The central Presbyterian. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1856-1908, 1868-05-27
Wonders of Modern Surgery.

most Interestingly discussed in an article
in the March number of the Atlantic
Monthy:
The first great and radical step in
modern progress was the introduction OF
what the doctors call anesthetic agents.
Ether was brought into use on the 3Oth OF
March, 1916, by DR.. Morton, of Boston,
who extracted tooth from man with
out pain, by first putting hin. under the
influence of ether. Dr. G. Jackson, the
geologist, claims to have made the first
suggestion of ether, and did, unquestion-
ably, suggest great caution in the use OF
it. Chloroform was discovered by Sir }.
Y. Simpson, a surgeon of Edinburgh,
Scotland, on the 4th of November, 1S47.
Now no operation OF magnitude is per-
formed without the aid of insensibility to
pain, produced either by ether, chloroform
or some other anesthetic agent. 1t seems
as far back as the thirteenth century the
idea of painless operations was carefully
considered, but though treated of by one
Theodore was apparently laid aside as
practically useless. The chief effort of
the old surgeons was apparently to pro-
duce insensibility in the operator in in
Aicting suffering By the local applica-
ton of sufficient degree of cold, insen-
sibility can be produced in any desired
part, so that a man with most exquisitely
painful wound on his arm, or felon on
his finger, can now look quietly down, in
his perfect senses, upon the knife as it
enters his own body, and performs the
most difficult operations without giving
him the least pain. Modern science has
constructed an instrument by which
vapor of ether or other volatile substance,
is thrown out in the form of spray, which
so rapidly absorbs the natural heat of
the parts of the body exposed to its
operation as to produce perfect insensi
blity to pain, without the loss of volition
or consciousness. This evaporation is so
potent that the great Faraday was able
to produce ice in a red hot crucible DIR.
Henry j. Bigelow, of Boston, has intro
duced the use of rhigolene, product of
petroleum, which is extremely volatile,
and will freeze up the skin and textures
beneath in few seconds, fifteen degrees
of cold below zero being easily produced
in few minutes.
Artificial legs and arms are now manu-
featured, which are light, and have all
the movements of natural joints, by means
of springs, cords and wheels, and are so
perfectly adapted to use that it is by no
,cGo~o qoSy 70 disoovor which is the natu
! raj and Which the artificial hnlL, nhen
the wearer is once used to wearing the
work of art. One man boasts, Il can
carry an armful of wood quite handily,"
or "carry pail of water with ease;"
and another says, 81 am fitted with a
pair of artificial hands, and can feed my
self very we'll with them, also can write
so as to be read" Another declares he
has driven a horse "twenty miles on the
coolest day, without calling on his other
hand for assistance. This is great
improvement on the iron hook, which was
the best substitute that old surgery could
afix to the stump. These artificial limbs,
however are triumphs of mechanical in
genuity, rather than of surgery.
A French surgeon has invented an in
strument he calls the ecraseur, or crush
er, to perform operations dangerous in
surgery, on account of the loss of blood
from the smaller vassels, if performed
with knife. 1t is formed of fine chain
gathered into loop, which encloses the
part to be removed, and by turning a
screw the chain is frightened till the parts
are separated. The blunt chain so turns
up or twists the ends of the blood vessels
that hemorrhage is prevented A child
was born with tongue so much too long
that it protruded three or four inches
from her mouth, so that she could not
masticate food, or shut her mouth, or
speak. Yet, when about fifteen years old,
by the influence of chloroform, the ecra-
se,u was applied, the superAuous portion
of the tongue removed, and now she
talks, sings and eats with ease.
The eye is now examined by an in
strument called the ophthalmascope, by
which the depths of the globe of the eye
can be readily and fully explored, and
through its aid great deal of what has
been written and conjectured about dis
eases of the eye has been found to be
wrong. The intricate passages of the
ear, the nose, the whole of the "wind-
pipe" and passages to the lungs are now
carefully explored.
Perhaps one of the best results of
modern science has been through what
is called conservative surgery, the rule
of which is to save all that possibly can
be saved from the amputating knife
Many of our brave soldiers complained
of the reckless haste with which, in the
late war, some surgeons would cut off
legs and arms on account of trihing
wounds. The complaint was often just.
But one of the most distinguished sur
geons in the world has lately written,
g At Kings College, it is rare to see an
amputation; in nine cases out of ten, ex-
cision Tor the cutting out of the deceased
portion of the imb) should be performed
in its stead" A poor boy at the West
was caught under a falling log, and his
leg broken, crushed, and twisted upon
itself at right-angles with his thigh, the
bones protruding through the flesh, and
no doctor near. He lived and was, after
weeks of suffering, taken to a hospital.
Modern conservative surgery sawed off