Page 21 - My FlipBook

do for that patient ; he is not in condition to bear with :
any considerable operation at that particular time. Various
other conditions—heart lesions, etc.—stand out in the pulse
if you understand how to read them. It will require a par-
ticular study of the pulse to know how to find these things,
however. I may tell you a story that I have told to classes
frequently, perhaps not to this class, that indicates something
of the necessity of this careful study of the pulse by the
dentists. Some fifteen or eighteen years ago a young lady, a
stranger to me, came into my office and asked me to give her
an anesthetic and extract a tooth. I looked her over as I
usually look over patients. I asked her two or three ques-
tions in a pleasant way, inquired about her health, etc. She
said she was very well. I saw nothing wrong at the moment,
but when I took hold of her wrist T found a warning in the
pulse ; it was a strong, round, shotty pulse that was much
too frequent. I asked her a question as to her general con-
dition at that moment—if she was as well to-day as usual.
She said she was. I counted the pulse and found it 120. Of
course, this was sufficient in itself to give a warning if there
had been nothing in the peculiar character of the pulse. I
dropped her arm by her side and took the pulse in that posi-
tion ; raised it up and took the pulse in that position. I was
satisfied that there were imperfect valves in the heart or an
aneurism interfering them. I placed my ear over her
chest, saying I wanted to listen to her heart a moment, and
through her clothing the murmur of imperfect closure of
the heart valves was yery distinct. When I had proceeded
thus far in the examination she said she didn't want to be
examined and protested against the examination going any
farther. Then it was my turn to say a word. I said to her
"You are a stranger to me ; you come and ask me to prac-
tically take your life in my hands ; to give you an anesthetic
and reduce you to a condition of unconsciousness, and per-
form an operation. It is my business to know whether I can
do that safely to you and to myself." At that the young lady
broke down and began to shed tears, and told me that she
had come away from her circle of acquaintance in order to
get an anesthetic from a stranger. After further conversa-
tion, she was advised to come the next day and have the
tooth out without an anesthetic, which she did without acci-