Norfolk day book. [volume] (Norfolk and Portsmouth Va.) 1868-1880, 1869-09-27
Surgical OperatiOn--tn Bxtra0rdi
nary Case.

We take the following statement from
the Alexandria (Va.) Gazette OF We'd
nesday
Stephen Van Rensselaer, Tumble,
known here as the man with the wen, a
citizen of Fairfax county, 81 years old,
aud who for long number of years
past has been frequently observed on the
streets Of this city with au immense
ncshv tumor suspended from his chin,
Yesterday submitted to surgical opera
ton for the removal of the eXcrescence.
Since last seen publicly the tumor had
greatly enlarged, and, previous to the
operation, ii extended fir I'M the whole
under surface of the lower jaw to the
navel and was about twenty-seven inch
es ia circumference. It's under surface
had become Initiated from rubbing a.
gainst his breast bone, and the irritation
had progressed in Inflammation, and
from it there was profuse discharge OF
very offensive matter and this discharge
had debilitated the patient considerably.
The tumor had been growing Tor twenty
wears, aud tor q long time the patient
had thought about having it removed and
had consulted many surgeons upon the
subject, bul the objections were So numer-
GUS that he could not make uphls mind to
undergo an operation tor its extirpation
until it has become So unweiidy and the
odor from it 50 disagreeable that his life
with it is torment to himself and his
friends, and death preferable, and at
this late stage, and when the danger of
an operation had consequently been
greatly enhanced, he consented to risk
the use of the knife.
He was fifty two years of age, as has
been stated, and was not we'll supplied
with good blood, but if the tumor were
allowed to remain he must necessarily
have died in a short time, and while he
remained alive, with it, he would be in
constant misery, and a cause OF pain to
others, so DR.. M. NJ. Lewis determined
to amputate it, and this he did, assisted
by Drs. Brown, French. Gregory and
Powell, of this city, and Fox Of Fairfax
court house, yesterday, at tne Railroad
House, upper end of King street. The
patient took drink, and was laid on
the table at half-past eleven o'clock a.
M and put under the influence of chic
reform. The integument covering the
tumor was full Of large veins and small
arteries, and as a main feature in the
success of the operation was the saving
of every drop of blood possible, a long
needle was inserted just under the skin,
brought out at the same opening through
which it entered, and the two ends OF
the silk with which it was threaded
drawn together and tied tightly, so as to
compress as much as it was able the
blood vessels that supplied it. An in
cision was then made in the skin about
ten inches long, and the tumor, which
proved to be of gristly character, and
ooked exactly like bee's heart en-
larged to three times its natural size, was
torn from its attachments as butchers
tear kidneys from their surrounding fat,
until it's neck or pedicile was reached.
The chain of the ecraseur, and instru-
ment used for dividing parts Of the hui
man body slowly, and by MASKING the
veins and arteries to prevent their bleed
ing, was then carried through tie middle
of the neck of the tumor, and an attempt
made to cut through one half of it, but
of so tough and unyieldlng character
was it that the ecraseur, after reducing
the size of what it contained to about
the diameter Of an inch, could not divide
it, and its use consequently had to be
abandoned and knife substituted, with
which the whole appendage was removed
in moment. The little, blood that
oozed out of the stump was stopped by
the application of a styptic. The super
abundant skin was then cut away, the
edges sewed together and dressed land at
four o'clock in the evening, when the
operation terminated, the patient, who
had long before recovered from the eff
fects of the chloroform, and who had
not altogether lost more than three glls
of blood, had suffered so little that he
wanted to walk from the operating table
to his bed in another part of the room,
and is now doing well,an will probably
recover.