Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1868-03-30

The progress oil modern surgery rs most
Interestingly discussed in an article in
the March number Of the Atlantic
Monthly. The first great and radical
step in medern progress was in the intro.
ducton of what the doctors call anes-
thetic agents Ether was brought into
use on the 30th Of March, 1864, by DR..
Morton, of Boston, who extracted a tooth
from a man without pain, by putting him
under the influence OF ether. DR.. c.
jackson, the geologist, claims TO have
made the first suggestion of ether, and
did, unquestionably, suggest great eau
ton in the use of it. Chloroform was
discovered by Sir j. Y Simpson, sur
geon Of Edinburg, Scotland, on Novem'
Der 4, 1857. Now no operation Of mag
nitude is performed without the aid Of
insensibility to pain, produced either by
ether, chloroform or some other anes-
thetic agent. II seems as far back as the
thirteenth century the idea of painless
operations was carefully considered, but
though treated Of by one Theodoric, was
apparently laid aside as practically use
less.
The chief effort Of the old surgeons
was apparently to produce insensibility
in the operator in inflcting suffering BY
the local application of q sufficient de-
gree Of cold, insensibility can be pro-
duced in any desired part, so that 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 operations as to
produce perfect insensibility to pain,
without the loss of voltion or conscious
ness. This evaporation is so potent that
the great Faraday was able to produce
ice in red bot crucible DR.. Henry j.
Bigelow, of Boston, has introduced 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-.
factured 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 1T is
by no means easy to discover which is
the natural and which is the artificial
limb, when the wearer is once used to
wearing the work of art One man
boasts: 81 can carry an armful of wood
quite handily," or carry pail of water
with ease;" and another says l was
fitted with a pair of artificial hands, and
can feed myself very well with them,
also can write so as to be read. Another
declares he has driven a horse twenty
miles on the coldest 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 afiix to the stump. These
artificial limbs, however, are triumphs
of mechanical ingenuity, rather than OF
surgery.
A French surgeon has invented an in
strumeut he calls the eraseur, or crusher,
to perform operations dangerous in sur
gerry on account of the loss of blood from
the smaller vessels, if performed with a
knife. 1t is formed of fne chain gath
cred into loop, which incloses the part
to be removed, and by turning screw
the chain is tightened till the parts are
separated. The blunt chain so turns up
or twists the ends of the blood vessel that
hemorrhage is prevented. A child was
horn 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 eraseur was
applied, the superhuous 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 opthalmascope, 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 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 re-
suits 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 oil
arms and legs on account of iritllng
wounds. The complaint was often just.
But one of the most distinguished sur
geons in the world has lately written,
"At Kings College it is rare to see an
amputation; in nine cases out OF ten,
excision Tor cutting out of the diseased
portion of the limb) should be performed
in its stead" A poor boy at the West
was caught by falling log, and his leg
broken, crushed, and twisted upon itself
at right angles with his thigh, the bones
protrudng through the flesh, and no
doctor near. He lived, and was, after
weeks of suffering, taken to a hospital.
Modern conservative surgery sawed of
the protruding bones, turned the leg
back again to its place, and put on an in
strument to keep it Of equal length with
the other, and now that boy stands, runs
and jumps with two sound legs, instead
of amputating the limb, as the old-fash-
ioned surgery would have done.