Morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven [Conn.]) 1848-1894, 1885-01-13
BRAIN SURGERY.
A Remarkable Operation-Value of
ViVfSectiOn.

n markaDle OpefauOn-vaI aIue Oh
VfvfsectiOn.
An F. R. S. writes to the London Times:
''While the bishop of Oxford and Professor
Ruskin were, on somewhat Intangible
grounds, denouncing vivisection at Oxford
last Tuesday afternoon, there sat at one of
the windows of the Hospital for Epilepsy
and Paralysis, in Regents Park, in an inva-
lid chair, propped up with pillows, pale and
careworn, but with hopeful smile on his
face, a man who could have spoken really
pertinent word upon the subject, and told
the right reverend prelate and great art crit
ic that he owed his life, and his wife and
children their rescue from bereavement and
penury, to some of these experiments on liv
ing animals which they so roundly con-
demned. The case of this man has been
watched with intense interest by the medi-
cal profession, for it is of an unique descrip-
ton and inaugurates new era in cerebral
surgery; and now that it has been brought
to a successful issue, it seems desirable that
brief outline of it should be placed before
the general public, because it illustrates Wv
idly the benefits that physiological explora-
tions may confer upon mankind, shows how
speedily useful fruit may be gathered from
researches undertaken in the pursuit of
knOWleQge ana Wild no lmlnedlate pracClcal
aim, and reveals impressively the precision
and veraoity of modern medical science.
"This case, then-this impressive and il
Illustrative case-is that of a man who, when
admitted to the Hospital for Epilepsy and
Paralysis, presented group of symptoms
which pointed to tumor of the brain, dis
tressing and hitherto necessarily fatal mala-
dy, for the diagnosis recognition Of which
we are indebted to bedside experience and
post-mortem examination. But while clini-
cal and pathological observations have sup
piled US with knowledge which enables US to
detect the existence of tumors of the brain
they have not afforded us any clue to the sit
uation of these morbid growths in the brain
mass and it was not until Professor FeIrier
had, by his experiments on animals, demon
strated the localiZation of sensory and motor
functions in the cerebral hemispheres that
the position of any diseased process by which
they might be invaded could be definitely
determined. By the light of these expert
ments it is now possible in many instances to
map out the seat of certain pathological
changes in these hemispheres with much
nicely and certainty if the skull and its
coverings and Innings had become transpa-
rent, so that the surface of the brain was ex-
posed to direct inspection. And thus in the
case to which I am referring, DIR. Hughes
Bennett, under whose care the patient was,
guided by Ferrier's experiments, skillfully
ments which the man exhibited. and de-
'd1ced from them that small tumor was
lodged at one particular point in his "dome
of thought" {" and was silently and relentless
ly eating it's way into surrounding textures.
Not more surely do the fidgetings of the
electric needle intimate their origin and con-
vey meaning to the telegraph clerk than
did the twitchings of this mans muscles an
nounce to DIR. Hughes Bennett that tumor
of limited dimensions was ensconced at a
particular point of particular fold or con-
volution of the brain-the ascending frontal
convolution on the right side.
every brilliant diagnosis this, it may be
remarked, and nothing more. A conclusion
has been arrived at which, should it prove
correct, will crafty professional pride; but
as it cannot be confirmed or refuted until the
poor patient is no longer interested in the
matter, and cannot be mada the basis of any
active interference, no great advance has
been made after all, and vivisection has
yielded only some barren knowledge. Until
quite recently criticisms of this kind would
have been justifable in sense, but now it
is happily no longer possible, for another Sc
ries of experiments on living animals, under
taken by Professors Ferrier and Yeo, have
proved that through our power of localizing
brain LESSONS we may open gateway for
their removal or relief. The old notion that
the brain is an inviolable organ with noi me
tangere for its motto-a mysterious and Sc
cluded oracle of God that simply falls down
and dies when its fame is desecrated by in
trusion-has been dissipated by these expert
ments; and we now know that under pune
tilious antiseptic precautions the brain, in
the lower animals at any rate, may be sub
mitted to various operative procedures with
out risk to life or fear of permanent injury
Emboldened by this knowledge, DR.. Hughes
Bennett devised a way of helping his patient
whose disease he had diagnosed with such
remarkable exactitude, and gave him one
chance, if he had the courage to embrace it,
of saving his life and recovering his health.
''The patient had the position in which he
stood faithfully explained to him. He was
told that he labored under malady which
medicines were powerless to touch, and that
if left unassisted he must die in few
months at latest, after prolonged sufferings
similar to those which had already brought
him to the verge of exhaustion, and which
could be only partially alleviated by drugs:
but that one outlet of escape, narrow and
dangerous, but still an outlet. was open to
him in an operation of q formidable nature
and never before performed on human be-
ing, under which he might, perhaps, sink
and die but from which he might, perhaps,
obtain complete relief. The man, who had
faith in his doctor and no fine-spun scruples
about availing himself of the results of vivi-
sectional discoveries, eagerly chose the ope-
ration. On the 25th ultimo, accordingly, Mr..
Godlee surgeon to University College Hos
pital, in the midst of an earnest and anxious
band of medical men, made opening in
the scalp, skull and brain membranes of this
man, at the point where Doctor Hughes
Bennett had placed his divining finger, the
point corresponding with the convolution
where he declared the peccant body to be,
and where, sure enough, it was discovered.
In the substance of the brain, exactly where
Dr. Hughes Bennett had predicted, tumor
The size of walnut was found,-a tumor
which Mr.. Godlee removed without difficult
ty The man is now convalescent, having
never had bad symptom, and full of graft
tude for the relief afforded him. He has been
from the grave and from much suf-
fering, and there is n good prospect that he
will be restored to n life Of comfort and use
fulness In that case he will be living
monument of the value of vivisection. The
medical profession will declare with one voice
that he owes his life to Terriers experiments,
without which it would have been impossible
TO localize his malady or attempt its removal,
and that his case opens up new and far
reaching vistas of hopefulnesa in brain sur
gerry. Many men and women will henceforth,
there is reason to anticipate, be saved from
prolonged torture and death by kind of
treatment that has been made practicable by
the sacrifice, uuder anesthetics, of few