assisted at, was I ever so struck with the utter inefficiency of the
measures resorted to, which yet seemed all of the most appropriate
and potential kind. I knew that there was no fault in the operation,
and that every expedient was strictly in accordance with the rules.
'He bears that stretching well,' said Parcels, one of the young
éléves. 'The dislocation must be into the ischiatic notch.'
'It is,' replied Berry. 'The thigh should be pulled up more. Rhodes,
instead of sending you up there again, to straddle over this poor
fellow, we'd better put you at the halyards, and let Featherbody
mount the rostrum.'
'It will take nothing less than the devil or a handspike to lift it
out. My handkerchief around the upper end of the thigh was a _point
d'appui_ to the bodies of four mortal surgeons, and served as a pivot
to balance two of them on his extremities, and two at his head.'
'Faith, you did resemble Jupiter, weighing the ponderous merits of
the adverse parties; and 'long time in even scale the _doctors_
hung;' but ---- seemed inclined to kick the beam.'
'Do you observe,' said Berry, 'the doctor himself looks a little
puzzled? J---- and D---- are no better off. I thought ---- would
break the femur more than once.'
'That bone is just at this time encased in an impenetrable mail of
rigid muscles. If you broke that, you would break an iron bar of
equal size,' replied Parcels.
'In truth,' said Berry, 'the relaxing medicines and bleeding seem
to have had little effect in weakening them. How much blood did you
take, Parcels, before he was brought in?'
'Two pounds.'
'He has lost two here, and I should think he might spare a couple
more.'
'Yes, and two more added to them, before the bone would be in its
place,' remarked Parcels.
'You have no faith in nauseating mixtures, and debilitating remedies?'
'No. While they apparently reduce the strength, they seem not to take
a whit from the power of the muscles to _resist_ extension.'
'You will certainly be expelled the church.'
'There is,' continued Parcels,'a kind of galvanism residing in the
muscles, which emanates from the brain; and all bodily remedies,
while they leave this organ in a state of intense action and
excitement, can have no beneficial effect in subduing them.'
'Ego cycnus!' said Aster, in a kind of Latin, which must be taken
literally to be understood, 'I swan! this is the most untractable
member that ever came under my notice. We shall have to subscribe
for a high-heeled boot for the other leg, if we carry this out much
farther.'
'Another trial of doctoring, I think, will shortly break off the
matter in debate,' observed Berry.
They now for a second time drew him into mid-air. The nurse, who
had stood looking on with his hawk's eye, and wiping the sweat from
his brow with one hand, while with the other he grappled the end of
the pulley-rope, again applied his strength; the blocks drew nearer
together; the surgeon, using the disjointed member for a lever,
and his knee as a rest, exerted his whole force upon the limb, in
one strong effort to pry it out; but it gave not, although it was
anticipated that the bone might snap. The assistant upon the table,
drawing upward with all his might, endeavored to entice (somewhat as
the Irishman _remonstrated_) the upper end from its hiding-place.
But it would have been easier, to all appearance, to have raised the
world without Archimedes' fulcrum, than to have displaced this little
globe from its new socket.
The surgeons regarded each other with evident indecision and
inquietude, and began to remit or grow more abrupt in their
exertions. The students looked incredulous, and exhibited a
disposition to depart. But, resolved not to incur the mortification
or disgrace of a failure, if it could be averted by any human means,
the operators determined to carry their exertions, in a final
attempt, as far as was consistent with the patient's safety. They
loosed the bandages from the arms, and gave him an additional dose of
the nauseating solution.
In this state of things, a young man leaped cautiously over the
partition into the arena, stole his way unnoticed among the surgeons,
and approaching the table stealthily, took from it a scalpel, or
operating-knife, of large size. With this, passing in front of the
man, he suddenly started up with it before his eyes, and seemed ready
to plunge it into his body. As he made this gesture, the man roused
up, in horror. Although pale from the loss of blood, he blanched
still whiter, at this palpable demonstration of a design to slay him.
