This is another very weird tale of how to treat a longstanding white phosphorus burn from the early 20th century. The same story appears to have been syndicated in a variety of titles that I have come across, though I take this one from the 16th December 1904 Ashbourne News Telegraph.
At this point in time, P4 was being phased out of matchmaking due to the dangerous nature of the substance and its poisoning of very young women in particular in the matchmaking industry.
This story from America involves another youngster, but we are not told as to how he came by the injury. I am not sure if “Cornelius Post” was his name, or if the comma in the article refers to the story coming from a newspaper by this name in the New York area?
The grotesque and cruel method used to treat the burn on his leg was to place a live rabbit on the burn in some bizarre skin graft operation. They could have course have just used some stuff off his own arse, instead of inflicting such an ordeal on the poor thumper. I cannot see how the life of the rabbit would possibly have been saved, or even the boy himself. Thank goodness this type of “surgery” never caught on.
I feel a song coming on……….
“How could the leg that burned so brightly, suddenly burn so pale- Bright Eyes.”