Ashtabula weekly telegraph. [volume] (Ashtabula, Ohio) 1853-1873, 1866-10-27
The Mechanism Of Surgery.

There are two subjects to be considered in a
case of a broken bone the first is the diagno-
sis, to discover the extent and state of the fra c.
ture, which is the business of the anatomist;
the other is the mechanical means to put the
bone into its proper shape, adjust and hold
steadily, SO that it. may be reunited by the pro-
cess of nature and, when the reunion is effect
ed, be in lis original shape, and not detormed
this part of the work is mechanical, and in some
cases has been performed by mcehanicians
much better than by very able surgeons who
were not familiar with mechanical inventions
and appliances.
Mechanical dentists have relieved patients
whom skillful surgeons have failed to relieve
in cases of difficultyi in the palate, and in some
cases of broken jaw. Among these cases is
that OF Mr.. Seward, Secretary of State. He
was thrown from his carriage on April 5th, 1865,
and his jaw was broken on both sides. He was
treated in the old way, without success, until
the l4th when, at the suggestion of the chief
surgeon of the Navy Department, Mr.. Freder-
ick Seward wrote to DR.. Thomas B. Cunning,
Dentist, No Al, ieast 2lst street, New YORK,
stating the case to him, and asking if he could
give the desired relief. On the evening of that
day the assassin Payne made the case much
more difficult by cutting open the face of the
patient, the knife passing through the fracture
on the right side. The air was admitted to the
bone, in consequence of which its vitality or
faculty of reuniting was greatly impaired. The
MING was called to Washington to attend imme-
diatey upon MIR. SEWARD; he arrived in Wash
ington on the morning of the 10th. After an
examination of the case, he proposed mode of
treatment which, however was disapproyed of
by the surgeons in attendance. The treatment
Of the surgeons had not the success hoped for /;
and twenty mine days after the fracture, when
tue distinguished surgeons Zone the Surgeon
General of the Wal, Department. had acknowl-
edged their failures DR.. GUHSISG was requested
to undertake the case. At this time the chin
hung loose, the fractures on both sides being in
such a state as rendered the case far more diff
cult than it would have been at first, or even at
the time DR.. CUNNING was first called.
The treatment consisted in holding the three
parts of the broken jaw in their proper positions
rels tive to each other. This was effected, first,
| by means of the teeth, which were connected
| by wires, temporarily so that form or mold OF
the teeth and gums could be taken In wax, in
the way usual with dentists; from this form a
plaster mould was cast; and upon the plaster a
form of vuleanized hard rubber was made, hav-
ing imbedded in 1t two wings of steel, by which
it could be held by tapes to a cap well fitted
upon the head. Into this form the teeth and
gums, upper and lower, were fitted, and held
until the bone was united and the splint, as it
is technically called, could be safely removed.
The success OF the treatment was greater than
the surgeons anticipated, considering the state OF
the case, after twenty days delay, and the
aggrayation of II by the assassins knife.
The experience and success of DR.. CUNNING,
In this class of cases has been such that the
best surgeons of New York city, as well as
those OF Washington, in the important case
referred to, put their patients into his hands
with full confidence in bis ability and sue
\ cess.
| The efficiency of his treatment is in the me-
chapical ingenuity and expertness by which he
puts and holds the fractured bones together.
Although DIR, GUssIsG holds the Secretary 6
certificate Of acknowledgement the surgeons in
attendance carefully avoided the mention of his
name In connection with the case in their dai-
ly bullitine at the time, and have abstained
from any Acknowledgements since, of the merit
that lifted themselves and their patient out OF a
difficulty they were unable to cope with.