Note 7 — Chapter II · FUTURE SURPRISES OF THE AEROPLANE–HUNTING, TRAVEL, MAIL, WIRELESS, LIFE-SAVING, AND OTHER SPECIAL USES

A very important service was rendered only a short time ago by the hydroaeroplane which might easily have served to save a human life if the accident had been more serious than it actually was. Mr. Hugh Robinson the instructor of the Curtiss hydroaeroplane school was having Sunday dinner at the hotel in Hammondsport, where Dr. P. L. Alden, one of the well-known physicians of that place, was also eating dinner, when the doctor received a telephone message that Mr. Edwin Petrie's little son had fallen from the steps of the Urbana Wine Company at Urbana, five miles down the lake, and had a compound fracture of his thigh with a serious hemorrhage. It was a very serious injury and the little fellow was in intense pain, and Mr. Petrie asked the doctor to come as quickly as he possibly could. Dr. Alden realised the urgency of the situation and knew that delay might mean serious results from hemorrhage, so he went immediately over to Mr. Robinson and asked if he would take him across the lake in the hydroaeroplane right away. Mr. Robinson said, "I will be ready in five minutes; just as soon as you can get over to the field." Dr. Alden got his bandages and instruments and hurried down to the shed where Mr. Robinson had already gotten out the hydro; he jumped in and they were off without a moment's delay. They covered the five miles in five minutes, at times running on the surface of the lake because the wind was blowing so strong; as they ran up on the beach the doctor jumped out and hastened to his patient. The boy was so much interested in the fact that he was the first patient to be treated by a hydroaeroplane doctor, and so fascinated at hearing Dr. Alden tell about the trip, that he forgot for the moment the seriousness of his condition and allowed the doctor to reduce the fracture without an anesthetic. When all that could be done just then had been done, Dr. Alden and Mr. Robinson returned in the hydroaeroplane as rapidly as they had come on their errand of humanity, and at last accounts young Mr. Petrie was getting well as fast as he could so he could have a ride in the hydroaeroplane himself!–AUGUSTUS POST.