g the mouth of the artery
so deeply that it could not be recovered without again using the knife.
What followed will be best understood if given in the doctor's own
words in a relation of the circumstances made by him a few years
afterward.

"As you will see," he said, "I was in the worst possible condition for
an emergency like this. I had used no stimulus since returning from Mr.
Carlton's though just going to order wine when the summons from Doctor
Angier came. If I had taken a glass or two, it would have been better,
but the imperative nature of the summons disconcerted me. I was just in
the condition to be disturbed and confused. I remembered when too late
the grave omission, and had partly resolved to ask Mr. Carlton for a
glass of wine before proceeding to reopen the wound and search for the
bleeding artery. But a too vivid recollection of my recent conversation
with him about Doctor Kline prevented my doing so.

"I felt my hand tremble as I removed the bandages and opened the deep
cavity left by the displaced tumor. After the blood with which it was
filled had been removed, I saw at the deepest part of the cavity the
point from which the blood was flowing, and made an effort to recover
the artery, which, owing to the uncertainty of hand which had followed
the loss of stimulation, I had tied imperfectly. But it was soon
apparent that the parts had swollen, and that I should have to cut
deeper in order to get possession of the artery, which lay in close
contact with the internal jugular vein. Doctor Kline was holding the
head and shoulders of the patient in such a way as to give tension to
all the vessels of the neck, while my assistant held open the lips of
the wound, so that I could see well into the cavity.

"My hand did not recover its steadiness. As I began cutting down to
find the artery I seemed suddenly to be smitten with blindness and to
lose a clear perception of what I was doing. It seemed as if some
malignant spirit had for the moment got possession of me, coming in
through the disorder wrought in my nervous system by over stimulation,
and used the hand I could no longer see to guide the instrument I was
holding, for death instead of life. I remember now that a sudden
impulse seemed given to my arm as if some one had struck it a blow.
Then a sound which it had never before been my misfortune to hear--and
I pray God I may never hear it again--startled me to an agonized sense
of the disaster I had wro