The herald and mail. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 1873-188?, 1875-05-14
Some Curious Results Of Experimental
.s. Surgery.

) Inc power OF bne lower IOlms
animal life to Withstand mutilation
well known. Cut an angle worm in two
and the tail eud will reproduce th
head and the head tail. Other worm
may be cut into many pieces and eac
fragment will stfaightway develop
complete worm. A polyp will endur
decaBitation a score of times, neV
head growing on every time. In lik
manner, the stomach of one of thes
creatures is capable of developing al
the other parts. Still lower in tn,
scale, the normal method of multiplied
ton is by division, and elementary cell
of more highly differentiated organismi
seem to retain more or less of tn,
primitive character. By virtue Of thii
inheritance, spiders reproduce theil
lost limbs and crabs their claws. Ii
the higher forms of life, the power
diminishes so far as complex organs arS
involved still it is retained to a much
greater degree than is commonly sup,
posed.
Pull out hair or a finger nail, and il
will grow again. Remove a portion OF
the skin and it will be renewed, unless
the wound is two broad or the life of
the surrounding parts too feeble. Even
then it is possible to transplant 10
the denuded surface minute par
ticles of skin from other parts, and in a
short time these epidermlc islands will
extend their borders until the wound is
covered and the sore heals with scarcely
a scar. In like manner a severed fin
ger may be made to grow together
again, aud an amputated nose built up
in form with live flesh from the cheek.
In such cases muscular fibers as we'll
as skin are restored or reunited by in
ternal growth. This may be observed
also wherever a deep cut is healed. II
has been found, too, that the muscular
tissues which perform involuntary mo-
tiOns in the interior of the body possess
the same power of self restoration. 1t
is this recuperative faculty which en-
ables the cattle of Abyssinia to supply
their barbarous owners with steaks
without losing their lives. The hungry
savage throws his OK upon the ground,
makes a cross cut in the skin of the
flank, lifts the skin and cuts out chunk
of beef for his dinner, replaces the skin,
and drives on rejoicing, trusting to in
ternal growth to restore the mutilated
phIb W hCdlbu anu bOlGuNutHbs
In every wound of the skin or muscle,
nerves are severed. The restoration of
the functions of feeling and motion,
with the progressive healing of the
wound, shows that the nerves are like
wise capable of reparation. The renewal
of nerve connection has been watched in
cases, where, as is sometimes necessary,a a
section of large nerve has been cut out.
In couple of months after the nerve
is cut, gray lump appears on one ex-
tremity of the severed nerve. Growth
proceeds towards the opposite nerve
end until a new connection is made, at
first more slender than the original
but by degrees the nerve elements in
crease in size and whiteness, until, in
from four to six months, the nervous
cord is fully restored. This process, it
is said, goes on even when two inches
of nerve has been excised.
About dozen years ago it was de-
that cartilage, formerly sup.
posed to be incapable of renovation, was
also subject to the same laws. The car
tilaginous tissue of dogs and rabbits was
and at the end of two months
was found to be completely restored.
the tendons by which muscles
are attached to bones are able to reunite
when severed or torn out fortunate
for prominent clergyman
Of this city, whose tendO AchiLLis was
suddenly snapped while walking along
,he street one day last winter, thus max |
ng his foot temporarily useless. Thanks |
however, to the gradual reunion of the |
endOn, the crippled limb will in time be |
'estored to usefulness.
Still more remarkable is the restora- |
ion of bones, and even the develop |
nent of bones in abnormal positions by |
he transplanting of the periosteum, the |
surrounding bony structures |
md the principal agent in celebrating |
hem, Formerly. in case of a badly |
hattered or diseased bone, the am u |
alton of the limb was the only re-
ource. Now the skillful surgeon exca.
7ates the damaged parts and in a few
months the limb, which has never lost |
is form, repairs its losses, and regains /
is strength. Attempts have also been |
made to graft healthy bones in place of |
diseased ones, but they have fallen
hort of perfect success. The trans
planting of teeth has been more sue
,essful, and partial success has attend
ID the reproduction of teeth by sort
If budding process. In it's natural devel-
,pment, a tooth springs from a little
'ay or follicle, containing an organ or
,erm for the production of the ivory of
he tooth and one for the enamel. The |
.ntire follicle taken from puppy and
,rafted into the jaw of an adult dog
continues its development. and a per
ect tooth is the result. Doubtless the
anne would occur in human Jaws, and
possibly the dentist of the future will
,e prepared to set the germ of a new
Doth in the place of each one he ex-
racts, giving the patient a choice of the
Whole range of mammalian dentitionl
Among the curiosities of this sort of
urgery, we may mention the trumpet
osed rats with which a wagSish stu
ent puzzled the naturaliRts of Paris.
BY grating the tip of one rats tail into
ne snout Of another rat, he produced a
creature with a trumpet
haped proboscis, for which it had no
se; yet the connection of the nerves
nd blood vessels was complete, and
he sensibility of the part so keen as to
reclude the idea of mechanical attach
lent. Similarly cocks combs have
cen furnished with teeth and spurs by
A Wonderful and Valuable Weed.
There is a weed growing in one or
Wo gardens of this place, which is DOS
essed of wonderful and valuable cura-