“Let me see,” said the third year’s man. “You have never seen an operation?”
“Never.”
“Then this way, please. This is Rutherford’s historic bar. A glass of sherry, please, for this gentleman. You are rather sensitive, are you not?”
“My nerves are not very strong, I am afraid.”
“Hum! Another glass of sherry for this gentleman. We are going to an operation now, you know.”
The novice2 squared his shoulders and made a gallant3 attempt to look unconcerned.
“Nothing very bad—eh?”
“Well, yes—pretty bad.”
“An—an amputation4?”
“No; it’s a bigger affair than that.”
“I think—I think they must be expecting me at home.”
“There’s no sense in funking. If you don’t go to-day, you must to-morrow. Better get it over at once. Feel pretty fit?”
“Oh, yes; all right!” The smile was not a success.
“One more glass of sherry, then. Now come on or we shall be late. I want you to be well in front.”
“Surely that is not necessary.”
“Oh, it is far better! What a drove of students! There are plenty of new men among them. You can tell them easily enough, can’t you? If they were going down to be operated upon themselves, they could not look whiter.”
“I don’t think I should look as white.”
“Well, I was just the same myself. But the feeling soon wears off. You see a fellow with a face like plaster, and before the week is out he is eating his lunch in the dissecting5 rooms. I’ll tell you all about the case when we get to the theatre.”
The students were pouring down the sloping street which led to the infirmary—each with his little sheaf of note-books in his hand. There were pale, frightened lads, fresh from the high schools, and callous6 old chronics, whose generation had passed on and left them. They swept in an unbroken, tumultuous stream from the university gate to the hospital. The figures and gait of the men were young, but there was little youth in most of their faces. Some looked as if they ate too little—a few as if they drank too much. Tall and short, tweed-coated and black, round-shouldered, bespectacled, and slim, they crowded with clatter7 of feet and rattle8 of sticks through the hospital gate. Now and again they thickened into two lines, as the carriage of a surgeon of the staff rolled over the cobblestones between.
“There’s going to be a crowd at Archer9’s,” whispered the senior man with suppressed excitement. “It is grand to see him at work. I’ve seen him jab all round the aorta10 until it made me jumpy to watch him. This way, and mind the whitewash11.”
They passed under an archway and down a long, stone-flagged corridor, with drab-coloured doors on either side, each marked with a number. Some of them were ajar, and the novice glanced into them with tingling13 nerves. He was reassured14 to catch a glimpse of cheery fires, lines of white-counterpaned beds, and a profusion15 of coloured texts upon the wall. The corridor opened upon a small hall, with a fringe of poorly clad people seated all round upon benches. A young man, with a pair of scissors stuck like a flower in his buttonhole and a note-book in his hand, was passing from one to the other, whispering and writing.
“Anything good?” asked the third year’s man.
“You should have been here yesterday,” said the out-patient clerk, glancing up. “We had a regular field day. A popliteal aneurism, a Colles’ fracture, a spina bifida, a tropical abscess, and an elephantiasis. How’s that for a single haul?”
“I’m sorry I missed it. But they’ll come again, I suppose. What’s up with the old gentleman?”
A broken workman was sitting in the shadow, rocking himself slowly to and fro, and groaning16. A woman beside him was trying to console him, patting his shoulder with a hand which was spotted18 over with curious little white blisters19.
“It’s a fine carbuncle,” said the clerk, with the air of a connoisseur20 who describes his orchids21 to one who can appreciate them. “It’s on his back and the passage is draughty, so we must not look at it, must we, daddy? Pemphigus,” he added carelessly, pointing to the woman’s disfigured hands. “Would you care to stop and take out a metacarpal?”
“No, thank you. We are due at Archer’s. Come on!” and they rejoined the throng22 which was hurrying to the theatre of the famous surgeon.
The tiers of horseshoe benches rising from the floor to the ceiling were already packed, and the novice as he entered saw vague curving lines of faces in front of him, and heard the deep buzz of a hundred voices, and sounds of laughter from somewhere up above him. His companion spied an opening on the second bench, and they both squeezed into it.
“This is grand!” the senior man whispered. “You’ll have a rare view of it all.”
