The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1877-04-27
WONDERFUL SURGERY.

Lucy Osborne's Torn scalp-Grafting Tel
Thousand Pieces OF Skin ON - Woman
Head.
[From the New York Mercury]
The case of Miss Lucy Osborn, OF
New Milford, Conn, patient IN st.
Lukes Hospital, at Fifty-third street
and Fifth avenue, upon whose head If
now actually growing an entire new
scalp, composed of clippings OF skin
from the arms, neck, and shoulders OF
her surgical attendants, and similar con-
tributions from friends, will undoubted-
ly attract general attention among the
medical profession at home and abroad
ON account of its very remarkable char
acter, and OF the wonderful cure that Is
being effected through the aid OF science.
Miss Osborn, plain, unassuming young
lady of Is summers was engaged In u
button factory in New Milford, Conn,
where steam power is largely employed,
and was severely injured by having been
accidentally caught in the machinery.
She had dressed herself to go out and
call upon some friends, having obtained
leave of absence for the afternoon, but
was finishing little work before her de-
parture, and while STOPPING to pick up
some article that had fallen upon the
floor she accidentally came in contact
with the machinery. Her curls, which
she wore down her back, not being of
the imported sort that adorn our city
demoiselles, were caught in the rapidly
revolving shaft, and in moment she
was drawn with great violence toward
the beam. Her piercing screams threw
her comrades into such CONSERVATION
that they were for the moment power
less to assist her. Stout arms, however,
soon came to the rescue, and as the ma
chinery was stopped she fell fainting to
the floor, her head presenting a fright
full spectacle. Her entire scalp was
completely torn of, and her tresses,
tangled and clotted with gore, lay lit
tie way off, With the blood streaming
down her pale face, she looked as though
she had just fallen victim to one of the
Comanche Indians. The right eyebrow
and the entire skin of the forehead were
gone, and the Uranium so denuded of
its covering that in several places the
skull was visible. Medical aid was
promptly at hand, and Miss Osborn was
tenderly borne to her home, where for
several weeks she lowered between life
and death, but, having q good constitu-
ton and being free from any hereditary
ailments, she rallied, and was able to
receive her friends, who regarded her
deliverance from almost instant death at
the time of the accident as a miracle.
Requiring more constant and superior
surgical attention than she could Obtain
in her town, Miss Osborn was brought
to this city and placed in st. Luke's
Hospital. As soon as the condition of
the wounds would admit, her surgical
attendants adopted the process of
skin-grafting, and though the work
has been very slow its progress, never
theless, has been exceedingly favorable.
While the doctors with the material at
hand could not supply her with scalp
that would yield another crop OF hair,
they have thus far, however, given the
young lady tolerably smooth crown of
new skin. In her case skin-grafting and
skin planting have been resorted to, and
thus far the results have been favorable,
but considerable time must elapse be-
fore she will be cured. The pieces of
skin used in grating are very small, and
many of them do not take, but the
largest proportion will take root, as it
were, and eventually aid in making q
healthy and smooth surface. Some
times fifty or sixty tiny bits of the skin
are used at one dressing, and these frag-
ments of cuticle are scattered over the
wounded part and there secured by adj
hesive plaster. Up to the present time
upward of 10000 pieces of skin have
been grated or planted in Miss Os-
born's head, and probably as many more
clippings will be required before the
surface is fully covered, and cure eff
fected.
The various doctors under whose care
she has been from time to time have
given her many gratis from their arms,
and numbers of friends who have called
to see her have testified their affection,
so to speak, by giving her fragments of
their skin. Nurses and visitors to the
institution have also contributed bits of
their cuticle for gratis, and she is now
getting on finely. Nearly all of the
pieces that were buried, pressed or
planted in the FORMULATING wounds have
| grown fast. thus forming the new skin.