176 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



One of the many very eminent surgeons of whom America can 

 boast once told me that on the occasion of performing a most formi- 

 dable operation, in which promptitude was a vital necessity, he saw, 

 at a moment when seconds were precious, a friend, who had insisted 

 on remaining present, suddenly turn deadly pale, and fall fainting on 

 the floor, in uncomfortably close proximity to the chloroformed pa- 

 tient. Dr. B stooped down, and quietly rolled the insensible 



individual into a corner of the room, where he enjoyed undisturbed 

 repose until such time as some one had time to " bring him to." 



Thus it may be seen that any one who is in the least nervous, and 

 cannot be certain of his own powers of self-command, acts with 

 truer kindness in remaining absent from such scenes, than by becom- 

 ing an added source of anxiety, where there is so much already of the 

 gravest character. If, however, a woman has the moral courage to 

 face such trials calmly, and without flurry if she can do simply what 

 she is told, and nothing more if she can hold her tongue wholly 

 dismiss herself from her own mind, concentrating all her attention on 

 the patient, she may be of untold help and comfort. On the other 

 hand, a sick-nurse who asks the doctor endless questions who pre- 

 sumes in her ignorance to criticise his treatment who is spasmodic 

 in her sympathy, and ejaculatory in her lamentations, is pestilent in 

 a sick-room, and should, if possible, be got rid of at any cost. 



But as well as the nervous and excitable nurse, there is another 

 species of the genus against whom I would warn any one who in the 

 least values his own comfort, and that is, the person who insists upon 

 " helping you " to nurse some very severe case, and never ceases assur- 

 ing you that she " keeps up splendidly at the time, but afterward ; " 

 and then comes an ominous shake of the head, which is a ghastly in- 

 timation of what a time you will have of it with her, when what 

 she is pleased to call the " reaction " sets in. Nothing can be more 

 aggravating than to contemplate such an individual, and look forward 

 to the " breaking-down " which she assures you is inevitable, and which 

 you feel assured will come just when you and everybody else are tired 

 out with nursing the real sufferer, and when you want to go to bed, 

 and sleep your sleep out. The very idea of having to put hot-water 

 bottles to her feet, and mustard-poultices to her side, and cooling 

 lotions to her aching brow, and watch her acting the martyr (the 

 while you are wishing her at Jericho, or some other equally hard-to- 

 get-back-from place), is not a pleasant anticipation, as you sit opposite 

 to her through a long night of watching, and she tells you, with a 

 melancholy yet vainglorious countenance, how she shall " pay for this 

 afterward." But she treats with scorn your suggestion that she should 

 go to bed indeed, she would be bitterly disappointed if she might 

 not immolate herself and you. This sort of thing is what I call " self- 

 ish unselfishness," a kind of self-sacrifice that is always acting as its 

 own bill-poster. 



