Bradford reporter. [volume] (Towanda, Pa.) 1844-1884, 1858-12-23
Wounds on the Brain,

! there Is hardly an instance on recOrdOf a family
of six people being all so dangerously struck on
! the skull with hatchet into the very substance
OF the brain, and all remaining ut the end Of
the week alive, and so many of them in fai"
way for recovering, as the Gonldy family were
at the end of that period Probably the very
force suddenness and madness, with which the
blows were inflicted, and the sharpness of the
instrument, have contributed not a little to this
4 round ball. though not making half so ugly
wound would almost certainly have produc
ed a greater amount of displacement and CON
| fusion of the edges of the wound, and hence
subsequent inflammation !; and blows delivered
with only half the ferceneSs and violence
might have produced worse fractures of the
skullbone, and greater jar of the whole brain,
than the rapidly dealt and nervous strokes of
this young mailman. 1t is thus pistol ball
will pass through window without cracking
the edges around the hole, while a spent ball
or q stone coming with half the force will shiver
the glass in every direction.
| There is nothing in which nature seems more
| caprcious as to the effects she causes to ensue
than in wounds on the brain. Sometimes
slight fal. or a very triaing blow that does not
break the skin proves fatal in short time :;
and other times not only may the skull be pier
| ced or fractured, but large pieces of the skull
! bone be removed as by trepanning and a very
! considerable portion of the cerebrum or upper
| portion of the brain itself be lost, and yet all
the functions of life be carried on for years IT,
| however, the cerebellum, that is the lower and
! back part of the brain, be injured, it is very
! different matter. A slight wound there pro
duces immediate death. But man may, in
certain circumstances, lose a tcacup full Of
| brain without death or the loss of reason for
even an instant. Perhaps this may 90 far to
show that the brain is the organ through which
the mind acts, but nothing more. The mind
is q whole and entire thing Independent of its
organs Of operation.
\ few years ago a man, in blasting, eXplOd-
cd his charge too soon by ramming it down with
an iron bar or drill The drill was driven up
clear through the roof of his mouth. through
the brain of course, and through the top of the
! skull high up in the air The man coolIy got
into wagon standing near and drove some
distance home. No one supposed he could live;
! but actually he did survive, certainly for some
months with his senses perfect, and we have
not heard of his death.
We know Of case of a barkccper in the
South being shot through the forehead He
took mp pen, ink and paper and wrote to his
wife that he was shot, and probably he died in
twenty four hours, the blood dropping on his
paper
4 more remarkable case was that of well
digger who while in a we'll had his skull bro
ken in by the fall of a heavy timber upon his
head. He was taken out insensiblc, and re-
mained so for ten days his death so momenta-
rily expected that trcpanning was not even tri-
cd uutil the end of that time BY degrees he
recovered his mind perfectly, and even his
strength, 50 far as to be able 10 walk around
the room, after losing very considerable part
of the brain itself Although, near sixty a
new bone began to grow and this, at the end
of about eighteen months, proved his death,
owing to a small spike of the new bone, not an
inch long, growing down the brain, producing
irritation, pressure and death.
1t is then, not, the loss of blood or the sub
stance of the brain that is so much to be fear
ed. as the irritation and inflammation which
enSuc. Congestion of the brain may stupcfy,
or the hemorhagc through the rupture of the
blood vessels cause death But, as we have
said, quite a considerable quantity Of the brain
itself may be abStracted without necessarily
occaSiouing death and, in some instances,
NltOuG NCoi''C ii7 VIC ''iiSNo Va ib'''ii
powers There is, however we suppose, no
doubt loss of nervous forces, especially of the
power of endurance in all such cases
Still it is worth while to bear in mind the
distinctions between the effect Of the loss Of
the brain and the pressure upon it. That if
not fatal. seems always to produce a disorder
ed action. Whether this pressure is produced
by an external wound, or by internal determi-
nation Of blood whenever it becomes such that
a supply of pure and healthy blood does not
flow freely and continually through all the yes
sells. the mental action assumes disOrdered
character Remove the pressure, and some
times the restoration will be as sudden. The
removal of portion of the skull that had been
fractured and indented three years previously,
was known in the case Of a sailor, at once to
restore him to state of insanity, although
with perfect oblivion of the whole intermedl-
ate time. Whether congestion of particular
portions Of the brain is not the true mode of
accounting for the occasional idosynracicS OF
many men, and beyond what is ordinarily sup
posed, who shall say