22 A. G. Bell—An Induction Balance 
Art. III. — Upon the Electrical Experiments to determine the 
location of the Bullet in the body of the late President Garfield: 
and upon a successful form of Induction Balance for the pain- 
less detection of Metallic Masses in the Human Body ;* by 
ALEXANDER GRAHAM BELL. 
(A paper read before the American Association for the Advancement of 
Science, at the Montreal meeting, August, 1882.) 
THE subject of my present paper recalls a time of intense 
excitement and painful suspense. The long, weary struggle 
with the untimely death-wound— the prolonged suffering borne 
so bravely and well by the lamented President Garfield—must 
still be fresh in every recollection. The whole world watched 
by his bed-side, and hopes and fears filled every passing hour. 
No one could venture to predict the end so long as the position 
of the bullet remained unknown. The bullet might become 
safely encysted, but, on the other hand, recovery might depend 
upon its extraction. The search with knife and probe among 
vital and sensitive tissues could not be otherwise than painful 
and dangerous; and the thought naturally arose that science 
should be able to discover some less barbarous method of ex- 
the year 1841, and a good description of it in the English lan- 
guage may be found in De la Rive’s “ Treatise on Electricity,” 
(1858 edition, vol. i, pp. 418-433).t 
* A preliminary notice relatin i ished i 
esdue of the idles Academy of peel gy. 4 oath, fe oc ae 
+ Pogg. Ann., vol. liv, 5-335, 
$ A similar apparatus was independently devised in America a number of 
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