Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1884-08-17
MIR. BILER,s NO. II.
! The Pressure is Lifted and the Normal
Powers Are Restored.


81. Louis Glo5e-Denocrat.
Mr.. Eli Biler, of East LYNNE. No. the
man in whose skull DIR. A. c. Bernays
chiseled ditch about six weeks ago, was
in the city yesterday demonstrating his
ability to talk and walk and see like other
people. Last winter Mr.. Biler had the
misfortune to have a cake of ice fall on
his head. The shock was sufficient to
fracture the skull, and the injury left the
shattered bone pressing down upon the
brain. The portion afflicted was the con-
volutiOn known to the medical fraternity
as ''NO. r." When DR.. Bernays put his
finger on the dent on Mr.. Biler's head he
was fully prepared for that gentleman's
protracted and painful efforts to tell how
that chunk of ice had knocked all the
words he ever knew out of his mind. Nor
was the surgeon surprised when Mr.. Biler
got up and walked across the floor to
illustrate what tendency to wabble his
legs had taken on themselves since the
accident. A third time the practitioner
nodded his head and said: sob, yes; /
understand all about it, when Dir. Biler
peeled his optics and exhibited a case of
strabismus which ought to qualify him to
be Worklngman's candidate for the Pre-
sidency.
''No. ~ scientifically designates the
seat of intelligence which directs the use
sustain intimate relations with the intelIi-
gence which directs lOcomotiOn and is
likewise neXt-doOr neighbOr to the optic
nerve. EXperimentalists sometimes tun-
mel into a dogs head and take out ssNo.
r." The unfortunate canine after that
operation fOrgets to bark and becomes
possessed Of a gait sometimes indefinitely
described as E'gOing six ways a Sunday
He also acquires the ability to see round
a corner.
The diagnosis showed that the only
thing that could do Mr.. Biler any good
was an operation to relieve his mo. T."
and give it room to do its duty. The old
style of doing things would have been to
take the trephining saw and cut CIR
| cular hole in the skull just over ''No. T."
I After that Mr.. Biler would have gone
/ through life with a portion of his brain
protected by a silver plate. DIR. Bernays
I tried a method of his own. Mr.. Biler was
put to sleep, and then the doctor took
chfseI and mallet and Clipped a canal
through Mr.. Biler's skull Just over No.
..127 1t was a narrow opening, and
maybe an inch and half long. When the
surgeon had picked his way through he
took a little lever, poked it under one side
Of the depressed bone and lifted it up into
a natural position. Then he moved the
lever over and lifted up the other side of
the depression. The first result of the
operation was to bring Mr.. Biler's off eye
into harmonious relations with the rest of
his sight. He was sent home to let time
and nature complete the job. Now he
comes back with the seam in his head
grown over with a fleshy covering. He is
able to tell the doctOr as vOlubly as any
body that his speech is restored, and he
walks like a grenadier. The operation
has resulted in complete success, not only
from Mr.. Biler's individual standpoint,
/ but science is enriched with one more
illustration Of the part ''No. 12' plays in
human intelligence.