The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1884-06-05
aaaerspas. yntetligeueer..
BRAIN SURGERY.

OhA1N SOhVdASAs
F1nbrer,s Remarkable Operations at
Bellevue Hospital.
New York World, May %.
Professor Fluhrer of the visiting sur
pical staff of Bellevue Hospital yesterday
presented to large gathering of nedi-
cal gentlemen, among whom were Prots.
Lewis A. Sayre, A. Post and Charles
Mittendorf, Drs. Anderton, Putnam,
jacob and Others, the most remarkable
case of successful surgical operation of
the brain that ever came under the obser.
vation of surgeon aud which still
remains unexplained from the fact that
the patient recovered and is at present
enjoying the best of health.
The case has no parallel in the annals
of medical l.iiterature:and until it present.
ed itself the most eclectic surgeon would
have doubted the possibility of introduc.
ing the knife into the brain without fatal
results. .s it. 80 :.
The patient, Bruno Knorr, who yester-
day sat in the amphitheatre of the hos
pital in the centre of a group of intensely
interested physicians, who carefully e1.
amined his head, which was a mass of
scars, showing where the bone was cut;
out, has remarkable history. He is q
welEformed young man, and were it not
for his much. .chopped:up forehead, would
sbe quite good looking. He appears to be
of a very affectionate disposition, which
is the cause of his strange wound. On
the evening of January q last, as printed
in the Wor}d at Tie. TIME, be visited his
sweetheart and asked her to'marry him,
but she declined; he pressed his suit,
but was fatty refused, upon which ne
pulled out reyolyer and, fred,a bullet
into his brain. The ball entered the
forehead, about:an inch and a;halfsboVe
the eyes, directly in the centre. He fell
to the ground with blood gushing pro.
fusely from the wound. he was supposed
!, TO, be- dead, but neGertheless he was re-
moved to Bellevue Hospital. Upon arriv-i
ing at that place the junior surgeons
were surprised to find that he was still
alive. Thro1gh fhe night theysa. by
his bedside, intent upon making -obserYa:
tions as to how long he could really. live,
applying only SUCH simple remedies as
would ease the .1ast moments of a}dying
man. Bntfhey miscalculated, fol. in the
morning they found him still allye, al:
though unconscious Afraid to.d0 any.
thine. upon their own responsibility, they
te,egraphed the visiting surgeon, Prof,
Fluhrer, at daybreak, and he came at
once in response to the summons, hardly
ssupposi1g he could do anything for the
pasiens From certain peculiar surround
ings,; however, he was led TO undertake 9
most hazardous operation. which ne
described to his. listeners, yesterday while
standing atthe side of. the man: whose
life he had saved. 49,. ;, 5l.I .,
Finding the pulsaiion Of, the patient
growing weaker and life slowly ebbing,
be took the most desperate chances and
resolved to operate at once. Feeling as
sured the brain was wounded, from the
small particles of its substance that
oozed through the hole made by the bull
let he boldly setto work, and, thinking
that he could do no more than apply the
last measures, he dissected off tie flesh
around the wound clean to the bone,
holding back the flaps with pins, and
then cut out disc of the skull about the
size of dime with q trephine above the
bullet hole, joining the two by chiselling
away the bridge intervening. On at
tempting to remove the particles of bone
which had been driven upon the brain
matter by the bullet in its passage and
had set up dangerous condition by
their pressure, he met with a profuse
hemcrrhage from one of. the large
arteries, which was cut across its gated
edges scarcely to be seem Two attempts
to catch it up proved futile, and realizing
that death from loss of blood under the
circumstances was matter of moment
he introduced his finger into:the wound
and pressed the artery against the bone
apdsfor time became master OF the stu.
alton. The exertion tired him soon and
he instructed his assistant to relieve him
while he again attempted to catch the
end: After FIVE trials he-was successful
and placed ligature Of catgut around it.
The little vessel, however, was tricky,
and the ligature slipped of, leaving mat
ter; worse than before. Again he tried
it and at last, overcome the obstacle by
tying it tightly. Next he introduced
bulles tipped probe, which descended by
its own weight, about five inches into the
brain, when he stopped short and held
it in place. Carefully studying the angle
in.which it entered he marked q point at
the back Of the head where it would If
further pushed. come out, and there cut
off. three Aapsar it and sawed through
]; the bone, exposing the brain coverings
in the rear. There he cut through and
met with mass of dark, half.clotted
blood mixed with particles of brain
which foated about. This was carefully
washed out..-@a-,sg>se.-. is---r.,s
He passed in probe smaller than the
first and felt the bullet, lodged as it was
Sin the brain.I With delicate iforeceps it
was pulled out through the opening be-
hind. The operation occupied four hours.
A rubber tube was drawn into the wound
through the channel cut by the bullet by
means of which the septic matter was
allowed to flow. It remained there for
over a month until recoyaryehad so far
advanced that the patient vas declared
out of danger to the surprise of all and
in conflict with the established rules in
7snrgery.d Prof. fHuhrer enlightened his