Texas Surgeon: an Autobiography Page: 86
xii, 180 p. ; 21 cm.View a full description of this book.
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He paid no heed. Digging his heels into his horse's belly so
hard he made the beast grunt, off he went in a shower of dirt.
It was Martha all right, on her back in a rut. Before the
moon drifted behind the clouds I saw she was a mere slip of a
girl, no more than sixteen, a textbook primipera.
The baby's appearance into the world was accompanied by a
lustful cry. I wrapped Martha's long skirt around her and the
baby. Then taking advantage of the comforting period of repose
which always follows normal delivery I carried Martha and her
infant to the home farm which she had so recently left in panic
and deposited her upon a bed. Immediately I made a I-to-Io,ooo
bichloride of mercury solution and proceeded to free Martha's
body and legs from the encrusted mud that clung to them. This
done, I did not have long to wait before the mother's abdomen
again began to contract and after one or two pains the placenta
and membranes were normally delivered. I now straightened
out the young mother, and got the baby asleep in her weak but
loving arms. Only then did Clement put in an appearance, look-
ing as if he had just escaped the jaws of death. At any rate,
the boy loved his child-wife very much, which I suppose is
everything.
I am told that today some obstetricians believe it makes for
deeper ties between man and wife if the father attends the actual
birth of his baby. This may be so. But what would they do,
I've wondered, with a father whose impulse to disappear was as
strong as Clement's?
Many of Bonanza's inhabitants were so indigent that all
through the Texas warm months they wore no shoes. This ex-
posed them to a grave risk, for the earth around the dankly
ubiquitous outhouses of Bonanza was infested with the filariform
larvae of the hookworm. These larvae found their way into the
lymphatics either orally, or by boring in through the soles of the
feet. Thence they drifted to the inferior vena cava, and on into
the lungs. From the lung capillaries they emerged into the air
spaces, and so to the bronchi and the back of the throat. When
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Atkinson, Donald Taylor. Texas Surgeon: an Autobiography, book, 1958; New York. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth143566/m1/98/: accessed April 18, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting University of Texas Health Science Center Libraries.