Wright American Fiction

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Near the fire-place, where naught but a little ashes and well-charred bark remained, half-reclining in a large wooden chair, lay the beggar-boy. His cap had fallen on the ground, and his dark curling hair fell clustering over his extended arm, as his head rested on it. He had seemingly fallen asleep the night before, for his thin summer clothes were on, and his basket, yet filled with the fragments of broken feasts, remained untouched at his feet. I put my hand upon his beautiful head: it was icy cold! PAGE 204

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ENTERED according to Act of Congress, in the year 1855, by DE WITT AND DAVENPORT, In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for the Southern District of New York. W. H. TINSON, Stereotyper. GEO. RUSSELL, &, Co. Printers. G. W. ALEXANDER, Binder.

To
MY MORNING AND EVENING STARS,
"STELLA AND JULIA,"
WITHOUT WHOSE LIGHT
MY SEA OF LIFE HAD BEEN PATHLESS,
THESE PAGES ARE DEDICATED BY

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PREFACE.

AT the close of the sixth volume of a journal as original, and with an object as extraordinary, as the Scalpel, "a successful attempt," as one of our cotemporaries has expressed it, "to popularise medicine by the attractions of tragedy, comedy, and the strategy of literature," when the entire charge of filling its pages and sustaining its large pecuniary outlay had rested for six years upon one man, immersed in the cares of an arduous surgical practice, and when its unfortunate title rendered it well nigh hopeless, even, in the face of more than sixteen thousand notices of the press, to disabuse the public of its medical repulsiveness, and to convince them of its adaptedness to instruct the intellect and improve the heart—the public may judge of the gratification of the Editor, at the request of Messrs. De Witt & Davenport, that he would permit the selection of a volume for popular instruction and amusement from its pages. He at once acceded to the handsome terms offered by page: iv-v[View Page iv-v]Switch to Image ModeCLOSE Page iv-v those gentlemen, and hopes that their anticipations will be realized. The didactic matter he is sure will be found unobjectional, however largely the kindness of the reader may be taxed by the manner in which it is conveyed.

To Dr. Dewees, of this city, for his beautiful Scenes in Northern and Southern Practice, to Dr. Richmond, of Jefferson, Ohio, for his Scenes in Western Practice, the editor expresses his deep obligations. For the Scenes in City Practice and all the other articles, he alone is responsible. In explanation of their defects, he can only say, they were often written at the midnight hour, after the toils of daily practice: or at the bedside, whilst watching with the objects which suggested them.

It may interest the reader to know that the facts of every scene are actually true; the words often differing very little from those used by the patient on the occasion of the scene related; it has been generously conceded that, by virtue of his profession, the surgeon is destitute of human sympathy; so far as its more familiar manifestations are concerned, it ought to be so; for tremulous hands and tear-blinded eyes are but illy calculated for surgical duties; but I think it will be found that surgeons enjoy no immunity from the ordinary emotions of the body and heart. It may be thought that some of the scenes are too trivial and ephemeral to occupy the serious attention of the reader; and yet they are the everyday language of human life; in the physical as in the moral world, nothing is lost; the spark arises and scintillates for a moment, by the lightness of the elements that produced it, and then falls, a little ashes, into the mass of its predecessors—the bubble seeks the surface of the stream in obedience to the same law, reflects for an instant the sunlight, and its elements are added to the great store-house of nature—even the tear, as its sources in the overcharged heart are unlocked, and it falls to the earth, is not lost, but its salts are treasured there till given back, perhaps, in some form of beauty and gladness. Let me then hope that whatever truths, useful to humanity, may be found in these pages, will not perish, but live for a little while after the hand that sketched them has been resolved into its elements.

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CONTENTS.

