The Great Falls leader. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1888-1900, 1889-10-09
Triumphs of Modern Surgery.

Ir1umpnS Oh MODERN surgery.
In the October Harper, DR.. w. w.
Keen narrates some of the achievements
of modern surgery that read like story
of magic. At the same time, 1t is sad
dening to recall that the most marvellous
progress has only been made within the
last fifteen years, since the close of our
civil war If our army surgeons had
known the modern operations, the life
would have been saved Of manya gal
liant fellow who went to join the army
of the invisible.
The remarkable progress of recent
surgery dates from the liberal applica-
ton of antiseptics. An antiseptic is, in
brief, chemical preparation which
counteracts the tendency to putrefac-
ton. Earth, air and water are full of
microbes, billions upon billions Of them.
Wherever there is scratch or abrasion
Of the skin, these fasten like fiends upon
the unprotected flesh, and like fiends
destroy it. They cause inflammation,
suppuration, gangrene. Antiseptics de-
stroy the microbes. A modern surgeon
cleanses his instruments, his bandages,
his hands and nails, and the wound
itself, in antiseptics, before he under
takes an operation.
The difference between the new and
old processes is this: Under the old the
patient had surgical fever after serious
operation or amputation, and did not re-
cover under month, If he recovered at
ALL BY the new process the operation is
performed under ether, there is no "sur-
gical fever" because the putrefaction
germ spores are excluded, and in from
five to ten days the patient is well. Dr.
Keen says the world is indebted per-
haps to Sir Joseph Lister more than to
any other for improvements in the treat
ment of wounds. Since these improve
ments have been introduced the per cent.
of deaths in amputations has been re-
duced from So to s.
Reading carefully DR.. Keen's account,
it almost looks as though in time our
surgeons would be able to remove any
part of mans body, perform an opera
ton on him and put the part back and
, have him sound and we'll, better than
before, in few days. They can chisel
out piece of a human skull one or two
, inches in diameter, remove tumor
from the brain beneath it and then put
it back in place, where it will grow fast
:. and be sound and tight. While the sur
- geons are removing the tumor the piece
! of skull bone reposes in a cup filled with
= warm antiseptic, whose temperature
must not fall below 100 degs. to 105 degs.
The bone may even be kept from Its
place so long as two hours with safety.
The cases Of persons afflicted with gall
stones and kidney disease are no longer
y hopeless. A whole kidney, the gall blad
der itself, has been removed, and the pa
y tient has lived and recovered. The
q greatest progress, DR.. Keen says, has
g been made with operations Of the heae
q and abdominal cavity. If man received
a gunshot wound in his iltestines tht
old fashioned surgeon gave him opium
and let him die in peace. The moder1
surgeon opens the cavity, removes th'
4 ball, uses the antiseptic dressing and let
;, him get well. To American surgeon
r. belongs the credit of improving great,
the treatml 1t of wounds in the stomach
. and bowels.
Yet more magnificent field than a.
- is gradually opening before our scientifi
" medical men. To illustrate: A patien
will be stricken with paralysis of a
arm or hand; he will, perhaps, hav
convulsions. The surgeon will examin
. his case critically. He will presently de
:, eide that the trouble is owing to tumc
~ or arrangement Of a given part of til
w. brain. The patient is etherized, h
. skull is trepanned and the brain foun
III to be diseased Just where the man {
GO science predicted.
Science has decided that particuls
portions of the brain control particult
Ill portions of the body. Exact knowlede
er of this branch of physiology is in its il
30 'a fancy. For the next generation it Wi
nt be an absorbing and wonderful stud
ed It is called localization of the function
Of the brain.
, Our modern surgeons can successful
remove goitres. A tumor has even be-
W., removed from the spinal cord. Only
,ia few of the triumphs of modern surgel
are here named. Yet, wonderful as th'
seem, it tempers our self graduation
lte reflect that century hence skillful 81
tT De geons Of that day will look back wi
~ plying contempt upon the clumsy,
r norsnt operators Of our time.