Who Can You Believe

[Eva Elisabeth]

(07-29-2014 05:07 PM)Houmes Wrote:  

(07-29-2014 03:26 AM)LincolnToddFan Wrote:  Thanks Linda-

It's a miracle Fred survived that night. A small part of his brain was exposed from the force of the pistol breaking open his skull. He was comatose for several days afterward, and at least one newspaper reported that he had died.

After he recovered he wore a cap for the rest of his life.

I've read this line ("...a small part of his brain was exposed...") before and highly doubt--in an era where there were no antibiotics or knowledge of antiseptic treatment--that his brain was exposed. Back then, as a rule, it would have been a death sentence from meningitis. It's much more likely that they saw his skull exposed. Today, it's common to see the skull if a laceration is deep enough.

Dr. Houmes - may I kindly ask for your comment on the following?
Sure it would have been a miracle to survive such in those days (but that goes for his father's injuries, too), but such miracles did happen on the other hand. Why not here? In post #13, Linda quotes from Fanny's diary: " At present the PULSING of the brain is visible" (maybe an epidural artery?).

Also - from my humble understanding, if the skull was broken (about which, if I understand correctly, there's no doubt), and as it was an open wound, the meninges, at least the dura mater, would have been connected and thus "exposed" to the "outside environment" and thus way would anyway have been given for germs etc. to enter and cause meningitis, wouldn't it?

Not to forget as for the risk of infection that despite lacking aseptic measures, brain surgery and trepanning is AFAIK the oldest kind of surgery and had "successfully" (i.e. the patient at least survived) been practiced centuries ago:
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trepanning
"Out of eight skulls with trepanations from the 6th to 8th centuries found in southwestern Germany, seven skulls show clear evidence of healing and survival after trepanation suggesting that the survival rate of the operations was high and the infection rate was low."