Washington, Pa., July 31, 1899.
To the Editor:
—Apropos of the editorial on "Retention of Life," in the Journal of July 29, allow me to mention two cases which came under my observation in the past two years, while an interne in Western Pennsylvania Hospital.The first patient, a slender youth of 19 years, slipped while attempting to board a moving train. The wheels crushed the right upper arm, right side of the pelvis, and left thigh. He reached the hospital in ten or fifteen minutes. Bleeding had stopped, but the cinder-covered bowels were protruding over the crushed right os innominatum and lateral abdominal wall. The patient was conscious and rational for fully an hour after the injury, until he died.In October, 1897, a young tramp was found beside the Pennsylvania tracks, and brought to the hospital by ambulance. Examination showed both thighs entirely severed from the body, so