The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1888-06-25

itself TO DIR. Gersung, and this proceeding
seems, as far as can at present be judged to
have been attended by complete and most
gratifying success.
EXACTLY WHAT NERVES ARE.
The nerves of the animal body are fibers
or peculiar organ ization, which are more or
less packed in bundles or trunks" for the
purposes of distribution, but which are in
d1yidually separate and continuous from
origin to termination, which have no other
function than to convey impressions from
the outposts of the body to the brain or
spinal cord, or in the opposite direction,
stimuli from the brain or spinal cord, which
call external parts into action. All nerves
appear to be alike, and the different func-
lions to which they are subservient depend,
not upon any differences i'll the parts from
which they come or to which they go. Just
as the same telegraph wire will move a
needle or ring bell, or perform any other
duty TO which electricity may be applied,
according to the character of the apparatus
with which it is connected, so any nerve
WIN do the duty of any other if it be brought
into connection with the apparatus to which
the other rightfully belongs. Whatever
stimulus is applied to the nerve of hearing
produces sensation as of sound, and what
ever stimulus is applied to the optic nerve
produces a sensation as of light, and no
other. The former fact is one of which
many people have painful knowledge, for a
great variety of sources of irritation may
come to act upon the nerve of hearing, and
may give rise to a seeming continuity of
sound which is often exceedingly distress
ing to the patient, as well as exceedingly
embarrassing to the surgeon. Such subiec-
1--WE sounds are said, on one occasion, to have
called forth from an old Irish woman pite-
Gus request to her doctor that ''if she were
spared to die he would open her head and
see If he could cure the noises in her ears"
But the effect thus produced by stimulating
given nerve does not depend on the nerve
itself, which is mere transmitting medium,
but entirely upon the central organ, in the
brain or spinal cord, to which the stimulus
is conveyed. If we could connect the audi
tory nerve with the center of sight and the
optic nerve with the center of hearing,
stimulation of the former would produce
Impressions of sound-a fact which has been
abundantly demonstrated by experiment on
nerves in more accessible situations And.
just as there is nothing specialin any one of
them would be capable of discharging the
duty of any other, so, it may be assumed,
there is no difference between the endow-
ments of the nerves of man and those of the
lower animals, which fulfill Identical func-
lions in an Identical manner.
SUCCESS OF THE EXPERIMENT.
1t was, therefore, inherently probable
that the nerve of an animal if piece could
be obtained of the proper size and length,
and if transportation and union could be
successfully effected would suffice to make
good any loss OF nerve in man, and in the
present instance, which is, we believe, the
first of the kind on record, not only have
the transportation and union being success
full, but the new piece of nerve seems to
have overcome the tendency of the old to
undergo degeneration of structure at its
divided extremity. A portion, six cent?
fmatarS in lanOth Of the or,aat narva Of q
rabbits thigh was selected, aud was so re-
moved from the freshly killed animal as to
include the natural bifurcation of the main
trunk into two branches. The divided stem
was secured by stitches to the stump of the
nerve in Prof Won Fleischl's arm, and the
ends of the branches were secured in like
manner to the nerve Examinations which re-
manned in his fingers, and which were
rendered useless by their separation from
the trunk to which they belonged The
whole operation, as a matter of course. was
conducted with strict adherence to those
principles of antseptic surgery without
which failure would have been more than
likely, but, by the observance of which
union almost anywhere or of anything can
with a near approach to certainty be Sc
cured The wound healed kindly, the trans
planted nerve soon became at home in its
new position, and already, after the lapse
of little more than two months, it is re-
ported that sensation is returning to the
fingers At the same time there has been
no return of pain, and no fresh indication
of the development of neuromata, so that
the hope of an absolutely successful issue
may now with some confidence be enter
tanned.
CURIOUS TRANSFORMATIONS.
The possibility of the transportation of
tissue from one human subject to another,
from the lower animals to man, and even
from man to the lower animals, has been
repeatedly demonstrated. John Hunter
transplanted the spur of a cock to its comb,
| where under the influence of a more album
dant blood supply, it fourished exceedingly.
A tooth has also been made to grow in the
comb of a cock, and freshly drawn teeth
have been transplanted from one human
jaw to another. The operation Of Talia-
cotius, for restoring lost nose by means of
skin taken from another individual las
been immortalized in "HudbraS," aud has
from time immemorial been practiced in
eastern countries. where loss of the nose has
been a not uncommon attendant upon the
blessings of paternal government. In the
present day surgeons prefer to repair the
nose from the forehead of the patient, but
this change Of method does not render the
older way any the less practicable. Several
attempts have been made of late years to
repair damaged human eyes by correspond
ing portions taken from the eyes of rabbits
or of dogs; and although none Of these at
tempts have as yet been conspicuously sue
cessful, the comparative failure has not de-
pended upon any insurmountable difficulty
in the way of inducing the transplanted
structure to take root aud live. In the case
of nerve the experiment would be tried
with much hopefulness, because this struc-
ture possesses great powers of repair, and
even of reproduction. Many cases are on
record in which, after nerves have been di-
viGed, as by a sword-cut, and after their
separated portions have been dragged away
from each other by contraction or displace-
ment incidental to healing, these separated
portions have been sought for by operation.
found and reunited by stitches, with the re-
suit that, in the course of few weeks or
months, the original functions have been re-
stored. Success has even attended similar
operations when the severed parts were
separated by a considerable interval, SO that
they could not DO brought into contact,
nerve fibre being ultimately reproduced, in
continuation with that previously existing,
through the intervening tissue 1t is said
of DIR. Weir Mitchell, who had a large ex-
perience of such injuries after the American
civil war, that as much as three inches Of
nerve has thus been reproduced; ble most
observers regard two inches as the extreme
ordinary limit, and in the case of DR.. Won
| Fleischl in whom the transplanted portion