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Show PAINS IN LOST LIMBS, Physical Phenomenon. "Wilon. Physicians Physi-cians Are Unable to Explain. Thrc weeks ago Glen Bachelor of Indiana In-diana lost both hands In a railway accl-dont. accl-dont. Tho amputated hands wero placed In a jar of alcohol and Mr, Bachelor's arms1 received the- most careful surgical attention Ho suffered, however, for 4.wo weeks from sever and peculiar pains where tho hands formorly wore. - Mr. Bachelor Insisted that his l03t hands wro crowded in such a way as to glvo him the sensation of sovero cramping pains, and when he learned how they had been disposed of he demanded that they be properly burled. Tho, hands woro taken from tho Jar, wero otralghtened to a natural nat-ural position, woro carefully wrapped, wero Incased In a box, and woro burled. As soon as this w'as done Mr, Bachelcr was relieved of the pains that had kept him In agony for two weeks. .This story will bo received with smiles by tho younger experts of tho medical profession, with shakes of the head by tho older surgeons, and with ready belief by hundreds of men who havo sufforcd as Mr. Bachelor suffered. Many a man who has sufforcd amputation amputa-tion of a leg or fobt has boon kopt in anguish an-guish by the feeling of soma object bo-tween bo-tween tho toes, by an intolerable itching where a too ought to be. or by a sharp rheumatic pain lu the ball of a missing foot. A man who has lost a hand or an arm has been seized suddenly with a distressing dis-tressing pain In tho limb or In the finger, fin-ger, nnd has become almost hysterical oe-causo oe-causo he could not relievo It by touching tho hand that was not there. Surgeons called to treat such cases havo i-viiiviiui-u uiui uiu ieiint was simply hallucination, that men who havo suffered suf-fered amputation havo read Btorles of queer sensations In lost limbs, and that these stories havo taken such a hold upon up-on the Imagination th.at they e..perlenco tho pain attributed to the men -whoso stories sto-ries they havo read. Acting on this theory, the surgeon falls In with tho belief of tho man, administers something to quiet his nerves, and. In cases whero the missing hand or missing foot Is accessible, gives directions for its proper handling and Interment. However, this does not settle the case. In a week or a month tho man of tho lost hand or lost foot has other trying experiences, and the surgeon tries to laugh him out of tho hallucination. In good time the patient apparently surrenders sur-renders his belief as to pain In tho lost foot or hand, but In hla own heart ho holds to it. Ho may not talk about It, but ho will insist that tho sensation in tho missing foot Is so real and so exasperating exas-perating that it at times drh-es him almost al-most to tho point of Insanity. Thcso are strong men who havo had such experiences, nnd their theory la that some careless treatment of tho nerves severed In amputation is responsible for the queer sensations. A fow surgeons havo admitted that there may be, some-' thing In this theory, but If It bo admitted that the, theory Is correct, it does not explain ex-plain tho sensations experienced by Mr, Bacheler. In this ago, when tho nerve3 of men and women recelvo moro attention from tho medical profession then ever before, Is It not a llttlo strange that thcso so-called so-called hallucination s as to sensations in missing members of tho body have not boen moro closely investigated? Aro theso sensations tho work of tho Imagination, or aro thoy the result of real physical conditions? Chicago Intor Ocean. |