I now found myself in a terrible position.  The operation is a very difficult one even in the hands of a skilful surgeon, and here I was called to perform it with hardly an elementary knowledge of the science and not even adequate instruments.  At the same time, it seemed moral cowardice to avoid it, since evidently I was the one best qualified, and the woman would die in agony if not soon relieved.  I trembled all over when I concluded that there was no escape.  We went to the room and got the bistoury and the forceps given me by a medical friend before I left home.  Besides these, I took some corrosive sublimate, intended for the preparation of animal skins, and some photographic clips.  The secretary, after a search produced an old and rusty hacksaw as the only instrument the estate could furnish.  This we cleaned as carefully as possible with cloths and then immersed it in a solution of sublimate.  Before going to the patient’s hut I asked the owner and the woman’s husband if they were reconciled to my attempt and would not hold me responsible in case of her death.  They answered that, as the woman was otherwise going to die, we were entirely right in doing whatever we could.  I found the patient placidly smoking a pipe, her injured arm over the edge of the hammock.  By this time she understood that she was to have her arm amputated by a surgical novice.  She seemed not to be greatly concerned over the matter, and went on smoking her pipe while we made the arrangements.  We placed her on the floor and told her to lie still.  We adjusted some rubber cloth under the dead arm.  Her husband and three children stood watching with expressionless faces.  Two monkeys, tied to a board in a corner were playing and fighting together.  A large parrot was making discursive comment on the whole affair, while a little lame dog seemed to be the most interested spectator.  The secretary took the bistoury from the bowl containing the sublimate and handed it to me with a bow.  With a piece of cotton I washed the intended spot of operation and traced a line with a pencil on the arm.

Imagine with what emotions I worked!  After we had once started, however, we forgot everything except the success of our operation.  I omit a description of the details, as they might prove too gruesome.  The woman fainted from shock just before we touched the bone,—­Nature thus supplying an effective, if rude, anaesthetic.  We had forgotten about sewing together the flesh, and when we came to this a boy was dispatched to the owner’s house for a package of stout needles.  These were held in the fire for a few seconds, and then immersed when cold in the sublimate before they were used to join the flesh.  By the time it was done, I was, myself, feeling very sick.  Finally I could stand the little room of torture no longer, and left the secretary dressing the wound.  Would she recover from the barbaric operation?  This question kept coursing through my head as I vainly tried for a long time to go to sleep.