Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1880-10-22
"A Remarkable Case.

A most remarkable case in suroerv
has been developed at the United States
Marine Hospital here. 1t is one Of
those rare cases that disobey the laws OF
the yellow-back books, and effectually
puzzles the doctors. During the labor
riots OF 1878 mulatto named Jones,
who Is now 81 years o Id, was struck OF
the crown of the head with club. and
his skull was badly fractured, This
occurred In the interior of the State OF
Ohio. For several days the man was
unconscious, but in six months time he
had recovered sufficiently to 70 to bis
work. Soon after this, however. he
began to complain of severe pains in
the place where the fracture occurred
the pains grew worse. and finally Jones
becam nae subject to epileptic commissions,
which continued until two years had
elapsed from the time of the original
injury. at some small town in Ohio
the operation of trephining. or boring
q mole IN the skull, was performed, and
the depressed bone removed. Jones
was entirely relieved by the operation
and soon afterwards he went to work
as roustabout or a steamboat. In
1878, three years after the trephining,
he began to complain of the same pains
which followed the original injury.
The pains gradually became almost I'M
bearable, and epiletic commissions again
occurred. In this condition on the 10th
OF January, 1880. the man was admitted
to the Marine Hospital here, and DIR.
w. Il. Long, the surgeon in charge,
undertook his case, which was dag.
nosed as one of pressure on the brain.
caused by the bone having reformed
over the opening made by the trephine.
The new bone was cupshaped, with
the convexity pressing on the delicate
tissues OF the brain. The man was al
most skeleton and suffered intensely
In March he was again trephined, and
the convex piece of bone was removed
the trephining was done ut the
seat OF tue former operation, and gave
instant and complete relief. But in
about four weeks the pains were re.
newed at the spot Of the trephine, and
a small quantity Of puss was dis.
charged through the scalp. This state
of affairs continued about two weeks,
when DIR. Long made an incision in
the site OF the wound. and it was dis.
covered that the piece of bone was
loose in the brain. The bone was re-
moved. and was found to be about two
inches long, one and three quarters
inches broad and very thick. The
smooth internal and external plates OF
the bone mad been almost entirely alb.
sorbed by che brain, and the piece OF
bone had been eaten away until il had
become honey-oombed. On one side
the bone bore about one quarter of the
circle made by trephining. DR.. Long
supposes that when Jones was struck the
bone had been fractured, but had been
held in its proper position by the other
bones OF the skull. In the operation at
trephining the bone had been further
loosened and had fallen into the brain,
where it must have lain six weeks.
When it was removed the sufferer be-
came relieved from all pain and the
wound rapidly healed.
But the mans ills were not over; in
a short time he began to complain of q
violent pain in the back part of the
head, and the scalp then became ele.
'7sscs"s..S PTS: =. +
was opened deeply, but not a drop of
pus was found. As the pain continued
it was finally determined to cut down
the bone. Consequently in the latter
part OF May the man was put under the
influence of chloroform, and a conical
incision, four inches broad, was made
over the seat of the pain in the promi.
nent part of that portion of the skull.
1t was found that here the external ta-
BILE OF the skull ia a spacs OF mo.e
than four inches had been entirely alb
sorbed, leaving the bone in a rough
state, the cellular structure being ex-
posed to view. The surface was we'll
scraped and the wound was dressed.
Since that time there has been no re-
turn of pain, and the wounds are en-
tirely healed. Jones has gained more
than twenty. five pounds in weight, and
for the first time in many months is
able to be out of doors and at work.
The most curious feature of the case is
that, notwithstanding the immense
amount of damage done to the exter-
nal plate of the skull in the posterior
part of the head, not single drop Of
pus ever ran from the place. There
is no history of syphilis in the case, or
it would be easy to account for the alb
sorption of the bone. As it is, how
ever, it cannot DO accounted for.
When the scalp was cut it was found
that it was three quarters of an inch
thick. This unusual thickness sup
plies the place of the bone in the
skull, where there is an opening made by
the piece which was taken from the
brain. The bone will, in all proba-
bility, never form over the opening,
but a siccatrical tissue has formed
there.
Jones is about able to return to his
work as roustabout, and will leave
the hospital in few days.-Louisrille
Commercial.