Prescott journal. [volume] (Prescott, Wis.) 1861-1871, 1868-04-11
NEWS AND MISCELLANY.



Prom the Philadelphia Ledger.l
The progress of modern surgery Is most
Interestingly discussed in an article in the
March number of the Atlantic Monthly
The first great and radical step in modern
progress was an introduction Of what the
doctors call anesthetiC agents. Ether was
brought into use on the 30th OF March,
1874, by DR.. Morton, of Boston, VINO ex-
tFacted a tooth from a msn, without pain,
by first putting him under the influence OF
ether. DR.. q. Jackson, the geologist,
claims TO have made the first suggestion of
etner, and did, unquestionably, suggest
great caution in the use Of it. ChlOrofOrm
was discovered by Sir j. Y. Simpson, q
surgeon Of Edinburgh, Scotland, on Nov.
4, lS47. Now no operation of magni-
tude is performed without the aid of in
sensibility to pain produced either by
ether, ChlOFOfOrm, or some other anesthet-
ic agent. IL seems as far back as the 18th
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 produce insensibility in the
operator in infiCting suffering. BY the To-
cal application of q sufficient degree of
cold, insensibility can be produced in any
desired part, so that a man with a most
exquisitely painful wound of 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 per-
forms the most diffie ult 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
body exposed to its operations as to pro-
duce perfect insensibility 20 pain, without
the loss of volitiOn of consciousness. This
evaporation is so potent that the great
Faraday was able to produce ice in a red
hot crucible DIR. Henry ]. BigelOw, of
Boston, has introduced the use of rhigO-
lene, product of petroleum, which is eX-
tTemely volatile, and will freeze up the
skin and textures beneath in a few
seconds, Is degrees of cold below zero be-
ing 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 per-.
fectly adapted to use, that il is by no means
easy to discover which is the natural and
which is the artificial limb, when the wear
er is once used 20 wearing the work of art.
One man boasts, Il can carry an armful of
wood quite handily," or "caTy pailful of
water with ease;7 another SAYS, ''I was
fitted with pair of artificial hands, and
can feed myself very well with them, also
can write so as TO be Tead.n Another de-
clares he has driven horse 500 miles on
the coolest day, without calling on his
other hand for assistance" This is a great
improvement on the iron hook, which was
the best substitute that old surgery could
affix TO the stump. These artificial limbs
however, are tTiumphs of mechanical in
genUity, rather than surgery.
A French surgeon mas invented an instru-
ment he calls the eraseur, or Crusher, to
perform operations dangerous in surgery,
on account of the loss of blood from the
smaller vessels, if performed with a knife
Il is formed of fine chain gathered into
loop, which enclOses the part to be remOv-
ed, and by turning a screw the chain is
frightened until the parts are separated.
The blunt chain so turns up or twists the
ends Of the blood vessels that hemOrrhsge
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 her food, or
shut her mouth, or speak. Yet when
about fifteen years OLD, under the influence
of chlOrOtOTm, the eTaseur was applied, the
superfluOus portion of the tongue removed,
and she now talks, sings, and eats with
ease.
The eye IS now examined by an instru-
ment called the Opthalmascope, hy which
the depths of the eye can be readily and
fully explored, and through its aid great
deal of what has been written AMI cODjec-
tuTed about the diseases of the eve has
been found TO have been wrong. The in
tTicate passages of the ear, The nose, the
whole Of the wtndpipe and passages TO the
lungs, are now carefully explored. Per-
haps 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 be saved from the am
putating 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
tritiing 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 am
putatiOn; in nine cases out of ten, excelsior
Tor cutting out of the diseased portion of
the limb) should be performed in its stead.''
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 prOtruded 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, TUNED the
leg back to its place, and put on an instru-
ment to keep it Of equal length with the
other, and now that boy stands, runs and
jumps with two sound legs instead of am
putating the limb, as the Old-fashiOned sur
gerry would have done.