{"id":"01KG8AMGMFYTS3CD200YJDS7SE","cid":"bafkreidqogcjzytu6rxcszygywo2rzcddfgqkqdj34uhma3tzrxqn7khau","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":9710,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:36.274Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 1","source_file":"01KG89J19NC56FFGBCM2SWEZZY","start_line":9640,"text":"CHAPTER LXII.\r\nA CONSULTATION OF MAN-OF-WAR SURGEONS.\r\n\r\n\r\nIt seems customary for the Surgeon of the Fleet, when any important\r\noperation in his department is on the anvil, and there is nothing to\r\nabsorb professional attention from it, to invite his brother surgeons,\r\nif at hand at the time, to a ceremonious consultation upon it. And\r\nthis, in courtesy, his brother surgeons expect.\r\n\r\nIn pursuance of this custom, then, the surgeons of the neighbouring\r\nAmerican ships of war were requested to visit the Neversink in a body,\r\nto advise concerning the case of the top-man, whose situation had now\r\nbecome critical. They assembled on the half-deck, and were soon joined\r\nby their respected senior, Cuticle. In a body they bowed as he\r\napproached, and accosted him with deferential regard.\r\n\r\n“Gentlemen,” said Cuticle, unostentatiously seating himself on a\r\ncamp-stool, handed him by his cot-boy, “we have here an extremely\r\ninteresting case. You have all seen the patient, I believe. At first I\r\nhad hopes that I should have been able to cut down to the ball, and\r\nremove it; but the state of the patient forbade. Since then, the\r\ninflammation and sloughing of the part has been attended with a copious\r\nsuppuration, great loss of substance, extreme debility and emaciation.\r\nFrom this, I am convinced that the ball has shattered and deadened the\r\nbone, and now lies impacted in the medullary canal. In fact, there can\r\nbe no doubt that the wound is incurable, and that amputation is the\r\nonly resource. But, gentlemen, I find myself placed in a very delicate\r\npredicament. I assure you I feel no professional anxiety to perform the\r\noperation. I desire your advice, and if you will now again visit the\r\npatient with me, we can then return here and decide what is best to be\r\ndone. Once more, let me say, that I feel no personal anxiety whatever\r\nto use the knife.”\r\n\r\nThe assembled surgeons listened to this address with the most serious\r\nattention, and, in accordance with their superior’s desire, now\r\ndescended to the sick-bay, where the patient was languishing. The\r\nexamination concluded, they returned to the half-deck, and the\r\nconsultation was renewed.\r\n\r\n“Gentlemen,” began Cuticle, again seating himself, “you have now just\r\ninspected the limb; you have seen that there is no resource but\r\namputation; and now, gentlemen, what do you say? Surgeon Bandage, of\r\nthe Mohawk, will you express your opinion?”\r\n\r\n“The wound is a very serious one,” said Bandage—a corpulent man, with a\r\nhigh German forehead—shaking his head solemnly.\r\n\r\n“Can anything save him but amputation?” demanded Cuticle.\r\n\r\n“His constitutional debility is extreme,” observed Bandage, “but I have\r\nseen more dangerous cases.”\r\n\r\n“Surgeon Wedge, of the Malay,” said Cuticle, in a pet, “be pleased to\r\ngive _your_ opinion; and let it be definitive, I entreat:” this was\r\nsaid with a severe glance toward Bandage.\r\n\r\n“If I thought,” began Wedge, a very spare, tall man, elevating himself\r\nstill higher on his toes, “that the ball had shattered and divided the\r\nwhole _femur_, including the _Greater_ and _Lesser Trochanter_ the\r\n_Linear aspera_ the _Digital fossa_, and the _Intertrochanteric_, I\r\nshould certainly be in favour of amputation; but that, sir, permit me\r\nto observe, is not my opinion.”\r\n\r\n“Surgeon Sawyer, of the Buccaneer,” said Cuticle, drawing in his thin\r\nlower lip with vexation, and turning to a round-faced, florid, frank,\r\nsensible-looking man, whose uniform coat very handsomely fitted him,\r\nand was adorned with an unusual quantity of gold lace; “Surgeon Sawyer,\r\nof the Buccaneer, let us now hear _your_ opinion, if you please. Is not\r\namputation the only resource, sir?”\r\n\r","title":"Chunk 1"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG8AJTJSVZBTQ548PN378CB1","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG89J19NC56FFGBCM2SWEZZY","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG8AMGMF1TT69CG5SQ0EFXGH","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"next"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:39.567Z","ts":"2026-01-30T20:48:50.926Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}