McKinley’s Death Wound

The Views of the Medical Journal, of Philadelphia.

     Philadelphia, Sept. 21.—The Philadelphia Medical Journal to-day says:
     “Now that the track of the wound has been laid bare, an exclamation of surprise has swept over the land. Gangrene, the result of intense devitalization of tissues or possibly of the irritating action of some unrecognized germ or virus, had destroyed the patient and the unexpected had happened. The proper course had been pursued, the dreaded complications that were common had been averted, and the medical and surgical men who had labored so loyally and conscientiously in behalf of their patient had the satisfaction of knowing that no mistake had been made. The unusual sequel, against which no precautions could have been taken, had only revealed itself in its latent stage by rapidity of the pulse, a symptom which might have been purely functional and one common to many conditions. We, as medical men, may point with satisfaction to the surgical records of the two great national patients, President Garfield and President McKinley, as an exemplification of the vast strides that have been made in the technique of surgery during the last two decades.”