'It is necessary, my friend,' said the young man, steadily and
clearly, 'to cut down to your back-bone, in order to get out the head
of the thigh-bone, which is lodged there!'
Who can tell the terror that filled the sufferer's excited
imagination, during the utterance of this awful ultimatum! 'The sense
of death is most in apprehension;' and in the horror of that moment,
he felt with King John:
'The tackle of my heart is crack'd and burn'd,
And all the shrouds wherewith my life should sail,
Are turned to one thread, one little hair:
My heart hath one poor string to stay it by,
Which holds but till thy news be uttered,
And then all this thou see'st is but a clod!'
The ready éléve now made as if he was about to lay open the bowels
of the patient, at a single rash stroke, from the stomach to the
hip. Every arm was raised to arrest him; but taken as they were by
surprise, he had ample time to execute his purpose. Leaning over and
pressing his hand upon the side of the abdomen, he drew the knife
rapidly and violently along its naked surface, from one extremity to
the other. Then hastily rising, and throwing the knife on the bloody
floor, he darted from the midst of the attendants; contriving, in the
course of the action, to cover up with a corner of the blanket the
work he had committed.
The patient, who had at first struggled, sank back; the spectators
ran to his side; the students started from their seats; and _the bone
slipped into its place, with an audible 'click!'_ They hurriedly
drew off the blanket from the patient's body, when lo! there was no
wound! They went up to his side, and endeavored to arouse him from
his stupor, and make him sensible that he was not hurt. In this they
soon succeeded. The straps, pullies, and bandages were undone, and he
was laid at length upon the table.
The young operator had well observed the powerfully depressing effect
of fear on the human system, and had been incited to the ingenious
expedient just described, by witnessing the obstinacy with which the
bone had resisted all the measures for its reduction. In a few days
the patient recovered entirely from his fright, and was seen walking
about the halls of the hospital.
FOOTNOTE:
[1] THE writer passed a few of the first years of his practice
in the hospital of ----. While in this institution, he had, as
house-surgeon, opportunities of becoming acquainted with the history
of cases, and of attending and assisting in a great number of highly
interesting operations, many of them perfectly unique in their
character, and performed by individuals among the most distinguished
in this branch of the profession. To the general reader, the mere
technical narration of incidents of this nature would present but
a mass of dry and unintelligible jargon. One, however, who has for
some time voluntarily withdrawn himself from the active duties of the
profession, to follow another pursuit, may be regarded, perhaps, as
capable of portraying, with truth and clearness, the vivid scenes of
his earlier years.
THE ANNIVERSARY.
BY THE REV. THOMAS DALE, ENGLAND.
I.
A YEAR hath lingered through its round,
Since thou wert with the dead;
And yet my bosom's cureless wound
Still bleeds as then it bled.
All now without is cold and calm;
Yet o'er my heart its healing balm
Oblivion will not shed:
If day beguiles my fond regret,
Night comes--and how can I forget?
II.
For mute are then the sounds of mirth
I loathe, yet cannot flee;
And thoughts in solitude have birth,
That lead me back to thee.
By day, amid the busy herd,
My soul is like the captive bird
That struggles to be free;
It longs to leave a world unblest,
To 'flee away and be at rest!'
III.
Rest! how, alas! shall mortal dare
Of rest on earth to dream?
The heritage of ceaseless care
May better far beseem
The child of grief, the heir of wo;
And what if mutual love may throw
A joy-imparting beam
On life's wide waste?--'t is quickly gone,
And he must wander on--alone!
IV.
It was no charm of face or mien,
That linked my heart to thee;
For many fairer have I seen,
And fairer yet may see:
It was a strong though nameless spell,
Which seemed with thee alone to dwell,
And this remains to me,
And will remain: thy form is fled,
But this can e'en recall the dead.
V.
Thine image is before me now,
All angel as thou art;
Thy gentle eye and guileless brow,
Are graven on my heart;
And when on living forms I gaze,
Mem'ry the one loved form portrays;
Ah! would it ne'er depart!
