Lexington weekly intelligencer. (Lexington, Mo.) 1871-1887, 1872-08-21
9kin.crafting.
Curious Surgical Operations ~
Bellevue Hospital.
From the New York Tribune.

From the New York Tribune.
Bellevue Hospital, i'll this city, is
the most important school of surgery
In the country. 1t is the only hospi-
tai here where the ambulance system
has been adopted. From every police
station there is telegraphic communi-
cation with the hospital, and each
accident occurring III the city is
tclcgrapheu to the hospital, when one
of the four or five ambulances i'll
waiting Immediately starts for the
place. The result is Il great saving Ill
time, suffering, and often i'll life. On
the arrival of the ambulance the
patient receives prompt attention
from the surgeon who accompanies
it, and the sufferer is then removed
OH II comfortable bed to the hospital.
The ambulamccs do quick work ana
on Il recent occasion workman EN-
allowed ut the Roosevelt Hospital,
who had fallen from it II injured
his back, was taken. OH the receipt OF
Il dispatch from n policeman who had
observed the accident, to Bellevue
Hospital before the attendants AT
Roosevelt Hospital knew Of his suf-
terings. Occasionally the public hear
through the newspapers and the
medical journals of skin grating"
This is Il curious surgical operation,
but it is now not uncommon i'll the
hospitals and in private practice.
Prof. \. Il. Motto, at Bellevue Hos
pital, has introduced a novel practice.
Some time ago an Irish wona of
this city was severely injured by the
cxplos' Oh tfa kcro enc lamp,by which
her clo.hin" Il set on fire, and her
right arm and her right breast down
to the stomach were frightfully
burned. She was removed to Belle
vue Hospital, and placedin DR.. Motifs
ward. Her case was undcrtrcatment
for months, and the patient appeared
incurablc. At the same time Il man
named MEGA ahan was i'll the hospi-
tai whose leg had been amputated at
the thigh. DR.. Mott considered that
he might use the healthy skin from
the limb in one more effort to cure
the disabled woman. lie resolved t"
test the operation of "grafting."
Ei"hty-nine pieces Of integument,
each about 1-l6 of an inch square,
were cut from the amputatcd limb
before the natural warmth had passed
out of it, aud by gentle pressure APP
piled to as many points of the great
open sore OIL the woman's breast and
arm. OF these eighty-nine pieces
eighty adhered and became Il part of
her system. The cure is now perfect,
and the man who gave his body to
heal the woman is aiso we'll.
The practice of :yyrafting"isl looked
upon with favor by eminent surgeons.
ISomc,imcs the skin is obtained for
the purpose from the body of Il per-
son willing to render 50 much service
to another, but more frequently it is
cut away from the healthy parts OF
tho patients own body. In this case,
however, DIR. Mott used skin from
an amputatcd limb. and thus effected
a cure. O!d and obstinate ulcers mt
burns will yield to this treatment
| when they will not to any other
After the "sloughing" from a sur
! face wound has taken place, natur
proceeds in the work of restoration
by q graduating process over til
whole AGRA of the wound. y THU
:, delicate pclliclc of Skin GROWN
:. around the healthy border OF til
wound covers the EXAMINATIONS ; ant
=, if the process is perfect, the cure
>, also perfect. But the border of I'll
wound may not have sufficient vital
-, tv to form the cicatrix which Is II
y c~essary to healing, Dr. itsInny be tin
the wound is too large TO be covered
=. 1t is in these cases that !" grafting"
=. of avail. Every separate fragme'
:. of skin grated into the system is
center of vitality from which Il
necessary process OF cicatrizatiG
begins and spreads until the cicatri
-, covers the sore.
A man with a malignant tuIno
m leading under the eye and occupyi'
Is the floor of the orbit, recently W
!! placed under Prof. Motifs care. III
cs carotid artery was tied Oh the side
,x the tuuor, SO as to starve 1t out
nj idcpriving it of the nutrimcnt viii
ng it had obtained, and then the tum
Sc itself was cut away. The man h
VIZ recovered.