Democratic enquirer. [volume] (M'arthur, Vinton County, Ohio) 1867-1873, 1872-07-03
Remarkable Case of Sur
gerry.

Ane WaCerpury I (Conn.
American contains an account
of successful surgery that is
worthy of notice. 1t is the
case of Miss Hattie Thomas,
who more than a year ago,
while in the employment Of
Edwin Smith,, a manufacturer
of buttons in Naugatuck, had
her hair torn completely of
her head from the nape of the
neck to the forehead, including
one eyebrow and part of one
ear, by beng caught in a re-
volving shaft. The wound was
worse than the .scalping by an
Indian, who merely cuts a
circle of three or four inches
in diameter about the crown,
and leavea his victim tonsured
like Roman Catholic monk OF,
triar. Such cases of scalping
are on record in which the loss
of the natural head covering
was supplemented by an arti,
fetal toupee, But in this case
exposure of the entire skull
threatened death by exhau8-
tion induced by suppuration.
The American Of that place
says:
At the time it was supposed
the victim of the holrid main.
ing could survive the shock
but short time, and if she re-
covered from the shock to her
nervous system, her life would
he but of short duration, as
she could not long stand the
agony of the pain from the
wound, nor the drain upon her
constitution by the suppura-
tion, that must inevitably take
place. DR.. s. @. Barrett, then
Of Naugatuck, butnow residing
in Waterbury, who was in al
most constant attention upon
the sufferer, found that she was
likely to rally from the first
effects Of the accident. He,
therefore, determined to resort
to the process Of skin graft~
ing" discovered about three
years ago by M. Reverdin of
Paris as a means of saving the
the life Of his patient. About
six or seven weeks after the
accident, when the wound had
ben brought into a healthy
state by suppuration, the ex-
pertinent was tried, the patient
herself furnishing the first ''seed
skin" from her arm. The
method Of removing the skin
required is, simply to clasp the
piece between the thumb and
finger, raising 1t up, and clip
ping off with knife or scissors.
This first attempt was q sue
cess, and greatly encouraged
the doctor, who continued the
experiment, still taking the
''seed skin" from the arm of
Miss Thomasybut the excessive
discharge from the head wound
and the additional drain from
the new wounds, necessitated
by the removal Of the skin,
made It absolutely necessary
that the doctor procure his
supply Of "Seed skin" from
other sourOsS, Miss Gibson,
her faithful nurse and partiou,
lar friend before and after tho
accident, volunteered to fur
nish the next supply and when
the lady was exhausted, and
the experiment continued to
show every indication Of suc>
cess, the doctor mutilated his
own arm for the benefit Of his
patient and the elucidation Of
science. And not the least
noteworthy circumstance is that
of the lady friends of Miss
Thomas came forward and vol
unteered to furnish as faras they
could whatever new material
was needed. Thus the doctor,
at various times and from diff
ferent persons, took sixty-four
pieces of seed skin" varying
in size-the larger pieces being
ficiently large to cover "a
silver half-dollar. These large
pieces were, in some instances,
divided and subdivided, so that
the number Of separate pieces