And they alone are fair to me,
Who wake a livelier thought of thee.
VI.
Oft, too, the fond familiar sound
Is present to mine ear;
I seem, when all is hushed around,
Thy thrilling voice to hear.
Oh! could I dream thou still wert nigh,
And turn as if to breathe reply,
The waking how severe!
When on the sickening soul must press
The sense of utter loneliness!
VII.
A year hath pass'd!--another year
Its wonted round may run;
Yet earth will still be dark and drear,
As when its course begun.
I would not murmur or repine,
Yet, though a thousand joys were mine,
I still should sigh for ONE;
How could I think of her who died,
And taste of joy from aught beside!
VIII.
Yes, dearest! though that treasured love
Now casts a gloom o'er all,
Thy spirit from its rest above
I would not yet recall:
My earthly doom thou canst not share,
And I in solitude must bear
Whate'er may still befal;
But I can share thy home, thy heaven,
All griefs forgot, all guilt forgiven!
LOVE AND REASON.
GENTLE Lady! thy smile as the starlight is fair,
And thine eyes are as charming as ever they were;
And thy voice is the same as that love-breathing tone
Which once whispered _my_ name in this bower alone;
But since then, that sweet voice, in this bower of thine,
Hath whispered _another's_ as fondly as mine!
You remember the vow which you made me at eve,
When together we swore in one faith to believe;
You remember the stars that looked on from above,
And how sweetly you called them 'the sentries of love!'
Those stars, thou false maiden! were shining that hour,
When I heard that strange name in this very same bower!
Perhaps you then thought it a very good game,
To sigh to one lover, till the other one came:
And now I remember, I once heard you own
That you never _could_ sit in this bower alone;
'And so I could not,' quoth the maid, with a sneer,
'So I talked to my parrot, as _you_ were not here!'
AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES.
NUMBER TWO.
----'Amidst ruins; there to track
Fall'n states and buried greatness o'er a land
Which _was_ the mightiest in its old command,
And _is_ the loveliest.'
BYRON.
IN our first number, we introduced the reader to the magnificent
ruins of a once great and populous city, in the Province of Chiapa,
Central America. It was thought, it will be remembered, that a
description of the present state of the Palencian metropolis, the
character of the people who inhabited it, and the extraordinary
arts by which both were distinguished, should precede other facts
and conclusions, in relation to the early history of the American
continent. Reasons for this will have been apparent, we trust, in
the opinions expressed of the peculiarities and great antiquity
of the Tultecan people. The advanced state of knowledge to which
that people had arrived, at a very remote period of time, and the
subsequent connection which will appear to have existed between them
and that distinct class of mankind--which, at a much later, yet still
very distant date, occupied the great western valleys of the United
States--also require of us an early and more particular reference, in
again calling attention to the subject under consideration.
A brief notice of one or two of the ancient Palencian edifices,
among the few that have come down to us in the form and feature of
their primitive greatness, cannot fail to interest the lovers of the
antique and the curious:
----'There is a power
And magic in the ruined battlement,
For which the palace of the present hour
Must yield its pomp, and wait till ages are its dower.'
The principal structure referred to, and with which it has been
supposed all the others were connected, in purpose at least, if not
by subterranean or other passages, presents a style of architecture
resembling the gothic. It is rude, massive, and durable. As a
whole, it has an appearance not unlike that of the ancient Egyptian
edifices; still it is peculiar, and differs from all others hitherto
known. The world nowhere exhibits the same striking characteristics,
among the remains of ancient art and early genius; nor can we trace
in any other structures the same peculiarities of arrangement and
apparent adaptation. The great permanency of the fourteen stone
buildings, standing, even to this late day, sufficiently attest
their superior style and workmanship. They are called by the people
_Cassas de Piédras_, or stone houses. Buildings of the same kind, now
found in other parts of Guatemala and in Yucatan, some of which are
of immense size, and of the same architectural style, are similarly
named. There seems to be but one general tradition in relation to
the character of the people who constructed these great and strong
buildings; and we are led to infer from their internal structure
and arrangement, as well as from all that can be learned from the
traditions of the natives, that the principal ones were erected for
like purposes, viz: for temples of worship, and for the residences
of kings. The great building at Palenque was undoubtedly built for
the former purpose, and occupied, from time immemorial, by numerous
priests devoted to religious ceremonies.
