Jeffro
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BELL’S METAL DETECTOR: On July 2, 1881, President James Garfield was hit by an assassin’s bullet. The bullet was lodged somewhere in his chest, and the doctors couldn’t tell where. The x-ray machine hadn’t been invented yet. The only way to judge the bullet’s position was by a doctor inserting his finger (often unwashed) into the wound and probing for it, or by exploring blindly with an instrument (which could cause additional damage). Neither method was successful. Yet, a decision had to be made. If the bullet had penetrated a vital organ, surgery was needed to avoid certain death. Conversely, if the bullet were not close to a vital organ, it would be better to wait until the President’s condition stabilized.
News of the shooting was published in the papers, and read with concern by both ordinary citizens and medical professionals. Soon, package after package of home remedies, poultices, teas, and herbs, were received by attending physicians. There were also offers for assistance, most of which had to be declined. One overture, however, was taken seriously. It came from Alexander Graham Bell. Working with another inventor, Simon Newcomb, he had come up with a device that could detect metal. Newcomb had designed the fundamental machine — two coils of wire, a battery, and a continually- actuated switch to interrupt the current. Bell added his telephone receiver to the circuitry to amplify the hum produced when a piece of metal was brought within five inches of one of the coils. What they had made was a crude induction-balance detector.
The inventors, carrying their gadget, were admitted into the White House bedroom, and proceeded to search for the bullet. President Garfield, like most people at the time, was wary of electrical devices, and had to be assured by Bell and Newcomb that the detector was perfectly safe. That was true. There was no danger of electrocution — but the detector didn’t work. The inventors received the same signal no matter where they scanned over Mr. Garfield’s chest. They finally left, promising to return after they tweaked the machine up a bit and re-checked its operation. Strangely, they could find nothing wrong with the detector. It operated well in the laboratory, and just as well at a nearby Soldier’s Home where they tested it on Civil War veteran volunteers who had bullets or remnants of metal remaining in their bodies. So the inventors returned to the White House, tried the machine again, and got the same result as before. The detector worked fine on everyone but the President. Unable to understand why, they left, saddened, and didn’t return. The President died on the nineteenth of September.
Later, the reason for the detector’s failure was discovered. The President’s bed was provided with a coil-spring mattress. This comfortable sleeping appurtenance was a recent invention. The White House was one of the few places in the country that had one. Bell and Newcomb’s metal detector had indeed worked well — too well. It had detected the springs in the mattress. If the President had been moved off the bed to the floor, or onto a table, the bullet would have been found, and the surgeons might have been able to save his life. (Modern medical opinion, however, is that complications resulting from probing without antiseptic precautions, not known at the time, were what really caused the President’s death.) The detector is on display at the Smithsonian Institution.
BELL’S METAL DETECTOR: On July 2, 1881, President James Garfield was hit by an assassin’s bullet. The bullet was lodged somewhere in his chest, and the doctors couldn’t tell where. The x-ray machine hadn’t been invented yet. The only way to judge the bullet’s position was by a doctor inserting his finger (often unwashed) into the wound and probing for it, or by exploring blindly with an instrument (which could cause additional damage). Neither method was successful. Yet, a decision had to be made. If the bullet had penetrated a vital organ, surgery was needed to avoid certain death. Conversely, if the bullet were not close to a vital organ, it would be better to wait until the President’s condition stabilized.
News of the shooting was published in the papers, and read with concern by both ordinary citizens and medical professionals. Soon, package after package of home remedies, poultices, teas, and herbs, were received by attending physicians. There were also offers for assistance, most of which had to be declined. One overture, however, was taken seriously. It came from Alexander Graham Bell. Working with another inventor, Simon Newcomb, he had come up with a device that could detect metal. Newcomb had designed the fundamental machine — two coils of wire, a battery, and a continually- actuated switch to interrupt the current. Bell added his telephone receiver to the circuitry to amplify the hum produced when a piece of metal was brought within five inches of one of the coils. What they had made was a crude induction-balance detector.
The inventors, carrying their gadget, were admitted into the White House bedroom, and proceeded to search for the bullet. President Garfield, like most people at the time, was wary of electrical devices, and had to be assured by Bell and Newcomb that the detector was perfectly safe. That was true. There was no danger of electrocution — but the detector didn’t work. The inventors received the same signal no matter where they scanned over Mr. Garfield’s chest. They finally left, promising to return after they tweaked the machine up a bit and re-checked its operation. Strangely, they could find nothing wrong with the detector. It operated well in the laboratory, and just as well at a nearby Soldier’s Home where they tested it on Civil War veteran volunteers who had bullets or remnants of metal remaining in their bodies. So the inventors returned to the White House, tried the machine again, and got the same result as before. The detector worked fine on everyone but the President. Unable to understand why, they left, saddened, and didn’t return. The President died on the nineteenth of September.
Later, the reason for the detector’s failure was discovered. The President’s bed was provided with a coil-spring mattress. This comfortable sleeping appurtenance was a recent invention. The White House was one of the few places in the country that had one. Bell and Newcomb’s metal detector had indeed worked well — too well. It had detected the springs in the mattress. If the President had been moved off the bed to the floor, or onto a table, the bullet would have been found, and the surgeons might have been able to save his life. (Modern medical opinion, however, is that complications resulting from probing without antiseptic precautions, not known at the time, were what really caused the President’s death.) The detector is on display at the Smithsonian Institution.
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