* 



PRAIRIE SURGERY. 59 



souri — ^the soil equally exuberant and fertile ; 

 while all the country that lies beyond, is of a 

 far more barren character — vegetation of eve- 

 ry kind is more stinted — the gay flowers more 

 scarce, and the scanty timber of a very infe- 

 rior quaUty: indeed, the streams, from Coun- 

 cil Grove westward, are lined with very Httle 

 else than Cottonwood, barely interspersed here 



and there with an occasional elin or hack- 

 berry. 



Following up the course of this stream for 

 some twenty miles, now along the vaUey, and 

 again traversing the points of projecting emi- 

 nences, we reached "Walnut creek I have 

 heard of a surgical operation performed at this 

 point, in the summer of 1826, which, though 

 not done exactly secundum artem, might sug- 

 gest some novel reflections to the man of sci- 

 ence. A few days before the caravan had 

 reached this place, a IVIr. Broadus, in attempt- 

 ing to draw his rifle from a wagon muzzle 

 foremost, discharged its contents into his arm. 

 The bone being dreadfully shattered, the un- 

 fortunate man was advised to submit to an 

 amputation at once ; otherwise, it being in 

 the month of August, and excessively warm, 

 mortification would soon ensue. But 

 Broadus obstinately refused io consent to 

 tliis course, till death began to stare him in the 

 face. By this time, however, the whole arm 

 had become gangrened, some spots having 

 already appeared above the place where the 

 operation should have been performed. The 



invalid's case was therefore considered per- 



