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So this family doctor had to perform, on the spot and without the elaborate accessories a specialist would have at his command, a monstrously delicate operation. His humble confrères everywhere must in emergencies do deeds comparably as difficult. They go their long ways night and day unapplauded otherwise than by the devotion of their patients.
The doctor took a pair of forceps in his hand. That hand must not tremble. It must pull the needle straight out in one swift motion. The forceps must not grope for its grip on the needle end. The screech of slipping steel would sound the tiny patient's death. He must not jiggle the needle, else its embedded tip would tear the thin cells of the brain and kill the patient. With micrometer precision he gripped with the forceps the needle end. With ramrod straightness he pulled. The needle came out. Except for a little clot of blood it was clean. Little possibility of infection. The child probably would live.