—but no one spoke, no one moved, no one dared to risk even a gesture. They understood instinctively that the doctor, convinced of the impossibility of restoring the man after the wound he had given him, had taken the surest and promptest way of finishing him. No matter what had been the ruling motive in this mangling of the poor wretch before us, humanity, philanthropy; self-interest, he had nevertheless: been assasinated. What must have been the feelings of that physician as, never for an instant losing his presence of mind; he forced himself to continue the lesson! He perceived, of course, the embarrassment of his auditors. distracted by tlie' memory of that terrible cry, that imploring look; yet nothing in face or manner betrayed it. After the lirst involuntary tremor not a muscle quivered; his voice was never calmer, his sentences more sonorously rounded, fluent, or eloquent'.

The uneasiness was. general, and at the close of the lecture—the length of it considerable abridged 1 , I can tell you—we hurried from the room, the doctor going with us, but not without first slipping in some clever words about the '-as yet unraveled mysteries of science,” “professional secrets,” and “discretion 'generally” 'as necessary ai quality to the success of a physician, so ] the doctor stated, as knowledge, of the j calling itself. All the same he took good care not to refer to vrlvau- we liad- | ! seen and heard at the opening of the : lecture, but he knew fliaf we ha’d uhderstood his meaning, and read upon bar: fa ees. as by tacit t-v-nsent, the j .remise of inviolate secrecy. . . .Well, -awlwe kiret-ite~smd~-Geraldi,. laying a j sidtf his cigar and raising to leave the ; roomr b.it it is needless -to sav that I ■ j have never since attended a dissecting I • seance. A- for Pietro Gonzalez, he is | ; not a doctor. The peaceful avocation ’ j. Of Gal:'.bt".;tr. sheep- raising insomnia no 1 longer sits upon his pillow and ’.plague j I him with a-sealpel ■—Adaptad by A. de Lanzicrt s Thcmincs. ~ 0