what does "dials spun instinctively" mean? The body of John Kennedy lay at the center of the storm, insulated from it by the magnitude of the task which preoccupied everyone in Trauma Room No. 1. There was no need for sham activity beyond that threshold. The men and women who were gathering could not doubt the urgency of their work, and discipline invested it with a kind of peace. Blades and catheters were lifted automatically, dials spun instinctively; rubber-gloved hands reached, clenched, and moved in rhythmic pantomime.