Destiny of the Republic - By Candice Millard Page 0,142

Graham Bell, July 29, 1881, Bell Family Papers.

29 When Bliss’s letter arrived: Boston Herald, quoted in Bruce, Alexander Graham Bell and the Conquest of Solitude, 347; author interview with Roger Sherman, National Museum of American History.

30 “Splendid!”: Bell, “Volta Lab Notes,” July 30, 1881.

31 In just four days, he had managed: Bell, Upon the Electrical Experiments, 24, 29.

32 “forced exertions”: Ibid., 26–27.

33 “In its present form”: Bell to D. W. Bliss, July 31, 1881, in Bell, Upon the Electrical Experiments, 56.

34 On July 31: Bell, “Volta Lab Notes,” July 31, 1881.

35 “no difficulty”: Bell to D. W. Bliss, July 30, 1881, in Bell, Upon the Electrical Experiments, 57. Just the day before, Bell had tested McGill with no success, writing dejectedly in his laboratory notebook that he had been able to “get no indication” of the bullet in McGill.

36 “no need of further secrecy”: Bell to Mabel Bell, July 31, 1881, Bell Family Papers.

37 “Come up and see us”: Boston Herald, quoted in Bruce, Alexander Graham Bell and the Conquest of Solitude, 346–47.

38 “My new form of Induction Balance”: Bell to D. W. Bliss, July 31, 1881, in Bell, Upon the Electrical Experiments, 56.

39 “suspected spot”: Bell, Upon the Electrical Experiments, 32; “The President’s Case,” Washington Post, August 1, 1881.

40 “the only other person present”: Bell, Upon the Electrical Experiments, 32.

41 Finally, he asked the first lady: Harper’s Weekly, August 13, 1881.

42 “a general expectation”: Bell, Upon the Electrical Experiments, 32–33.

43 “if success crowns the effort”: Ibid., 32–33.

44 “now unanimously agreed”: Prichard and Herring, “The Problem of the President’s Bullet,” 627.

45 “In the absence”: Bell, Upon the Electrical Experiments, 33.

46 “perfectly sure”: Ibid.

47 Still, Bell was not convinced: Ibid.

48 He had just begun: Ibid., 34.

49 Determined to find a way to keep working: Tainter, “The Talking Machine,” 37.

Chapter 20: Terror, Hope, and Despair

1 “This fighting with disease”: Garfield to Lucretia Garfield, February 23, 1862, quoted in Shaw, Crete and James, 126.

2 “They will not be allowed to get large”: “The Doctors’ Reasons for Hope,” New York Times, Aug. 30, 1881.

3 “facilitate the escape of pus”: Bliss, “The Story of President Garfield’s Illness,” 301.

4 Using a long surgical knife with an ivory handle: Garfield exhibit at National Museum of Health and Medicine.

5 “a profuse discharge”: Reyburn, Clinical History of the Case of President James Abram Garfield, 53.

6 “without an anæsthetic”: Bliss, “The Story of President Garfield’s Illness,” 301.

7 Neither the incisions: Reyburn, Clinical History of the Case of President James Abram Garfield, 67–71; Rutkow, James A. Garfield, 119–20.

8 “It is thought that some pus”: “Steps Toward Recovery,” New York Times, August 13, 1881; D. W. Bliss to [??], August 13, 1881.

9 “Not the minutest symptom”: “The Surgeons’ Confidence,” New York Times, August 20, 1881.

10 What did cause Bliss apprehension: The infection contributed to Garfield’s starvation by itself consuming calories.

11 In less than two months: Herr, “Ignorance Is Bliss,” 459.

12 The barrel-chested: Ibid.; The Death of President James A. Garfield, National Museum of Health and Medicine.

13 “the limit of what a man can lose”: “The Doctors’ Reasons for Hope,” New York Times, August 30, 1881.

14 “at the best meal”: New York Herald, August 16, 1881, quoted in Clark, The Murder of James A. Garfield, 100.

15 Most days, Garfield was able: Clark, The Murder of James A. Garfield, 89.

16 Although Garfield found it difficult: Ibid.; Comer, Harry Garfield’s First Forty Years, 60.

17 The White House cook: Seale, The President’s House, 525.

18 Realizing that he urgently needed: “Dr. Bliss Reassured,” New York Times, August 17, 1881.

19 For a stretch of eight days: Prichard and Herring, “The Problem of the President’s Bullet,” 628.

20 Then Bliss began altering the mixture: Ibid.; Clark, The Murder of James A. Garfield, 101.

21 The danger was that: Author interview with David Lounsbury, MD; Eltorai, “Fatal Spinal Cord Injury of the 20th President of the United States,” 336.

22 At first, Garfield seemed: Clark, The Murder of James A. Garfield, 101.

23 As well as being malnourished: Author interview with David Lounsbury, MD; Reyburn, Clinical History of the Case of President James Abram Garfield.

24 While newspapers continued: “The Fight for Life,” Evening Star, August 23, 1881.

25 “This dreadful sickness”: Harriet S. Blaine and Beale, Letters of Mrs. James G. Blaine, 233–34.

26 It seemed that everyone: Clark, The Murder of James A. Garfield, 93.

27 “darkness,” she told her family: Harriet S. Blaine and Beale, Letters of Mrs. James G. Blaine, 225.

28 “Your father [is] much exercised”: Ibid., 236–37.

29 The Constitution was of no help: The government did not tackle the issue of presidential disability