The Irish standard., 1886-09-11
TRANSFORMING EYES.

| TRANSPLANTING EYES.
Experiments on Rabbits That
Have Proved Successful.
Exchanging the Eyes of Animals-Inter
esting Trial-Operations Performed by
. New York Surgeon Possible
ties for the Future.
IN. Y. Tribunel
Dr.. May began his experiments in tran.
planting eyes in January last. His atten.
tion was called to the subject by the efforts
of Drs. Chibret Tirrier and Rohmer, o1
Paris, and DR.. Bradford, of Boston, who
reported in the latter part of 1885 that in
five cases attempts were made to trans
plant the eye of dog or rabbit into the
socket of human being. Four OF these
cases were unsuccessful, the dog S eye turn
ing out the worst Of all, while the final r.
port in the fifth case has not been made
public. These failures were due to lack of
experience, and as the field had never been
| 1890
that mistakes would be made and all OF
the surgeons recon mmended that before any
further attempts were made on human
subject the most favorable conditions and
mode OF treatment should be definitely
established by practical experiments with
animals. Rabbits were selected by DIR.
May as the animals best suited to use for
the experiments. Twenty-four Of them
were operated upon, aud careful and min
! ute records were Kept of every change
and condition. The method Of
operating in each of the cases was the
same, with the exception of few trivial
changes Two rabbits OF about equal size
were always used, and selections were
| made at times SO that after the operation
! one OF the eyes would be blue and the 9th
err black. Ether was always given. The
rabbits took to it kindly, and though oc-
caslonally it would be necessary to prac-
tice artificial respiration and keep up tile
administration Of the ether for three hours
they speedily recovered. and there was no
evil alter effect. After they had become
unconscious tue eyelids wore dis ende
by g. spring speculum. Fixation forceps
were used to keep tho eye in position, and
then the conjuuctiva ana rectus superior
! muscles were cut inso with blunt pair Of
scissors. They were held together with
piece OF thread, and the muscles were also
cut with the scissors and located in posi-
ton by threads. A knotted thread was
run through the conjun ctiva near the CEN
ter to give tho relation Of the eye-ball
after removal. TIE eye being drawn out
OF the socket as far as possible, the optic
nerve WAS exposed, ard it was severed
with a pair of curved scissors about one
eighth of an inch from it's entrance to the
brain. This severed all the attachments,
and the eye was taken out and wrapped up
in cotton saturated with boric acid
Ore eye of each rabbit having been emu
cleated, the work of transplanting was in
order. This could not be done until all
he1norrhagas had been stopped. Then an
exceedingly delicate needle. curved at
nearly a right angie, was run through the
exposed optic nerve Of one Of the rabbits
and a piece of the thread drawn after it.
The needle then being attached to the ex-
cised nerve Of one of the enucleated eyes,
the thread was frightened and the points of
the nerve were united. A. suture was made
TO hold the nerve in position The pieces
of thread which had been attached to the
recu muscles and conjunctiva were then
picked up and the niunctiyal ssc was
drawn over the eye-ball. Eight stitches OF
black silk were used to unite the recti
muscles and the conjunctiya after the edges
had been ftted together, and the strange
eye was then an occupant Of strange
place. To keep the transplanted eye fixed,
two silk sutures were passed through the
eyelids, which were gently drawn together.
After the eye-ball had been washed out
an antisepsic solution of the bichloride OF
mercury, compress Of borated cotton was
applied to the eye, which was covered with
flannel bandage. Over ail was placed
chamots mask adap ted to the head. The
unoperated eye was not covered.
AS a matter of experimentation seven
cases out of the twenty Ave were left un-
bandaged, and sloughing of the comea
quickly followed. In seven other cases
the animals, who kept up constant en-
leavor to tear OFF the bandage, succeeded
In displacing them SO as to prevent tho
proper healing Of the eyes. In four of tho
cases the bandages had been applied too
tightly and interfered with the motion of
the jew: This set up an Inflammation
which caused the eyes to slough. In the 1
remaining six cases where the bandagas
were held in position by the chamois COW
ering, the operation was entirely success
ful, and the transplanted eyes have per-
fectly natural appearance. 1t was consid-
cred established that the comea must be
kept from atmospheric contact, as in every
case where it was exposed particles of mat
ter floating in the air lodged on the surface
of the eye, and as there were no tears or
of the lids to get rid of them
they set up an irritation and infamma-
tion which resulted in the speedy degener-
alton of the comea, The union of the
muscles was observed to have taken place
as early as the third day after the opera
tion, though usually it took seven. The
optic nerve was perfectly united in every
case, and the flow of blood was regularly
established in about ton days. After tire
muscles had joined there was an
associated movement of the eyes,
and an object moved in front Of the un-
operated eye was follwed by concentrated |
of both of them. There was
only one thing lacking; there was no sight
in the transplanted eye. The retin@ in
every instance had degenerated, and no