Show TELEGRAPHIC b THE AUTOPSY n c jv IT Surgeon Lamb Explains All Abet It Washington 27Acting Assistant Surgeon Lamb who performed the autopsy upon the body of President Garfield Gar-field furnishes the following There prevails pre-vails tof ome extent an impression that the examination of the body of the late President Garfield was a caress care-ss and haphazard oe without erder or method and that the bullet was only found by accident This impression impres-sion is entirely incorrect The order of examination was prearranged in a consultation con-sultation for the purpose and was carried car-ried eat as far as the developments of the autopsy permitted It was necessary to ascertain the extent and character of the injury and if possible to obtain the missile mis-sile All things considered the only way in which these objects could be accomplished accom-plished was by first opening the abdominal abdomi-nal cavity Much has been said about the bullet being found in a basin and the statement has been industriously circulated cir-culated by prejudiced parties The facts are as follows The search for the bullet was prosecuted carefully systematically and successfully and the latter is no small matter in view of the fact that in many post mortern examinations even after careful laborious persistent search the missile has not been found It ws first sought for near the groin where it was expected by some that it would be found Failing to find it there the pus channel was then followed up but this proceedure made it necessary to remove the overlying organs These removed parts were temporarily placed in a large china washbowl until they could be examined in the order proscribed pro-scribed in the preliminary consultation The pus channel led up to fractured ribs and the vertebra The situation of the opening of the exit of the bullet from the latter indicated the probability of its further track being in a hemorrhage clot in the tissues removed While the examination of the vertebrse was being made one of the surgeons assisting turned his attention to the part removed and discovered there the position po-sition of the bullet There was nothing at all of the nature of accident in the manner in which it was found It had formed for itself a cyst wall beneath the pancreas After completing the examination examin-ation of the vertebras I cut thecyst open and took the bullet out of it It had been suggested by some that after the removal of the parts from the body their relations could no longer be recognized This difficulty could only occur to one who was unfamiliar with anatomy No formal reply has yet been made to the many unjust and often senseless criticism criti-cism which have been so freely bestowed upon this autopsy I had expected that a complete exposition of the points criti cised would have been made in the course of the testimony of medical witnesses but with one exception there c as afforded no opportunity and the gentleman excepted ex-cepted inadvertently omitted some of the particulars related above I believe therefore the public should be made acquainted ac-quainted with the facts in order that it may not either misjudge the surgeons nor suppose the autopsy was incomplete or was improperly conducted Signed D S LAMB Acting Assistant Surgeon |