Only a single row of heads intervened between them and the operating table. It was of unpainted deal, plain, strong, and scrupulously23 clean. A sheet of brown water-proofing covered half of it, and beneath stood a large tin tray full of sawdust. On the further side, in front of the window, there was a board which was strewed24 with glittering instruments—forceps, tenacula, saws, canulas, and trocars. A line of knives, with long, thin, delicate blades, lay at one side. Two young men lounged in front of this, one threading needles, the other doing something to a brass25 coffee-pot-like thing which hissed26 out puffs27 of steam.
“That’s Peterson,” whispered the senior, “the big, bald man in the front row. He’s the skin-grafting man, you know. And that’s Anthony Browne, who took a larynx out successfully last winter. And there’s Murphy, the pathologist, and Stoddart, the eye-man. You’ll come to know them all soon.”
“Who are the two men at the table?”
“Nobody—dressers. One has charge of the instruments and the other of the puffing28 Billy. It’s Lister’s antiseptic spray, you know, and Archer’s one of the carbolic-acid men. Hayes is the leader of the cleanliness-and-cold-water school, and they all hate each other like poison.”
A flutter of interest passed through the closely packed benches as a woman in petticoat and bodice was led in by two nurses. A red woolen29 shawl was draped over her head and round her neck. The face which looked out from it was that of a woman in the prime of her years, but drawn30 with suffering, and of a peculiar31 beeswax tint32. Her head drooped33 as she walked, and one of the nurses, with her arm round her waist, was whispering consolation34 in her ear. She gave a quick side-glance at the instrument table as she passed, but the nurses turned her away from it.
“What ails35 her?” asked the novice.
“Cancer of the parotid. It’s the devil of a case; extends right away back behind the carotids. There’s hardly a man but Archer would dare to follow it. Ah, here he is himself!”
As he spoke36, a small, brisk, iron-grey man came striding into the room, rubbing his hands together as he walked. He had a clean-shaven face, of the naval37 officer type, with large, bright eyes, and a firm, straight mouth. Behind him came his big house-surgeon, with his gleaming pince-nez, and a trail of dressers, who grouped themselves into the corners of the room.
“Gentlemen,” cried the surgeon in a voice as hard and brisk as his manner, “we have here an interesting case of tumour38 of the parotid, originally cartilaginous but now assuming malignant39 characteristics, and therefore requiring excision40. On to the table, nurse! Thank you! Chloroform, clerk! Thank you! You can take the shawl off, nurse.”
The woman lay back upon the water-proofed pillow, and her murderous tumour lay revealed. In itself it was a pretty thing—ivory white, with a mesh41 of blue veins42, and curving gently from jaw43 to chest. But the lean, yellow face and the stringy throat were in horrible contrast with the plumpness and sleekness44 of this monstrous45 growth. The surgeon placed a hand on each side of it and pressed it slowly backwards46 and forwards.
“Adherent at one place, gentlemen,” he cried. “The growth involves the carotids and jugulars47, and passes behind the ramus of the jaw, whither we must be prepared to follow it. It is impossible to say how deep our dissection48 may carry us. Carbolic tray. Thank you! Dressings49 of carbolic gauze, if you please! Push the chloroform, Mr. Johnson. Have the small saw ready in case it is necessary to remove the jaw.”
The patient was moaning gently under the towel which had been placed over her face. She tried to raise her arms and to draw up her knees, but two dressers restrained her. The heavy air was full of the penetrating50 smells of carbolic acid and of chloroform. A muffled51 cry came from under the towel, and then a snatch of a song, sung in a high, quavering, monotonous52 voice:
“He says, says he,
If you fly with me
You’ll be mistress of the ice-cream van.
You’ll be mistress of the——”
It mumbled53 off into a drone and stopped. The surgeon came across, still rubbing his hands, and spoke to an elderly man in front of the novice.
“Narrow squeak54 for the Government,” he said.
“Oh, ten is enough.”
“They won’t have ten long. They’d do better to resign before they are driven to it.”
“Oh, I should fight it out.”
“What’s the use. They can’t get past the committee even if they got a vote in the House. I was talking to——”
“Patient’s ready, sir,” said the dresser.
“Talking to McDonald—but I’ll tell you about it presently.” He walked back to the patient, who was breathing in long, heavy gasps55. “I propose,” said he, passing his hand over the tumour in an almost caressing56 fashion, “to make a free incision57 over the posterior border, and to take another forward at right angles to the lower end of it. Might I trouble you for a medium knife, Mr. Johnson?”
