The Tiffin tribune. (Tiffin, Ohio) 1868-1887, 1873-03-20

1 Beau Hans Brain transferred q
: the SKULL OF Living SHbIect-ThI
Most Remarkable Case or Surgerl
Ever PeFlormed-IlS AsiOundln!
Results.
I l give the facts as recorded in tn,
Gn-ctfe Ife5dO-aaddire taken from
tJcb0U's ArcbiUeS a medical Journal
. published at Berlin.
THE EXPERIMENT.
It was at Leipzig that the expert
ment was performed. A soldier who
e had killed the colonel Of a regiment
in cold blood, and whom the severity
Of Prussian military discipline would
have caused to die a hundred deaths
had it been possible, vas deliberate
ly handed over to the surgeons, by
sentence Of court martial, and was
confined i'm a strong room in the mill
itary hospital, entirely in the dark as
to the fate which awaited him. He
was kept there ready for an emergen-
cy which did not fail to occur. A
keeper Of a beer cellar, in Leipzig, a
man resembling, in many respects,
the condemned soldier, and who had
been seized with acute infiamm alton Of
heart, or rather of its investing men,
brane, was brought to the hospital to
die OF that incurable and promptly
fatal malady. No sooner had the an
ticipated death taken slace than the
dead saloon keeper WAS placed on a
table by the side Of another operating
table, on which was the chlOrOfOrmed
but living body of the soldier. Two
surgeons, with assistants, proceeded
alike in both cases to divide the scalp
over the summit of the skull from ear
to ear, tnrn back the divisions, and
remove the skull-cap by incisions
passing around the skull like u crown.
In the soldier. whose carotid arteries
had been prepared for compression
these vessels were clamped so rs TO
prevent hemOrrhage, and but a few
dIOps Of blOOd We're lost during the
entire operation. In each the dura
matter was incised, aud the hemis-
| pheres Oi the brain We're removed by
an incisiOn with 4 sharp, thin-bladed
knife passing above the cerebeiIum,
or narrow portion of about two in
/ ches in diamet called the crura cere-
bri. The brain of the saloon keeper,
/ which was sound, the heart disease
/ having left it intact, he having been
! sensible to the last, was transferred to
/ the skull of the soldier, and by an in
| geniOus cOntTivance, fully detailed i'm
/ the Gazette, the continuity Of the ar
/ terisl and VenOus tubes was establish
| ed. The greatest care was taken in
securing the natural adoption Of the
parts to a fraction of a line, and the
skull, having liccn replaced simply,
was held down and in position by tile
scalp, which was drawn over and its
edges confined by adhesive plaster.
and over all was placed a bandage
Il was not until several days had
passed that the pressure upon the ca
rOtid arteries was entirely relaxed. al
though before the skull was replaced
the flow of blood in the vessels Of the
brain was proved to be restored. The
chief fear was from the results of in
liam NATION, and suppuratiOn, but for
tunately neither ensued, and the
wounded parts healed kindly. There
was from the first no difficulty in
feeding the patient, nor was difficulty
anticipated, Tor il is well known that
in puppies and kittens In which the
entire brain has been removed suck
ing and swallowing go on as well as be-
fore the operation, and in this case the
nerves which preside over deglutitiOn
and disgestiOn were far below the
point of section. The patient re-
manned in asOund sleep for two weeks,
rs in case OfapOpleXy, the circulation,
digestion, and all the vegetative func-
tons of life being uninterrupted. The
gradual union of the parts was shown
by faint but gradually increasing
movements of the limbs, of the Jaws,
and of the muscles of expression in
the face. The power of speech did not
become possible until the close of the
third week, and then it was hesita-
ting, stammering, as a child learns.
Although it was evident that the pa
tient tried to utter words and senten-
ces, it was very gradually that the
power of Ineligible articulation re-
turned.
THE WONDERFUL RESULTS.
The Gazette contains the report in
q tssCs'is.4 n'siII " increasing VOiuH-
tary power over the arms and hands,
as measured from day to day by the
dynamOmeter, the measurements
given in kilOgrammes also the dali
" temperature of the limbs, as shown
by the thermometer il degrees of CEN
tigrade also the measure of return
ing sensibility of the fingers and lips,
as given by an instrument called an
9sthesiOmeter but / omit these, AS
your readers will be interested in the
main facts only.
When speech became Ineligible it
was found that the soldier, as he
seemed, had forgotten entirely his
military training and discipline on
the other hand he told, at formal
examination, in the presence OF a
number Of witnesses, the prices Of all
the wines and beers, such as the sa-
loon keeper had been in the habit of
buying and selling, manifesting the
unimpaired cerebral activity Of the
latter. His memory recalled the sa-
loon keepers relatives, friends and
customers, whom he called by name.
The soldier had been ugly, taciturn,
revengeful he now had the saloon
keepers frankness and even garruli-
ty, in spite of his stammering utter
ance. He was totally blind, although
the nerves of smell aud sight had
been apprOXimated in the operation,
they failed to unite. It was both sad
and strange TO see and hear the sol
der grOping in his infirmity of blind |
ness and giving proof Of all the pa
tient endurance and goodness of heart |
which had made the salOOn-keeper de |
servedly esteemed and prosperous.