72 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF FRANCIS ARAGO. 



cuts, had contrived to cover up his head with his princi 

 pal flag. I re-assured his wife ; but my chief care was 

 especially devoted to a passenger whom I saw with one 

 arm amputated. 



&quot; Where is the surgeon,&quot; I said to him, &quot; who operated 

 on you ? &quot; 



&quot; It was not our surgeon,&quot; he answered. &quot; He basely 

 fled with a part of the crew, and saved himself on land.&quot; 



&quot; Who, then, cut off your arm ? &quot; 



&quot; It was the hussar whom you see here.&quot; 



&quot; Unhappy man ! &quot; I exclaimed ; &quot; what could lead 

 you, when it was not your profession, to perform this 

 operation ? &quot; 



&quot; The pressing request of the wounded man. His arm 

 had already swollen to an enormous size. He wanted 

 some one to cut it off for him with a blow of a hatchet. 

 I told him that in Egypt, when I was in hospital, I had 

 seen several amputations made ; that I would imitate 

 what I had seen, and might perhaps succeed. That at 

 any rate it would be better than the blow of a hatchet. 

 All was agreed ; I armed myself with the carpenter s 

 saw ; and the operation was done.&quot; 



I went off immediately to the American consul, to claim 

 the assistance of the only surgeon worthy of confidence 

 who was then in Algiers. M. Triplet I think I recol 

 lect that that was the name of the man of the distin 

 guished art whose aid I invoked came at once on board 

 the vessel, examined the dressing of the wound, and de 

 clared, to my very lively satisfaction, that all was going 

 on well, and that the Englishman would survive his hor 

 rible injury. 



The same day we had the wounded men carried on 

 litters to Mr. Blankley s house ; this operation, executed 



