The unfortunate death of President Garfield

The shot in the back was not fatal, not hitting any vital organs. The bullet lodged behind the pancreas."If they had just left him alone he almost certainly would have survived," Millard said.Within minutes, doctors converged on the fallen president, using their fingers to poke and prod his open wounds."Twelve different doctors inserted unsterilized fingers and instruments in Garfield's back probing for this bullet," Millard recounted, "and the first examination took place on the train station floor. I mean, you can't imagine a more germ-infested environment."American doctors at the time didn't believe germs existed at all. And according to Dr. Jeffrey Reznick of the National Library of Medicine, they rejected the use of antiseptics pioneered by British surgeon Joseph Lister, for whom Listerine would later be named...

His father died before he was two years old, so to put himself through college his first year, he was a janitor and a carpenter. By his second year they made him assistant professor of literature and ancient languages."By the time he was 26 he was his college's president. He had just an off-the-charts mind."