The novice, with eyes which were dilating58 with horror, saw the surgeon pick up the long, gleaming knife, dip it into a tin basin, and balance it in his fingers as an artist might his brush. Then he saw him pinch up the skin above the tumour with his left hand. At the sight his nerves, which had already been tried once or twice that day, gave way utterly59. His head swain round, and he felt that in another instant he might faint. He dared not look at the patient. He dug his thumbs into his ears lest some scream should come to haunt him, and he fixed60 his eyes rigidly61 upon the wooden ledge62 in front of him. One glance, one cry, would, he knew, break down the shred63 of self-possession which he still retained. He tried to think of cricket, of green fields and rippling64 water, of his sisters at home—of anything rather than of what was going on so near him.
And yet somehow, even with his ears stopped up, sounds seemed to penetrate65 to him and to carry their own tale. He heard, or thought that he heard, the long hissing66 of the carbolic engine. Then he was conscious of some movement among the dressers. Were there groans67, too, breaking in upon him, and some other sound, some fluid sound, which was more dreadfully suggestive still? His mind would keep building up every step of the operation, and fancy made it more ghastly than fact could have been. His nerves tingled68 and quivered. Minute by minute the giddiness grew more marked, the numb12, sickly feeling at his heart more distressing69. And then suddenly, with a groan17, his head pitching forward, and his brow cracking sharply upon the narrow wooden shelf in front of him, he lay in a dead faint.
When he came to himself, he was lying in the empty theatre, with his collar and shirt undone70. The third year’s man was dabbing71 a wet sponge over his face, and a couple of grinning dressers were looking on.
“All right,” cried the novice, sitting up and rubbing his eyes. “I’m sorry to have made an ass1 of myself.”
“Well, so I should think,” said his companion.
“What on earth did you faint about?”
“I couldn’t help it. It was that operation.”
“What operation?”
“Why, that cancer.”
There was a pause, and then the three students burst out laughing. “Why, you juggins!” cried the senior man, “there never was an operation at all! They found the patient didn’t stand the chloroform well, and so the whole thing was off. Archer has been giving us one of his racy lectures, and you fainted just in the middle of his favourite story.”
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1
ass
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| n.驴；傻瓜，蠢笨的人 | |
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novice
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| adj.新手的，生手的 | |
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gallant
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| adj.英勇的，豪侠的；(向女人)献殷勤的 | |
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amputation
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| n.截肢 | |
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dissecting
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| v.解剖（动物等）( dissect的现在分词 )；仔细分析或研究 | |
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callous
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| adj.无情的，冷淡的，硬结的，起老茧的 | |
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clatter
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| v./n.(使)发出连续而清脆的撞击声 | |
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8
rattle
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| v.飞奔，碰响；激怒；n.碰撞声；拨浪鼓 | |
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archer
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| n.射手，弓箭手 | |
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aorta
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| n.主动脉 | |
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whitewash
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| v.粉刷，掩饰；n.石灰水，粉刷，掩饰 | |
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numb
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| adj.麻木的，失去感觉的；v.使麻木 | |
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13
tingling
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| v.有刺痛感( tingle的现在分词 ) | |
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14
reassured
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| adj.使消除疑虑的；使放心的v.再保证，恢复信心( reassure的过去式和过去分词) | |
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15
profusion
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| n.挥霍；丰富 | |
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groaning
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| adj. 呜咽的, 呻吟的 动词groan的现在分词形式 | |
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groan
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| vi./n.呻吟，抱怨；(发出)呻吟般的声音 | |
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18
spotted
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| adj.有斑点的，斑纹的，弄污了的 | |
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blisters
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| n.水疱( blister的名词复数 )；水肿；气泡 | |
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connoisseur
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| n.鉴赏家，行家，内行 | |
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orchids
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| n.兰花( orchid的名词复数 ) | |
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22
throng
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| n.人群，群众；v.拥挤，群集 | |
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23
scrupulously
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| adv.一丝不苟地；小心翼翼地，多顾虑地 | |
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strewed
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| v.撒在…上( strew的过去式和过去分词 )；散落于；点缀；撒满 | |
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brass
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| n.黄铜；黄铜器，铜管乐器 | |
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26
hissed
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| 发嘶嘶声( hiss的过去式和过去分词 )； 发嘘声表示反对 | |
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27
puffs
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| n.吸( puff的名词复数 )；（烟斗或香烟的）一吸；一缕（烟、蒸汽等）；（呼吸或风的）呼v.使喷出( puff的第三人称单数 )；喷着汽（或烟）移动；吹嘘；吹捧 | |
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28
puffing
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| v.使喷出( puff的现在分词 )；喷着汽（或烟）移动；吹嘘；吹捧 | |
