Morning Cup O Joe

[TabMagnet]

The first recorded use of the MD was in July, 1881, when Alexander Graham Bell tried to find a bullet lodged in President James A. Garfield's chest.

He was using an Induction Balance detector and was assisted by the First Lady.

The device was capable of detecting an undamaged bullet at 2.5"... flattened out at up to 5"... and flattened and on edge... 1". After locating the bullet, and giving the surgeon a quick option of where to extract said bullet... it is believed they decided not to attempt it. President Garfield died later of infection. In any case the first reported use was to find Galena... not Gold. Pure old lead. And some have said that President Garfield died of "lead poisoning".

Imagine..... this was approx 3 months before the shoot out at the OK Corral, in Tombstone, Arizona! I suppose the doctors in Tombstone surely could have used a Compadre in their line of work. Hmmm.... come to think of it... Tesoro is made in Prescott, AZ... where Doc Holliday was known to hang about.... maybe the folks at Tesoro are related?

 

[Sitting Bull]

I love reading the tid bits you post. I get to learn some historical fact as well as just good reading

 

[CladDog]

The worst part for Garfield was the amount of probing and cutting the doctors did on him prior to the use of the metal detector.

Many now believe that it was the "examinations" by these doctors, and not the bullet, that killed him.

 

[TabMagnet]

I think you are probably correct. With all the standard probing of those days with metal and ceramic rods it was inevitable he would get infected. If the Doctor's don't help you, they just might kill you.

 

[TabMagnet]

I love reading the tid bits you post. I get to learn some historical fact as well as just good reading

Thanks, Sitting Bull. I get bored at times and a little research turns up some of the strangest things. I usually check them against Snopes to be sure if they have any truth to them, but with detectorists... I'm sure many, many things go unreported.