It is not my intention to give a full description of hospital life as it
came under my personal observation, nor to recount the many cruel acts
or cases of stupid negligence on the part of the house staff as
perpetrated upon myself and other patients, during my stay in the Ruff
Hospital as a ward patient, as to do the subject justice would require
at least a volume in itself. Neither is it my desire to hold responsible
any particular person or persons for the existence of such a barbarous
state of affairs, in which degraded wretches inflict punishment upon the
sick, knowing that this is but one of the logical results bred from the
debasing system kept in force by a semi-intelligent class of selfish
brutes, who are crafty enough to gain control of others by teaching the
cruel and savage doctrine known as the "survival of the fittest." I have
nothing but a feeling of compassion and sorrow for those abject
creatures who mistreated me when I was sick, knowing that they, as well
as those whom they mistreated, were but the victims of this pernicious
system.
In the desperate struggle for a mere existence, most men and women are
forced into employment for which they are entirely unfitted, and
consequently take no other interest in their work than that of receiving
their weekly or monthly stipend. This fact was thoroughly demonstrated
to me by the action of several nurses who appeared to look upon their
work as tasks to be executed mechanically, instead of duties to be
performed with pleasure. Then again, others who really preferred the
work were either kept away from it entirely, or else made dull, peevish
and irritable by the great number of hours they were forced to be on
duty each day, thus turning what should have been pleasant employment
into a drudgery. And like the nurses, so were the orderlies; their daily
work hours were so long and their pay so small that only the least
intelligent and most stupid moral idiots could be secured to take
positions that should be filled by men of the very highest intelligence,
character and sympathy.
The physicians themselves I found to be inexperienced youths, generally
masquerading under a set of whiskers, which some people are foolish
enough to mistake for brains and ability. Coming direct from the medical
colleges, they accepted these positions in order to gain some practical
experience at the expense of the lives of the hospital patients.
The bricklayer, who devotes his life to the honorable work of building
the edifice; the hod carrier, who gives his best services to the
community in an equally honorable employment; the locomotive engineer,
who safely carries from city to city a train load of human beings each
day for many years, are only fit to be practiced upon by inexperienced
physicians, and abused by irritable nurses and cruel orderlies, if they
are finally overcome by sickness and enter a charity hospital for
treatment.
For several days I lay upon my little ward cot in the Ruff Hospital,
with my life hanging in the balance, and obliged to accept for succor
the abuse and mistreatment of an inferior house staff. And worse still,
I had to be an eye witness to cruelties imposed upon other and less
fortunate sufferers than myself. I feel sure that many a poor fellow
that I saw carried away upon a stretcher, a lifeless corpse, had given
up all hope of recovery and died, for the want of a few cheering words
and kindly sympathy from sonic one, instead of the constant abuse and
brutality he was subjected to.
I fully believe that I myself must have inevitably succumbed to my
pitiless treatment, had it not been for the fact that the young girl,
Arletta, visited me each day for a half hour, bestowing upon me a tender
sympathy, and manifesting the greatest concern for my welfare and
recovery.
I was placed in a most peculiar position. I could get no information
whatsoever from the doctors, nurses, or orderlies, and even Arletta said
very little, and cautioned me against talking or exciting myself in any
manner. I learned enough, however, to know that twenty-one years had
actually elapsed since my wonderful experience with Arletta of Sageland,
and felt convinced beyond a doubt that the beautiful young girl, who
took such an interest in my welfare, was impelled by the same soul as my
noble instructress in Natural Law. But I was intensely mystified and
unable to conceive what had become of the time between the going of the
one and the coming of the other Arletta.
Twenty-one years had been swallowed up as completely as if they had
never been. Nearly one-half of my life had passed away, of which I could
give absolutely no account. A look into the mirror was a convincing
proof of this fact, for therein I saw a white-haired and premature old
man, with a thin, haggard and drawn countenance, which plainly showed
the results of having lived a life of hardship, and almost
unrecognizable as my own face. My heavy black mustache was gone, and in
its place nothing but white stubble remained. The more I endeavored to
reach some tangible solution of the mystery, the more confused I became.
According to the girl, Arletta's story, I had been introduced to her at
a reception in Paris three years previously, had apparently fallen
desperately in love with her, and made myself obnoxious by following her
everywhere she went for several months. But as neither she nor her
parents liked me, I was finally eluded, and had not been seen for over
two years. According to her account, I was generally looked upon as a
rich gentleman of leisure and bad habits, who did nothing but travel and
spend money recklessly. This being the case, the foremost questions of
my mind were: Where had I gotten the money to spend so extravagantly?
Had I lived those twenty-one years as a rational being, earning and
accumulating wealth and still not knowing anything about it? Arletta of
Sageland had told me that there was no such thing as a freak of nature,
and that everything worked according to Natural Law, but my case
certainly seemed to be an exception to the general run of things. What
would be the final outcome of my mysterious career, was a question to be
answered that was entirely beyond the limits of my imagination. It gave
me a severe pain in the head to contemplate beyond the surface of the
subject, and I finally allowed the whole matter to slip from my
attention and bent my efforts toward recovery from the effects of my
physical ailments.
One day Arletta said to me in as kindly a manner as possible: "Mr.
Convert, the doctor informs me that the reason you do not get well is
because you lack the will power to do so."
