1895 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



909 



lockjaw sets in at such times or not; but I/or 

 one feared it. 



One of the bright nurses, however, was right 

 at hand with an apparatus for forcing open the 

 jaws. Then another delicate instrument was 

 brought into requisition, and fastened to the 

 tongue to hold it away so it might not close 

 the opening of the windpipe. During all this 

 time the chloroform was necessarily suspended, 

 and the patient began to suffer terribly. It 

 always troubles me when I can not help in a 

 crisis of this kind, especially, where human life 

 is in peril. Thank God. there was one thing I 

 could do right then and there. Perhaps I 

 should explain right here that I was told I 

 must not speak nor make any sort of noise, for 

 medical students are often dismissed in a body 

 for failing to keep perfectly silent during a 

 critical case like that. The only way in which 

 I could help was by silent prayer. The quanti- 

 ty of blood that flowed, it seemed to my weak 

 and inexperienced eyes, was enough to kill any- 

 body, and I had about given up all hope, al- 

 though I still prayed mentally, even if it was 

 with but little faith. A fragment of that little 

 hymn — 



I^amSweak, but thou are mig'hty,; 



kept coming into my mind. Slowly and care- 

 fully the doctor worked. One attachment after 

 another was sundered by the keen steel blade. 

 Sometimes it seemed as if the operator meditat- 

 ed a little before cutting away something that 

 seemed to be in the way. After a long time, as 

 It would seem to me, he finally reached the con- 

 nection that attaches the kidney to the body. 

 Here he was obliged to stop in order to take a 

 bit of cord, held right ready to his hand, before 

 he had had even time to ask for it, by one of 

 the nurses, and the necessary knot was formed 

 before severing the organ. 



Let me say right here that it seemed wonder- 

 ful the way that his nurses, without a word 

 being spoken, kept holding every appliance for 

 the operation, as one thing after another was 

 needed. Sometimes it was water, given 

 through a small rubber tube; sometimes it was 

 lint or bandages, then it was, every little while, 

 some new surgical instrument for holding the 

 skin, the flesh, and different organs out of the 

 way of the operator. I did not notice the time 

 when the operation commenced. It seemed to 

 me as if it must have occupied toward an hour. 



I was to leave on the train at three o'clock. 

 Friend Keck silently moved out, for he was 

 close to the door. I gathered from this that it 

 was about time for me to take my train; but so 

 intensely interested was I that I took the 

 chances of waiting a few minutes longer. I did 

 not see the kidney entirely removed, for it was 

 a very slow and careful operation: but I stood 

 until I was sure the terrible ordeal was almost 

 over; I asked friend Keck to write me the re- 

 sult; but, to confess the truth, I had decided in 

 my own mind it was next to impossible for a 

 human being to live after being taken to pieces 

 and overhauled in that manner; but, of course, 

 I know very little about such things. Almost 

 as soon as I got home, the cheering news came 

 that the patient had rallied and was doing 

 nicely. A little later she bid fair to not only 

 recover, but to recover quickly. Within a week 

 or ten days, if I remember correctly, she was 

 able to sit up: and now she is pronounced al- 

 most if not quite out of danger. 



By way of conclusion 1 want to say just a 

 word in regard to the physicians and surgeons 

 of this sanitarium. I feel quite certain that 

 not one of the eminent doctors present at that 

 time was ever guilty of the use of strong drink, 

 or even of using tobacco. They were men 

 whose faith is in God, and who are daily seek- 



ing his kingdom and righteousness. The time 

 was when our ministers used to enter the pul- 

 pit, saturated with tobacco, and sometimes 

 with something worse. At the present time, 

 liowever, such things may be tolerated in some 

 of the aged members of the ministerial frater- 

 nity, but very rarely among the younger ones. 

 I wonder if the time is not also near at hand, 

 when people will demand for a family physi- 

 cian one who has no smell of tobacco about his 

 person, and one who is pronounced and decid- 

 ed in regard to the use of spirituous liquors. 

 God speed the day! 



TURNIPS AND CRIMSON CLOVER. 



We are now gathering and selling some of 

 the handsomest turnips we ever raised in the 

 world, and they cost us almost nothing except 

 the seed. It comes about in this way: When 

 we were cultivating our Corey corn the last 

 time, we sowed crimson-clover seed among the 

 corn, as 1 have told you. Well, we mixed in 

 about an ounce of turnip seed with .5 lbs. of 

 clover. We wanted to have the turnips so far 

 apart that they would not crowd the clover nor 

 crowd each other, and we hit it to a dot. After 

 the ears got too hard for marketing we just 

 pulled up the corn by the roots, knocked the 

 dirt off against the wagon-wheel, and fed it to 

 the horses and pigs. The ground was cultivat- 

 ed with a fine-tooth Planet once after sowing 

 the seed. We have now a very even stand of 

 large nice crisp turnips; and the crimson clover 

 between the turnips is making great rank dark- 

 green clumps of clover. They are stooling out 

 considerably this fall. The plants lie closer to 

 the ground than ordinary clovers; and I feel 

 sure that, on this account, they are going to 

 stand the winter, especially with the growth 

 they have made. 



Right adjoining the Corey corn was a strip of 

 Mammoth Evergreen; but the clover and tur- 

 nips did comparatively little among that great 

 rank-growing corn full of life and energy. I 

 suppose one reason was, there was so little rain 

 there was not moisture enough to go round, 

 and the corn had possession of the ground in 

 the first place, and naturally resented the in- 

 trusion. This corn was saved for seed— at 

 least, a large part of it, so it was considerably 

 later before the corn was cleared off, leaving 

 the turnips and crimson clover to have the 

 whole of the ground. There are a few turnips 

 and some clover that I do not think will amount 

 to much. 



Now, in managing in this way, especially 

 where we are going to have a very dry season, 

 clover and turnips had better be put in with 

 some crop that is going to get out of the way 

 pretty early. We sowed some turnips and 

 clover in the same way among our beans: and 

 although this was put in a week later, we have 

 a very good stand of clover and turnips both, 

 becailse the beans are not so tall, and they 

 were pretty well along toward maturity when 

 clover was put in. By referring to Gleanings 

 for Aug. 1, page 60,5. I see that we did the 

 greater part of our turnip and clover seeding 

 on the 29th of July. We sowed White Egg 

 turnips. Purple-top Globe, and Yellow Aber- 

 deen; and all of them have done splendidly 

 except where they were in the rank strong- 



