Portrait of Alphonse Edward Black. This is the only known image of Alphonse. The handwritten caption reads: My sonAlphonse sleeping. S. Black. 1872.
On March 1, 1872, nine months less four days from the date of our marriage, myson, Alphonse, was born in the season of the cicadas.The medical community and the country as a whole were excited and hopeful for the potentialdemonstrated by the work being performed in Ward C. The school grounds were overfilled withstudents, and the academy had to change its curriculum and admittance policies to adapt to its quicklyrising prestige. By 1873, applications to the school numbered in the tens of thousands.Unfortunately, Ward C’s successful run was interrupted by the arrival of a nine-year-old patientnamed Meredith Anne Heath. The girl was born with a parasitic twin; she had an additional two legsand an arm extending from her abdomen. She had traveled with her family from Colorado to Ward Cto receive an operation. Only a few minutes into the surgical procedure, complications arose; afterforty-five minutes of extremely painful surgery, Meredith died. Although Dr. Holace claimedculpability for the tragedy, it was deemed unpreventable, uncontrollable, and unforeseeable by theacademy’s medical council. Black shared in the feelings of guilt.March 12, 1873It was not my knife, but lo, were we not all present at the death? I cannot acceptthat we could not have prevented the very thing we caused. We cut her, and theblood spilled out. It’s the very opposite of what I intended: I wish to deal insalvation, not death. Her family, parents, and brothers returned home. A shroud andmaybe a coffin with a little stain, if they can afford it, will carry the child. Whatmanner of physician shall I become? How often will I encounter death?The loss had a strong effect on Black, and his relationship with his colleagues seemed shaken. Itwas the latest in a long series of disagreements with his onetime mentor, Dr. Joab A. Holace.I suppose I can understand his strict and linear approach to medical science, but Ibelieve the journal of laws needs to be held lightly so that one may easily read fromit when needed, but may also let go and be freed from its weight in an instant.Black resented the failure, and (for reasons not entirely clear) he blamed Holace and the staff ofWard C for the girl’s death. It is possible that Black was wrestling with personal issues; he wroteoften of nightmares and nervousness, both of which may have contributed to the failure of hisprofessional relationships.Again, I dreamt last night that a cadaver was brought into the dissection theater.When the cloth was lifted from the body, I saw the sunken face of my father. Then,in their aprons, they began cutting and removing pieces of him; when they finished,everyone left the auditorium. I looked and saw that he was dead but his organsremained alive—his vibrant heart trembling, his kidneys excreting fluid. And then Iawoke.In the fall of 1874, Black suffered the anguish of death once again—only this time, it arrived closeto home. His wife, Elise, bore another child, Elizabeth, who tragically succumbed only a few days
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