'But thou, of temples old or altars new,
Standest alone, with nothing like to thee!'
The entrance to the Palencian temple is on the east side, by a
portico more than one hundred feet in length, and nine feet broad.
This portico is supported by plain rectangular pillars, without
pedestals, fifteen inches in diameter. On these are laid smooth
square stones, one foot in thickness, which form an achitrave. These
blocks are nearly covered with stucco-work of shields, etc. On each
pillar, and running from one to another, rest also plain rectangular
blocks of stones, five feet long, and six feet broad. Vestiges
of heads, and various other designs in stucco, are discovered on
these blocks; and on the internal side, are seen numerous busts,
representing, without doubt, a series of kings. Between these, there
is a range of windows, along the entire length of the building, some
of which are square, and others in the form of the Greek cross.
Beyond the corridor, is a square court, which is approached by a
series of seventeen steps. The north side of the building, though in
ruins, shows very distinctly that it had a corridor and a chamber,
like the other three sides. There are four chambers, with two windows
on the south side: the east and west sides are alike, except in the
devices. On the west side is seen a mask, with a crown, and a long
beard, and under these are two Greek crosses. These specimens of
workmanship resemble Roman sculpture, particularly that of Jupiter.
The mask may be supposed to represent some of the deities worshipped
in the temple; and very probably that of _Quetralcoatl_, the god of
the air, and a favorite deity, as will hereafter appear.
Proceeding forward, we are ushered into another large court, similar
in size and appearance to the last mentioned, having a passage around
it. In this are two chambers, and an interior gallery, which looks
into a great court-yard on one side, and over the adjacent country,
on the other. Pillars adorn the gallery, on either side, exhibiting
numerous and ingenious specimens of sculptured art. The purposes to
which it was devoted, are satisfactorily explained by the character
of the designs here represented; and, like all the other apartments,
it may be presumed to have had a distinct and peculiar use. None,
however, would seem to have had a more melancholy appropriation.
Though the character of this people was mild and peaceful, yet it can
hardly be supposed that, in the earliest conditions of human society,
some rude and barbarous customs should not have prevailed. As with
individual character, all improvements in the manners and customs of
a people must be the result of experience. Hence the disgust which
we feel in view of the practices of many ancient nations is not
always a just estimate of the real character of that people; for they
may not be more abhorrent to us, than our own may appear to those
of succeeding ages. It will be understood that we allude to human
sacrifices. There are, in fact, in this gallery, numerous relievos,
which are supposed to represent sacrifices of the people, or of their
enemies, to the manes of their favorite deities. Some of these, with
others of the finest specimens of sculpture found in the building,
have been mutilated or removed, and afterward conveyed to Spain,
where, in all probability, they will prove of little advantage to
antiquarian literature.
In the large open court before mentioned, within the centre of the
temple, there is a high tower, now having four stories, to which
there was, in ages past, a fifth, surmounted by a cupola; all making
in height from sixty to seventy feet. The design and execution
of this tower indicate great skill and ingenuity. Within it was
another, having windows facing those in the exterior tower, which
were intended to afford light to a series of steps leading to the
top. The interior tower was plain, while the outer one was in a true
and tasteful style of architecture. The principal entrance to these
sacred and lofty structures, is on the north side, but the passages
to both towers are now entirely filled up by fallen rubbish of
stones, gravel, etc. On the south side of the building, and behind
four small chambers, are two very large apartments, supposed to have
been used as oratorios. These are richly ornamented, with figures
in stucco, some of which are beautifully enamelled. In these rooms
are numerous statues, placed along their sides, and also several
Grecian heads, which were, undoubtedly, of a sacred character. They
were variously ornamented with strings of jewels, which had been
offered them, it may be supposed, by the people in their devotional
exercises. Behind these oratorios, are still two other apartments,
each of which is eighty feet in length, and nine in width, extending
from north to south. Here was discovered one of the most singular
and perfect specimens of sculpture yet found among the ruins of this
vast city. It was one of the people's gods astride an animal. From
the drawing taken of this, it is unquestionably an admirably-executed
relic. The proportions are most perfect throughout, and indicative
of a knowledge of the art, vastly superior to that of any ancient
barbarous nation. The origin of this knowledge we are at a loss to
conjecture. The animal is descriptive of the American lion, which was
less powerful than either the African or Asiatic, and without a mane.