• SCENES IN CITY PRACTICE. THE CHOLERA OF '32—THE BROADWAY WORKWOMEN—THE YOUNG MOTHER—THE LAST DAY'S WORK—TERRY'S COURTSHIP. 9
• LEAVES FROM A MEDICAL LOG-BOOK. FISHING IN A FASHIONABLE NEIGHBORHOOD FOR PRACTICE-CLERICAL PATRONAGE—FIRST VISIT TO MRS. MACKEREL-DESCRIPTION OF MRS. MACKEREL—A MIDNIGHT SCENE—AN IMPRESSIVE INTERVIEW. 27
• THE NERVE POWER. WHAT IS THE NATURE OF THE NERVE POWER?—ITS ACTION ON OUR BODIES UNDER THE VARIOUS STIMULI—ITS POWER OVER THE CONTRACTION OF THE MUSCLES—THE INFLUENCE OF PROLONGED INSPIRATION IN CURING DISEASES AND GIVING STRENGTH TO THE BODY—HOW DOES IT COMPARE WITH OTHER SYSTEMS OF CURE? 42
• PATHOLOGY OF A LADY OF FASHION. DOING NOTHING—EMPLOYMENT OF THE INTELLECT—MENTAL PURSUITS—ERRORS OF DRESS—FASHION VIOLATES THE LAWS OF HEALTH. 52
• SCENES IN THE CABIN AND CHURCHYARD. THE OLD MAN AND HIS DARLINGS. 66
• NATURE OF CONSUMPTION. EXERCISE IS LIFE—INDOLENCE IS DEATH. 69
• SCENES IN SOUTHERN PRACTICE. KING DEATH IN HIS YELLOW ROBE—THE PHOUD, MERCHANT—THE LOVELY CREOLE WIFE. 81
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• FUNCTIONS OF THE SKIN. COLD FATAL TO INFANTS. 92
• WATERING-PLACE SNOBS. HOTEL CONVENTIONALITY, WITH SPECIMENS OF EACH GENUS AND SPECIES. 99
• WOMAN. WHAT ABE THE CAUSES OF EARLY DECAY IN AMERICAN WOMEN? 107
• SKETCHES OF A WESTERN STUDENT'S LIFE. THE CAMP-MEETING—A GRAPHIC SCENE—A REVIVAL—A SERMON—LUDICROUS EVENT—ZACCHEUS-CAMP-MEETING WOLVES—A MIDNIGHT ATTACK—PECULIAR GENIUS OF THE TRUE METHODIST PREACHER, BY A BACKSLIDER. 125
• THE SENSE OF FEELING. INFLUENCE OF TEMPERATURE ON HEALTH, AND EFFECT OF ATMOSPHERIC ELECTRICITY. 138
• SKETCHES OF WESTERN PRACTICE. THE BOTANIC MEDICAL BATTERY—ENVIABLE POSITION OF DOCTORS—THE PESTILENCE WALKS IN DARKNESS—INSIDIOUS NATURE OF FEVERS—A WESTERN DOCTOR'S MENAGE. 147
• WILL MEDICINE CURE CONSUMPTION? ORIGIN OF CONSUMPTION—THE STETHOSCOPE—FORMATION OF'TUBERCLES—COUGH AN EARLY SYMPTOM-BRONCHITIS. 158
• TOILETTE OF NEW YORK LADIES. WHAT ARE THE ACTUAL CONSEQUENCES OF COLD FEET? 167
• SCENES IN COUNTRY PRACTICE. THE BAPTISM OF LOVE AND TRUST—LOST FROM EARTH, FOUND IN HEAVEN—THE IDIOT BOY—AN IMPRESSIVE LESSON. 177
• CAUSES AND EVILS OF CELIBACY. WIFE AND HUSBAND-HUNTERS, DIFFERENT CLASSES OF—FORCED MARRIAGES184
• SCENES IN NORTHERN PRACTICE. SECRET CRIME—BEGGARED YOUTH AND AGE—LIFE A GOD-LESSON—A MIND DISEASED—HEART-CORRODING MEMORIES—A SACRIFICE TO MEDICAL PEDANTRY—SLEEP ENDS WHERE DEATH BEGINS—A DEATH BY FROST. 192
• HOTEL AND CLUB-HOUSE LIFE IN NEW YORK. PERNICIOUS INFLUENCE ON THE MANNERS AND MORALS OF THE YOUNG—THE ART OF FURNISHING A HOUSE WITH ECONOMY AND SIMPLE ELEGANCE. 206
• SKETCHES OF A WESTERN STUDENT'S LIFE. MY FIRST CASE—THE POISONER—A DEMON. 215
• IMPORTANCE OF TRUTH IN EDUCATION. THE RIGHT OF DISCOVERY—FAIRY STORIES—CHILDREN SHOULD BEHOLD TRUTH IN THEIR PARENTS. 222
