Middletown transcript., 1868-03-21
Griumphs of Stiente.
WONDERS OF MODERN SURGERY

Tho first great step in modern progress
was the introduction of what the doctors
call anesthetic agents. Ether was brought
into use on the Both of March, 1916, by
DIR. Morton, of Boston, who extracted a
tooth from man without pain, by first
putting him under the influence of ether.
DR.. G.. jackson, the geologist, claims to
have made the first suggestion of ether,
aud did, unquestionably, suggest great
caution in the use of it. Chloroform was
discovered by Sir j. Y. Simpson, sur
gcon of Edinburgh, Scotland, on the 4th
of November, 1847. Now no operation
of magnitude is performed without the aid
of insensiblity of pain produced either by
ether chloroform, or other anesthetic agent.
1t seems as far back as the 18th century
the idea of painless operations was careful
ly considered, but tho treated of by Theo-
doric, was apparently laid aside as practi-
cally useless. The chief effort of the old
surgeons was apparently to produce insen-
sibility in the operator in inflicting suffer-
ing. By the local application of a suf6-
cient degree of cold, insensibihty' can be
produced in any desired part, so that a
man with a most exquistely painful wound
on his arm, or fclon on his finger, can
now look quietly down in his perfect sem
ses, upon the keen knife as it enters his
own body and performs the most difficult
operations without giving him the least
pain. Modern science has constructed al
instrument by which a 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 operations as. to produce
perfect inscnsibility to pain, without the
loss Of volition or consciousness. This
evaporation is so potent that the great Fa-
rady was able to produce ice in a red hot
crucible. Dr. Ii. j. Biglow, of Boston,
has introduced the use of rhigolene, pro-
duct of petroleum, which is ex rsmoly vo,-
atile, and will freeze up the skin and tex
turc beneath in few seconds, fifteen de-
grees IF cold below zero being easily pro-
duccd in few minutes.
Artificial legs and arms are now manu-
factured which are light and have all the
movements of natural joints, by means of
springs, cords and wheels, and are so per-
fcctly adapted to use that it is by no
means easy to discover which is the natu-
raj and which is the artificial limb, when
the wearcr is once used to wearing the
work of art. One man boasts, " can
carry an armful of wood quite handily,"
or g carry pail of water with case;" and
another says: Il was fitted with a pair
of artificial hands, and can feed myself
very we'll with them, also can write SO as
to be read" Another declares he has
driven horse Twenty miles on the
coldest day, without calling on his other
hand for assistance" This is great i'm
provcment on the iron hook, which was
the best substitute that old surgery could
atfix 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 crusher,
to perform operations dangerous in surge
the smaller vessels, if performed with a
knife. It-is formed of a fRe chain gath
cred into loop, which encloses the part
to be removed, and by turning screw
the chain is frightened till the parts arc
separated. The blunt chain so turns up
or twists the ends of the blood-vessels that
hemorrhagc is prevented. A child was
born with a 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, under the
influence of chloroform, the ecrdseur 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 instru-
ment called the ophthalmoscope, by which
the &c .,ths 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 diseases of the eye
has been found to be wrong. The intricate
passages of the ear, the nose, the whole OF
the "windpipe" 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 can possibly be saved from the ampu-
tating knife. Many of our brave soldiers
complained of the reckless haste with which,
in the late war, some surgeons would cut
off arms and legs on account of trifing
wounds. The complaint was often just.
But one of the most distinguished surgeons
in the world has lately written: 'At
Kings College it is rare to see an amputa-
ton in nine cases out of ten ercisioa (or
! the cutting out of the diseased portion Of
the limb) should be performed in its stead. u
A poor boy at the West was caught under
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 Il
hospital. Modern conservative surgeyJ
sawed off the protruding bones, turned III,
, leg back again to its place, and pat on Al
i instrument to keep it of equal length witt
the other, and now that boy stands, run
and iumns with two sound legs. instead a