Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1885-03-19

n
inferred u. the Postoface Mt Alexandria. Virginia, a
EeconG-cass mat:trl
Two young doctors struggled into room
Of The New York Post Graduate Medica
School, in East Twentieth street, Sunday
afternoon, dragging sheep between them
lis wool was IA dirty gray, as though it had
beeu ro;lins in mud, which the sun had
dried. H. displayed a muiish inclination to
do anything but what 1t was desired 1t
should do, tut the young doctors were mus
,.,!iLr, ana one of them had handled sheep
on :, farm aUd was not afraid OF them.
When landed IN the middle Of the room the
sncep manifested Il desire To play bull In u
china shop with lot of valuable medical
rapoernalia that lay scattered about, but
the muscular young doctor with the farm
experience sunk his fingers into its woolly
back and Hoped it over on its side on the
floor Then another young doctor clapped
!. cbiorofurm nozzle over the nose OF the
vanuu>htd beast, and III a few minutes IL
lay quiet and breathed stertorously.
Dr.. Milton Josiah Roberts was to try al
experiment on the sheep if Henry Bergh did
cial study Of diseases Of The bones, and had
become dissatisfied with the existing meth
od of getting at these diseases. How best 10
treat mp disease, so prevalent among child
reu, huG received his special attention. The
surgical appliances used for this trouble con-
s:sLtd Il Of an ordinary steel chiSel, with on
ordinary steel iDalet TO hammer it, wire
saws, drills and dozen other hand appli-
ances. the use of which was tedious and
bound 10 greatly shock the patient. DR..
Roberts had accordingly invented machine
which be called the E!ectro-OsteotOme,
through which he expects to revolutionza
the methods of ftreating diseases of the bone.
The doctor is an atfable gentleman, with
Dundre&ry whiskers, who is profoundly con-
vluced OF the utility of his invention, aud
inspires the same confidence in others.
The comotose sheep was lifted upon a ta.
bic. hie score of medical gentlemen
and three or four lady students galEersd q
about. Shears quickly removed the wool
from the thigh bone which was To be opera
Ted upon. Dr. Roberts rested his hand up
on the hcaving body of the sheep and re-
.uark ed thai The present tedious course Of
treatment of hip disease was stigma upon
the medical profession. Years fire queniiy
eight or ten--were required TO heal it at all
exrense Of thousands of dollars aui an in
llction Of lrightful agopics upon the patient.
Through his machine he hoped to reduce the
time needed for a cure TO weeks, and the SUI.
fering and expense to minimum. Surgery
had settled the fact that disease began nearly
at the head of the thigh. If this point could
be quickly reached by drilling a few inches
through the bone the diseased part could
ne Scpopcd out, and in a few weeks new
bone would form, leaving the member in
Tact aud doing away with the still joints
that AT present followed cures, aud which
resulted from the cutting away entire of
the head OF be thigh bone.
Turn or No. ;" said the Doctor to an
assistant who stood at galvanic battery.
The Doctor stood with the electric motor
in his hand and drill which he had fitted
into it, pointing 1T the Sleeps thigh bone.
The scapel had already parted the flesh.
There Was whirring sound as the cleo
tricitv started to drill at y 600 revolutions
per minute. As the revolving steel touched
the bone the sheep gave convulslve shud-
der and seemed TO sIop breathing. The two
muscular medical assistants made great
dents in It's body with their fists for min
ulr there was another gasp, and the dam
ger ui 4 sudden end TO the experiment was
removed by the resumption OF the spas
modic rea,hing. Then the electrically pro-
pelIed drill went through three inches OF
bone almost before the onlookers had closed
their mouths that had been opened wide In
expectation Of something startling. A
''sconptr"--the doctor gave it some scien-
tic name-made shell of the thigh bone
in no time, and then the Doctor triumph
autly calculated, "There J"
An electric lamp-about the size of an
average pea-was introduced into the cavi-
tv, and there were exclamations Of astonish-
ment, for The result of the operation could
then be seen quite plainly. If there had
been any disease there it would have drain
ed on, in the course Of few weeks through
a small tube that was next introduced
and that was all there was to the operation.
There are hundreds Of patients III our
hospitals suffering from this kind of disease
who are simply treated externally" an
nounced the Doctor "because the city does
pot pay for surgical operations. They re-
main there for years until they die, but il
this method Of treating them proves sue
cessful they can all be cured in few
| weeks"
The sheep was bandaged up and had not
come cut of the comaiose state when the
reporter left. In about six weeks il will he
killed and the result Of the experiment vii
he definitely ascertained.- \. Herald.
~ G. N