, 1885-05-28
SURGICAL EXPLOITS.
SUCCESSES GIVEN TO The WORLD;
FAILURES SUPPRESSED.
An Arm with n Canine Anns1-what Il
Done In the Anphitheatres Of the
Medical Schoois-TheorIes
Tesled.


|N"| UUH.
.afNa~ York Cor. Chicago Journal
You have already read about the Gu.
riously successful surgery which a girl Of
this city underwent Having lost a SEQ
ton Of The principal mnscle from one
arm. and being thus incapacitated for
work. the surgeons OF Bellevue hospital
inserted the lacking material from a New
%foundland dog. patched up the wound.
made it heal and finally restored the arm
TO isssfulness- The giIi was under ether
while the operation was going on. and a
knowledge Of its nature was kept from
her until a cure was complete. Then the
particulars wcre,. given TO the reporters.
and she gcs SIC news simultaneously with
tile rest Of 5hs ffublic4 lliI. fIfffH|
You ak me what is, or what may be.
the effect on the Imagination of the girlS"
said the surgeon with whom / talked.
We'll. she happens TO possess strong
nerves and general good health She
/ seemed n little shocked on learning that
there was a canine annex to her arm, and
she was anxious right of. TO know what
sort Of a dog had contributed the ma
terial He had been killed Immediately
after the operation, because il would have
left him badly MANNED. She said she
was sorry for that, as she would like to
have had him 10 keep She was de.
lighted to be told hat he was "a fine
specimen Of his ~good-natured, intelligent
breed. and she said she'd never, never
have forgiven Is IL we had used a Split,
qor n bulldog. or any ugly brute A
fashionable pug might have pleased her.
yet on the whole she thought she would
have chosen u New Foundiand II the Sc
lection had been left to her. 4 .ta
she Is a laundry girl, and probably
not given TO the consideration Of fine
mental or physiological theories and so
1t is left TO you professional writers TO
speculate on the effects Of the amalgama-
ton. There are persons so finicky that,
every time they coughed after a piece of
dog had been engrafted into them, they
would imagine that they were barking;
and death by imaginary hydrophobia
would be "a possibility. but In this case l
don't anticipate any trouble of that sort. {"
II Annie Pennell had died from the
ailur of the dogs flesh to heal with her
own, no mention would ever nave been
made in print Of the dangerous expert
ment Only the surgical successes arc
given TO the world. the failures are sup
pressed. Nothing was known by the
newspapers of this case until two weeks
after the operation when tho. arm was re-
stored TO It's original value. That very
Tnauy exploits in surgery come TO deadly
ends cannot be doubted. They are per,
formed in the center OF a small amphi-
theatre. where the students of one or an
other of the medical schools meet on
appointed aays-to be practically in.
structed; and the surgeons lecture -ex.
planatorily as they work. telling what
they arc doing and the expected results.
If there is u success, y says a student
10 me. athe patient is usually exhibited to
us again. to the glory of the operator; but
many and many a case is never seen or
mentioned in a clinic again afterward, and
the supposition Is that deformity or death
has been caused The subjects are usually
poor persons-gratis patients In the hos
pltals-and the surgery on them Is largely
in the nature OF viviscction. That is. they
are made to stand the risk Of expert
ments which may and may not turn out
we'll.
III Gen. Grant had been an unknown
patient In a public hospital, there would
have been o knife 10 his throat Gre this;
and he might have gained by It,
too; but surgical experiments. mind you,
are not tried on ilustrious persons. Nat
urally. the surgeon makes his novel and
p~erilous feats under circumstances which
will hide his failure. l am not blaming
him. either; and II is a fact that about all
Of the progress in both medicine and
surgery Is achieved through tests Of theo
ries in the hospitals The subjects ara
usually in "A hopeless condition; they do
not dread the ordeal. for its nature is not
fully explained TO them; and often they
are restored to health. besides contributing
10 the stock of science rol lllIIHlL