• SCENES IN A WESTERN PHYSICIAN'S LIFE. WHAT IS MEMORY?—COLLEGE LIFE IN THE COUNTRY—THE PIOUS STUDENT—THE ORPHAN BETRAYED—THE ROBIN'S NEST—MATERNAL REFLECTIONS—WHAT IS LOVE?—THE FUNERAL PILE: WHAT IS ITS PHILOSOPHY? 228
• SCENES IN CITY PRACTICE.
  • I.—DEATH'S QUARTETTE IN A GARRET—DELIRIUM TREMENS. 242
  • II.—PRECARIOUSNESS OF MEDICAL LIFE IN NEW YORK—A PROFESSIONAL MARTYR—THE CURSE OF AN IRISH PRACTICE—DEATH OF THE PHYSICIAN, AND HIS WIDOW AND CHILD—PARENTAL LOVE—MERCANTILE AFFECTION—THE LOVE OF MONEY. 251
• SCENES IN SOUTHERN PRACTICE. THE SUMMONS—THE LITTLE LANDLORD—THE QUEER PATIENT—SELF—DELUSION—THE RECITAL—JULIETTE—THE RECONCILIATION AND DEATH. 269
• REVOLUTIONARY HISTORY OF FORT LEE. STEPHEN BOURDETTE—BEAR MARKET—GEN. WASHINGTON—THE "FORT FIELD"—ATTACK ON FORT WASHINGTON—PUNCH IMPROVISED—THE REBEL TOAST AND ITS CONSEQUENCES—THE MIDNIGHT SUMMONS—ANECDOTE OF KNIPHAUSEN. 287
• SCENES IN PRACTICE. THE FOUR IMPELLING POWERS TO EVIL—INTEMPERANCE, AMBITION, ANIMAL PASSION, AND THE LOVE OF MONEY—ILLUSTRATION OF THE LATTER BY AN AWFUL TRAGEDY. 306
• ON CROUP. WHAT IS CROUP?—ITS SYMPTOMS AND TREATMENT. 316
• SKETCHES OF WESTERN PRACTICE. THE MOTHER—HER CHARACTER—THE PESTILENCE—A COUNTRY CONSULTATION—A TALE OF SORROW—THE SINS OF PARENTS VISITED UPON THE CHILDREN—THE DESERTED ONE—THE ATONEMENT—CHARACTER OF THE TRUE MOTHER—MEDICAL HEROICS—A PERFIDIOUS LETTER—VALUE OF A POOR MAN'S CHILD—THE MOTHER'S—DESTROYING ANGEL—THE DRUNKARD'S HOME AND FAMILY—RETRIBUTION. 327
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• ON HOOPING COUGH. WHAT IS HOOPING COUGH?—PERIOD OF OCCURRENCE—FIRST SYMPTOMS-SUBTLE CHARACTER OF THE CONTAGION—PERIOD OF DURATION—ITS USUAL ATTENDANTS—MANNER OF TREATMENT—HAS MEDICINE ANY POWER OVER IT? 343
• RECOLLECTIONS OF CITY PRACTICE. PRIVATION—OUR TWO LODGERS—A FAITHFUL SISTER—FIRST AFFECTION—AN UNWORTHY OBJECT—THE ARTLESS VICTIM—THE YOUNG MOTHER—THE WEDDING—MATERNAL LOVE—THE LEGACY—THE CLOSING SCENE. 350
• SCARLET FEVER. WHAT ARE THE CAUSES OF ITS DREADFUL FATALITY—HAS MEDICINE ANY CONTROL OVER IT? 369
• SCENES IN WESTERN PRACTICE. THE LAST DAY OF A COLLEGE LIFE—SCHOOL TEACHING—THE END OF A HYPOCRITE—HIS EARLY HISTORY—HIS TWO SONS—HIS WIFE AND FAMILY—DOMESTIC FELICITY—THB BROKEN VOW—THE BEAUTIFUL DAUGHTER—SUICIDE—THE WESTERN VAMPIRE—THE DAUGHTER AND HER TWO IRISH BABIES. 381
• BAGGING THE GAME. NEW AND LAUGHABLE CURE FOR ERYSIPELAS. 395
• EARLY HISTORY OF FORT LEE. SECOND ARTICLE. THE ENGLISH NEIGHBORHOOD—THE EAGLES' EYRIE—THE NAVAL BALL—HONOR TO WHOM HONOR IS DUE—BRUIN'S FEAST—FEMALE INTREPIDITY—NORNA DAY—THE RUFFIAN SOLDIER—THE INSULT AVENGED—THE RUINED HOMESTEAD—FISHING EXTRAORDINARY—THE MIDNIGHT MARAUDERS—DIVINE INTERPOSITION—BRIGHTER PROSPECTS—REBELS NO MORE!—A NATION'S BIRTH. 398