Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly volume 37.djvu/260

222 months before Whitman's death, the latter was busy at Waiilatpu, harassed by the problems of his mission. He might possibly have heard of this great boon to mankind before the massacre in November, 1847, through the immigrants of that year but we have no means of knowing whether he did or not.

The skillful surgeon of Whitman's day was he who could operate most rapidly. For amputations, knives of different lengths were a part of the surgeon's equipment. These could be selected with reference to the size of the part to be amputated. With a suitable knife the surgeon, with one quick circular stroke could amputate the part, while strong men held the frequently shrieking patient.

Oliver Wendell Holmes' important essay on childbed fever was read in Boston on February 13, 1843, a little more than six weeks before Whitman arrived in that city on his mission to the headquarters of the American Board. Whitman remained until April 8. It would be surprising if he did not hear something of the discussion aroused by the radical views of the Harvard professor of anatomy, physician and poet. Fortunately for Whitman and his obstetric cases, the contagion of the hospitals had been far away, and the births among the small white population which he was called upon to attend were far apart, so puerperal fever played little if any part in his practice in old Oregon.

Whitman came to the northwest as a physician under auspicious circumstances. The fame of his successful treatment of Fontenelle and his men on the Missouri and his skill as a surgeon at Green River must have preceded his actual arrival in Oregon. Let Whitman describe in his own simple words the Green River incident. Under date of August 13, 1835, he writes in his journal: "I extracted an arrow point from the back of James Bridger, one of the partners of the company, which had been shot in by the Blackfeet Indians near three years previous; and one from another man which had been shot in by the same Indians about a year before." Jim Bridger was Whitman's friend from that day. Parker gives a somewhat more com-