"Will power," exclaimed I, "my dear sweet girl, that is all I have left.
It is the only force that is keeping me alive in the face of the
cruelest treatment man could possibly receive at the hands of his fellow
beings. Without will power I should have been killed long ago by these
people, but through that agency alone I have been enabled to defy death
and I promise you that I shall get well in spite of them."
"Why, Mr. Convert, how can you talk so harshly against these kind
people? I am sure they are doing everything within their power to make
you well."
"You think so because you know nothing of the case," answered I. "You
simply visit this place for a half hour each day, at a time that
everything is moving along smoothly, and merely get a surface view of
matters. It is my earnest hope that you may never get a practical
insight into these things by being placed in the same position as myself
or these other poor fellows all around me. If all the poor unfortunates
I have seen carried out of this ward, corpses, have died for want of the
same kind of will power I require, then all I can say is that the
doctors here should be held responsible for a great many cases of actual
murder."
"Why, Mr. Convert, what do you mean by talking in this way?" inquired
she.
"Just this," replied I, "these doctors are treating me for the wrong
ailment. I am suffering no more from the effects of typhoid fever than
you are, but still these doctors are trying to cure me of a malady which
does not exist. Since recovering my memory I have observed that the many
typhoid patients all around me have been bathed from five to ten times
daily, while my fever rises to a point which necessitates an ice bath to
reduce it but once each day, and always at the same hour, five o'clock
in the afternoon. In any part of the world where malaria is prevalent
these symptoms indicate nothing more nor less than chills and fever and
should be cured within a day or two by a few doses of quinine. I have
explained this to the doctors several times, but with a wisdom born of
book learning they have contemptuously disregarded my advice and still
continue to treat me for enteric fever, and then lay the blame upon me
for not getting well. Do not doubt me, my dear girl, I know what I am
talking about. Up to a few days ago my memory was obscured, but now I am
in my right senses and fully capable of using all of my reasoning
faculties to their fullest extent. Some day I shall explain many strange
things to you, of which you know nothing. But now I must devote all of
my thoughts and forces toward regaining my former physical strength, and
likewise increase my moral and mental vigor for a future great work."
Arletta said no more at that time, but to my great surprise, the next
day I was transferred from the charity ward to a paid private room in
another part of the hospital. The furnishings of this room were of the
most luxurious description, and the nurse informed me that it was the
very best and highest priced apartment in the building. I afterwards
learned that the cost of renting this room, including attendance, was
one hundred dollars per week. Arletta had secured it for me. It was
really remarkable how quickly the value of my life increased in the eyes
of those hospital attendants, by the expenditure of a little money. From
a worthless proletariat I was suddenly transformed into a man of great
importance. There were two private nurses to wait on me, and they moved
with the celerity of antelopes in response to my slightest bidding. They
appeared to be bubbling over with kindness and attention, and seemed to
anticipate my every want. The orderlies treated me as if I were the
crowned ruler of the universe, while the doctors displayed an unnatural
politeness that was almost amusing. I found out later that Arletta was
to fee them all handsomely in case of my early recovery. My new nurses
were always ready to answer questions and give me any information I
wanted.
Upon arriving at my new and sumptuous quarters, one of the nurses
informed me that I was to receive a personal visit from the great Doctor
Know-all that day. She further informed me that he was considered to be
the leading physician of America and that he never made a professional
call for less than one thousand dollars. As if by appointment Arletta
and this doctor arrived at almost the same moment. Several of the house
physicians also followed him into the room anxious to learn what
diagnosis this celebrated practitioner would make of a case which had so
baffled them. He lost no time in unnecessary talk but got down to work
immediately, first looking over the charts which recorded my condition
since my entrance to the hospital. Then he examined me carefully, with
various instruments, from the tip of my head to the sole of my foot,
meanwhile asking me many questions on widely different subjects.
At last he turned to the house physicians and said: "It is my opinion
that when this man first entered the hospital he was merely suffering
from a simple case of malaria and not enteric fever, as you have
diagnosed. Since then his kidneys have become affected, and he now
suffers from both malaria and lumbago. For the fever, give him ten
grains of quinine three times a day for two days and gradually diminish
the quantity until the fever abates entirely. Begin to feed him after
the second day. For the lumbago, give him at least two quarts of lithia
water to drink each day. Now as to the man's mental calibre, I find him
perfectly sane and normal. But owing to a fracture of the skull
sustained by him some time in the past, the two sides of his brain have
become separated, causing two distinct personalities to exist. When one
side of the brain works, the other side remains dormant, and vice versa.
He likewise possesses a dual memory, and is only capable of recollecting
events as they happen separately and distinctly, according to the side
of the brain which takes the impression. Consequently, this man may have
lived a perfectly sane life during the past twenty-one years, of which
he claims to have no recollection. He may at any time in the future
resume either personality by some slight mental disturbance, but his two
personalities will always remain as strangers to each other."
Having thus delivered himself, the doctor, who apparently was bent upon
making a few more thousand dollar calls that day, hurriedly, but with
great dignity, strode out of the room, closely followed by the other
physicians.
After they had departed, and we were alone, Arletta pulled a chair up
close to the head of my bed, and, looking steadily and earnestly into my
eyes, said: "I sincerely hope, Mr. Convert, that you may never again
resume your other personality."