A matter of knife or death
QUESTION In 1961, Leonid Rogozov, a Russian surgeon working in Antarctica, had to perform a major operation on himself. Did he survive?
Leonid ivanovich Rogozov was a doctor on the sixth Soviet antarctic expedition to novolazarevskaya Station research base — and, when he developed appendicitis, he had to perform an appendectomy on himself.
in april 1961, Rogozov had begun suffering from weakness, fever, nausea and pain over the right side of his abdomen. he self-diagnosed appendicitis.
There was no chance of outside help. The journey from Russia to the antarctic took five weeks by sea and his ship was not scheduled to return until the following year. Flying was impossible, too, because of snow and blizzards.
Two scientists whom he co- opted as his surgical assistants had to sterilise his medical equipment in the ice. They were ordered to administer adrenaline if he were to faint.
‘My poor assistants! at the last minute i looked over at them: they stood there in their surgical whites, whiter than white themselves,’ Rogozov wrote in his journal.
after giving himself a local anaesthetic, he performed the operation in a semireclined position, which minimised the use of a mirror.
‘it was frequently necessary to raise my head in order to see better and, sometimes, i had to work entirely by feel,’ he later wrote. ‘Finally, here it is, the cursed appendage! With horror, i notice the dark stain at its base.
‘That means just a day longer and it would have burst . . . My heart seized up and noticeably slowed, my hands felt like rubber. Well, i thought, it’s going to end badly and all that was left was removing the appendix.’
By midnight on april 30, after two hours on the operating table, the appendectomy was successfully completed.
Rogozov made a full recovery and returned home a national hero. his incredible survival story was used as a Soviet propaganda tool.
Just 18 days before the operation, his fellow Russian, Yuri gagarin, had become the first man in space, and comparisons were drawn between the two men.
in 1961, Rogozov was awarded the order of the Red Banner of Labour.
But he shunned publicity and continued to work at his clinic in Leningrad until his death in 2000 from lung cancer at the age of 66.
Keith Durnett, Leeds.
QUESTION Why was the 17th-century conflict between colonists and Native Americans called King Philip’s War?
King Philip’s War, also called Metacom’s Rebellion, from 1675 to 1676, was the last major effort by new england native americans to drive out english settlers.
Massasoit, the sachem, or chief, of the Wampanoags, had established friendly relations with the colonists after outbreaks of smallpox had devastated his tribe. This alliance ensured that the tribe remained neutral during the Pequot War of 1636.
Following Massasoit’s death in 1661, his sons Wamsutta and Metacom travelled to the colonial capital at Plymouth to cement relations. The brothers requested they be given english names in accordance with the Wampanoag custom of marking significant events. Wamsutta was given the name alexander and Metacom was called Philip.
Wamsutta died within the year, and his brother succeeded him as chief.
Resentment of the settlers grew during Metacom’s rule as the native americans became increasingly dependent on english goods, their power diminished as the fur trade dried up and tribal lands were sold off.
When Metacom was forced to recognise english sovereignty, it proved a step too far, because he had considered himself to be a ‘brother’ to charles ii, not a subject.
Joining with the nipmucks, Podunks, nashaway and narragansetts, he led a vicious armed uprising that lasted 14 months and destroyed 12 frontier towns.
other tribes, including the Mohegan, Pequot, Massachusetts and nauset, sided with the english. one in ten of the colonial forces was killed and the tribes routed.
The war ended when Metacom was captured and beheaded. Some of his supporters escaped to canada and those who surrendered were sent as slaves to the West indies.
King Philip’s War saw the emergence of american identity. The new england colonists had faced down their enemies without support from Britain.
it also spelled the beginning of the end of the native american way of life. Those who survived faced servitude, disease and the confiscation of their lands.
Tanya May, Bicester, Oxon.
QUESTION Did Louisa May Alcott, author of Little Women, have a sideline in pulp fiction?
LOUISA MAY ALCOTT was a prolific american writer whose most famous book is 1868’s Little Women, a semiautobiographical account of her childhood years with her three sisters in concord, Massachusetts.
For years, though, there were rumours of a dark literary alter-ego.
in 1942, two antiquarian sleuths, Leona Rosenberg and Madeleine B. Stern, were scouring for clues in the alcott papers in the houghton Library at harvard.
Rosenberg discovered five letters written to alcott in 1865 and 1866 by Boston publisher James R. elliott asking for more stories from ‘a. M. Barnard’.
it emerged that alcott had written a number of pulpy thrillers under this pseudonym, with names such as Lost in a Pyramid or The Mummy’s curse, Pauline’s Passion and Punishment and Perilous Play.
Themes included smoking hashish, transvestism, sadomasochism and violence. They served to pay the bills while alcott pursued her serious career.
The research led to Stern’s biography, Louisa May alcott, in 1950, and a Seventies compilation entitled Behind a Mask: The unknown Thrillers of Louisa May alcott.
Amy McGann, Thrapston, Northants. IS THERE a question to which you have always wanted to know the answer? Or do you know the answer to a question raised here? Send your questions and answers to: Charles Legge, Answers To Correspondents, Daily Mail, 2 Derry Street, London, W8 5TT. You can also email them to charles.legge@dailymail.co.uk. A selection will be published, but we are not able to enter into individual correspondence.