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29
woolen
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| adj.羊毛(制)的；毛纺的 | |
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30
drawn
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| v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的 | |
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peculiar
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| adj.古怪的，异常的；特殊的，特有的 | |
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32
tint
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| n.淡色，浅色；染发剂；vt.着以淡淡的颜色 | |
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33
drooped
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| 弯曲或下垂，发蔫( droop的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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consolation
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| n.安慰，慰问 | |
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35
ails
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| v.生病( ail的第三人称单数 )；感到不舒服；处境困难；境况不佳 | |
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36
spoke
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| n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说 | |
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37
naval
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| adj.海军的，军舰的，船的 | |
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tumour
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| n.(tumor)(肿)瘤，肿块 | |
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malignant
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| adj.恶性的，致命的；恶意的，恶毒的 | |
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excision
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| n.删掉；除去 | |
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mesh
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| n.网孔，网丝，陷阱；vt.以网捕捉，啮合，匹配；vi.适合； [计算机]网络 | |
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42
veins
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| n.纹理；矿脉( vein的名词复数 )；静脉；叶脉；纹理 | |
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43
jaw
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| n.颚，颌，说教，流言蜚语；v.喋喋不休，教训 | |
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44
sleekness
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| 油滑； 油光发亮； 时髦阔气； 线条明快 | |
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45
monstrous
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| adj.巨大的；恐怖的；可耻的，丢脸的 | |
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46
backwards
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| adv.往回地，向原处，倒，相反，前后倒置地 | |
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jugulars
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| n.颈静脉( jugular的名词复数 ) | |
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48
dissection
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| n.分析；解剖 | |
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49
dressings
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| n.敷料剂；穿衣( dressing的名词复数 )；穿戴；（拌制色拉的）调料；（保护伤口的）敷料 | |
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50
penetrating
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| adj.（声音）响亮的，尖锐的adj.（气味）刺激的adj.（思想）敏锐的，有洞察力的 | |
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51
muffled
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| adj.（声音）被隔的；听不太清的；（衣服）裹严的；蒙住的v.压抑，捂住( muffle的过去式和过去分词 )；用厚厚的衣帽包着（自己） | |
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52
monotonous
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| adj.单调的，一成不变的，使人厌倦的 | |
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53
mumbled
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| 含糊地说某事，叽咕，咕哝( mumble的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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54
squeak
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| n.吱吱声，逃脱；v.（发出）吱吱叫，侥幸通过；（俚）告密 | |
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55
gasps
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| v.喘气( gasp的第三人称单数 )；喘息；倒抽气；很想要 | |
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56
caressing
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| 爱抚的，表现爱情的，亲切的 | |
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incision
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| n．切口，切开 | |
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58
dilating
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| v.（使某物）扩大，膨胀，张大( dilate的现在分词 ) | |
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utterly
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| adv.完全地，绝对地 | |
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fixed
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| adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的 | |
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rigidly
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| adv.刻板地，僵化地 | |
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ledge
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| n.壁架，架状突出物；岩架，岩礁 | |
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63
shred
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| v.撕成碎片，变成碎片；n.碎布条，细片，些少 | |
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rippling
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| 起涟漪的，潺潺流水般声音的 | |
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penetrate
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| v.透(渗)入；刺入，刺穿；洞察，了解 | |
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66
hissing
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| n. 发嘶嘶声, 蔑视 动词hiss的现在分词形式 | |
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67
groans
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| n.呻吟，叹息( groan的名词复数 )；呻吟般的声音v.呻吟( groan的第三人称单数 )；发牢骚；抱怨；受苦 | |
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68
tingled
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| v.有刺痛感( tingle的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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distressing
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| a.使人痛苦的 | |
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undone
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| a.未做完的，未完成的 | |
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dabbing
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| 石面凿毛，灰泥抛毛 | |
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