The same animal is represented in some of the other apartments. From
the position of the idol, it is inferred that it was worshipped as a
river-god, as with the Hindoos. Indeed, in referring hereafter to the
probable origin of these arts, it will be seen that similar deities
were worshipped by the latter people. Analogous arts and customs will
also be traced to various other nations. One of these apartments
contains an elliptical stone, inserted in the wall, below which there
is a plain rectangular block of stone, six feet in length, three in
breadth, and seven inches thick, standing upon four feet, in the
form of a table, with bas-relief figures supporting it. Numerous
characters, or symbols, adorn the edges of this table, all of which
had, without doubt, a significant meaning; but all knowledge of that
meaning, which might now be turned to a good account, in deciphering
the character and customs of the ancient occupants of this singular
temple, is entirely lost; and, unless some fortunate discovery
should be made, will ever remain uninterpreted. The various other
hieroglyphics and symbolical designs will also, we fear, continue to
be a sealed book to the antiquarian.
At the end of one of these apartments, is an opening through the
stone pavement, six feet long and three broad, conducting, by a
flight of stone steps, to extensive subterranean apartments. These
steps have, at regular intervals, large flat landings, in each of
which are openings or doorways, to other and continuous ranges of
stone steps. All of these landings were curiously ornamented with
sculpture work. There were several other avenues to this principal
underground passage, most of which were blocked up by crumbling
fragments. It is however possible, that these avenues may lead to
other apartments, or, not improbably, to the other and neighboring
buildings; a fact strongly suspected, both from the use to which
the subterranean apartments were appropriated, and the character of
their occupants. At the second landing and doorway, torch-light is
required, after which the regular stairways conduct, by a gradual
descent, to the great subterranean rooms. From each landing, the
explorer turns to the succeeding flight of steps, until he arrives
within the gloomy chambers below, to which he is admitted by a large
stone door. The first room is one hundred and ninety-two feet in
length! Beyond this is another chamber, of the same dimensions, which
looks toward the south, by means of windows, commanding a corridor
running to the extreme of the building. In these rooms are found
plain horizontal stones, seven and a half feet long, by three feet
three inches wide, standing upon four wrought pedestals, about two
feet from the ground. These are portioned off in the form of alcoves;
and hence are supposed to have been used by the priests of the temple
as places for sleeping.
The accompanying outline illustration of this temple is a hasty
sketch of the side partly in ruins, and is intended to show, to the
best advantage, the form and general appearance of the exterior. We
have by us a ground-plan, or diagram of the internal structure, which
may be given on another occasion. This view will be seen to present
the upper portion of the most curious and important structure yet
discovered, viz., the tower, where it is supposed were preserved,
with great care and veneration, the ashes of the Tultecan kings.
Attempts to reach parts of these singular structures (for there were
two, one within the other,) were unavailing. The avenue leading
within the internal one, to the summit, is now blocked up by broken
fragments and earth. Trees are to be seen growing firmly upon the
towers. The entrance was on the north side, but this is now filled
with heaps of rubbish. This tower exhibits far more ingenuity and
good taste, than any thing yet remaining of the Tultecan buildings.
Another drawing, which represents the entire external tower, with
trees standing upon various projecting parts, is in course of
execution.
[Illustration]