“He held the dagger in his left hand and given it with the right several blows with a mallet, believing that he would fall dead at the first blow. To his profound surprise he felt no pain and observed no particular phenomenon. He struck the dagger in all about a dozen times. The man was a drunkard but was sober at the moment of the attempt.”
By this stage the man had nine-tenths of the blade embedded in his skull – but had suffered no pain, loss of consciousness or other ill effects. Unsure what to do next, he changed his mind about suicide and agreed to Dr Dubrisay being summoned. Dubrisay arrived two hours later, however his initial efforts to extract the dagger proved fruitless:
“For half an hour unsuccessful attempts were made to get the dagger out. The patient was placed on the ground, two vigorous persons fixed his shoulders and, aided by a strong pair of carpenter’s pincers, repeated attempts were made, but without success.”
The patient remained conscious and ambulatory during these failed attempts. He was taken to a nearby coppersmith’s, where the dagger was pulled out with the aid of a steam winch. Again, he endured this ordeal with “the greatest coolness”, suffering some bleeding and discomfort but no significant pain.
The patient was able to walk to hospital, remaining there for ten days while his wound healed. He was then discharged, apparently in perfect health. The fascinated Dr Dubrisay later replicated the incident in a series of experiments, hammering daggers into the skulls of human cadavers.
Source: The Lancet, London, v.2, 1881. Content on this page is © Alpha History 2019-23. Content may not be republished without our express permission. For more information please refer to our Terms of Use or contact Alpha History.