"As a proof of that, I must show you a beautiful photograph which I have just made. After leaving you on New Year's morning, I found a patient asleep in my office. He had been waiting several hours. It was the usual case of a pistol in the hands of a fool friend, who did not know it was loaded; and of course with the usual result—a bullet wound in my patient."
Sturgis was listening in an absent-minded way while his friend spoke.
"The wound was not severe; no bones broken. The bullet had entered the palm of the left hand and had passed up into the forearm."
A sudden light came into the reporter's eyes; but he maintained his listless attitude.
"Well, sir, probe as I would, I was unable to locate that bullet. At last I concluded to try the Roentgen rays, and here is the result. It is as pretty a shadow photograph as I have yet seen."
So saying, Doctor Thurston handed the reporter a photograph, which the latter studied carefully in silence.
"Notice how clearly you can see the peculiar shape into which the bullet has been flattened," said the physician.
"Yes," replied Sturgis, "I was observing that. Have you a duplicate of this that you can spare?"
"Yes; keep that one if you wish."
"Thank you; I am very glad to have it. Did you succeed in extracting the bullet?"