Arizona weekly enterprise., 1888-10-06

The Great Nerve of a Rabbits Thigh | Placed in Professor Fleischl's Arm-A Somewhat Technical Description of the Case-The Results. The operation was performed by Dr. Gersung, of Vienna, and the patient was Professor Won Fleischl, the distinguished occupant of the chair of physiology in the university of that city. It appears that Dr Won Fleischl, sixteen years ago, acci- dentally wounded himself while conduct ing post mortem examination and that the consequent inflammation of his right arm and hand led ultimately to the loss of the terminal joint of his thumb. The end of the stump became painful, and in the hope of relieving this pain amputation somewhat further back was performed, but was followed, according to the report by the formation of "neuroma. At this point the history becomes little vague, because the word "neuroma, which is most properly applied to a class of tumors which form upon nerves and which con sist mainly of redundant nerve tissue, is applied with less exactness to tumors of other kinds of which nerves may be the seat, and is applied also to bulbous en- largements of the proximal terminations of divided nerves, enlargements which sometimes occur after the best performed amputations, which seem to depend on some personal peculiarity of the patient, which arc liable to recur again and again after repeated amputations further back, and which are attended by the most ago nizingsuffering
 NERVE FROM RABBIT.
 It may be presumed that the neuromata of Professor Won Fleischl were of the lat taT cla in hn nf 0hf oi,,i,N relief, he underwent several fruitless operations, which were directed to dis secting out and removing portions of the nerves implicated, without recourse being had to more extended amputation of other structures. He appears to have been deprived, in succession, of consider able portions of the nerves supplying the stamp of the thumb both sides of the forefnger, and the inner side of the mid dle finger; but after every such operation the former conditions were renewed in the portions which were left, while the his tory of many similar cases had been such as to justify the most dismal forecasts of his future. In these circumstances the ideas of repairing the nerves and of re placing the missing portions by fresh nerve taken from a rabbit suggested itself to Dr. Gersung, and this proceeding seems, as far as can at present be judged, to have been attended by complete and most gratifying success.
 The nerves of the animal body are 6bers of peculiar organization, which are more or less packed in bundles or trunks" for the purposes of distribu- tion, but which are individually separate and continuous from origin to ter1nina
 tion, and which have no other function than to convey the impression from the outposts of the body to the brain CT spi
 nal cord, or, in the opposite direction
 stimuli from the brain or spinal cord
 which call external parts into action. Al nerves appear to be alike. and the differ ent functions to which they are subser
 vient depend not upon any difference ot the nerves themselves, but upon differ ences in the parts from which they go.
 Just as the same telegraph wire vii
 move needle or ring a bell, or perform any other duty to which electricity may
 be applicable, according to the characte
 of the apparatus with which it is con
 nected, so any nerve will do the duty O
 any other if it be brought into connection
 with the apparatus to which the othe
 rightfully belongs. Whatever stimulus i
 applied to the optic nerve of hearing pro
 duces sensation as of light, and no other
 THE INwARDNEss OF IT.
 But the effect thus produced by stimu 3 lating given nerve does not depend ol r the nerve itself, which Is a mere trans
 hitting medium, but entirely upon tn
 central organ, in the brain or spinal cord
 to which the stimulus is conveyed. If w
 could connect the auditory nerve with tn
 center of sight and the optic nerve wit
 the center of hearing, stimulation of tn
 former would produce impressions of ligh
 and stimulation of the latter would pro
 dUce impressions of sound-a fact whcl
 has been abundantly demonstrated by eS
 pertinent on nerves in moro accessibl
 situations. And, just as there is nothin
 special in any individual human nerve |. and as any one of them would be capabl
 of discharging the duty of any other, SC o it may be assumed, there is no diferenc : between the endowments of the nerves 0 7, man and those of the lower animals, whic . fulfill identical functions in an identica . manner.
 z It was therefore inherently probabl /. that the nerve of an animal, if piec z could be obtained of the proper sizc an = . length, and if transplantation and unio = could be successfully effected, woul = suffice to make good any loss of nerve i ' man, and in the present instance, whic . is, we believe, the first of the kind O :, record, not only have the transplantatio y and union been successful, but the ne1 l. piece of nerve seems to have overcome tn "A tendency of the old tc undergo degeners ' tion of structure at it's divided extremity " A portion, six centimeters in length, ( ,s the great nerve of the rabbits thigh wa selected, and was so removed from th 0 freshly killed animal as to include th
 natural bifurcation of the main trunk int
 two branches. Tho divided stem was S,
 cured by stitches to the stump of tt
 nerve in Professor Won Fleischl's arn ?, and the ends of the branches wei 'ui secured in like manner to the nery 'u terminations which remained in his finger 'u and which wero rendered useless | le their separation from the trunk to whic
 they belonged.
 of The whole operation, as matter " course. was conducted with strict at i'll herence to those principles of antisept C. surgery without which failure would ha1 tn been more than likely, but by the obser' If ance of which, union, almost anywhere
 of any thing, can with near approach " certainly be secured. The wound heale o kindly. the transplanted nerve soon b m came at home in it's new position, and 8 -v ready. after the lapse of little more tha no two months, it is reported that sensatic of is returning to the fingers. At the san
 time there has been no return of pai
 and no fresh indication of the develo ys ment of neuromata, so that the hope tn an absolutely successful issue may no d- with some confidence be entertained ls- London World.