The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1890-07-23
He CAN GRAFT BRAINS.
4 Kew York Surgeon Groves Chat i:r::

The progress O. surgical science
! il New Yol.l, anii the s,;cc"ss NJ.
wa!ch unusual demonstrations are
attended have attTactc,! the -tten-
ton of the faculty II cv~;y centre OF
technical learning III Europe. Regu-
larly the profession is regaleIi with
..historias:' rs they arc called, OF
phenomenal operations by prominent
surgeons in this city One OF the
most famous of these operators is Dr.:
W. Gilman Thompson, professor OF
physiology in the New York Univel-
sity College and visiting physician to
the Presbyterian and New York Hos
pitfalls. DR.. Thompsons latest exper-
iment was the grazing OF the bralE
of one animal upon that Of another.
His success opens the question Of the
possibility of the grating Of the brains
of human beings DR.. Thompson
says;
1T occurred to me recently, while
studying cerebral localizatlon in the
lower animals, that it would be inter
est.ng to
GRAFT A PIECE OF BRAIN TISSUE
from one side Of dogs brain to the
other, or from one animals brain into
another's, and study its vitality. OF
| course I hadno expectation OF being
able to restore abolished function by
the operation, but the question OF
vitality of the brain tissue and the
cause of it's degeneration are subjects
of very wide interest. The first ex-
pe,iments were preliminary, made
IN order to ascertain whether the
transplanted brain would be imme-
diately absorbed or would slough
away.
4 cut open the skulls Of two large
dogs and interchanged pieces of the
brain tissue Of each. On the third
day both dogs were killed, and the
transplantcd pieces of brain looked
normal, and in each case they were
SO firmly knitted together that 1t
was impossible to pull them apart
with forceps without laceratlon:
The next experiment was with q
cat and dog. Three days later the
cat was killed. The transplanted
| dogs brain was found where it had
been placed, firmly adherent to the
cats brain. No microscopic examln-
alton was made in connection with
the experiments, as they were intend
ed only to determine the posslbl-
ity of the transplanted tissue adher-
ing. Being satisfied in regard to this
matter, I proceeded to another ex-
pertinent.
I procured street mongrel dog,
opened his skull over the left lobe Of
the brain, and through the opening
removed small portion of brain It's
sue. A cat was simultaneous by operat-
ed upon in the same manner, and
the brain tissue of the cat and dog
We're interchanged. The openings
were closed and treated. The dog
made a good recovery from the opera
ton, although he was very feeble for
few days and had to be fed artih-
cially. Subsequently heappeared nor
Ludl III SNS1y way, OACCPo oi3S AO0o VI
vision. He was killed at the end Of
seven weeks, when the piece of trans
planted cats brain was found firmly
adhered to the dogs brain, with the
pia mater intact.
':Now, the features of interest in
this experiment are the facts that,
first: There is complete union through
organic connective tissue Of the con-
tiguous portions of the two brains;
| second, after seven weeks the cats
brain still maintained enough vitality
to be distinctly recognized as brain
tissue: third, brains of animals Of two
very different species were thus made
to unite. I think the main fact OF
this experiment, namely, that the
brain tissue has sufficient vitality to
| survive for seven weeks the operation
| of transportation without wholly los
ing it's identity as brain substance,
suggests an interesting field for furth-
er research, and [ have no doubt
! that other experimenters will be re
warded' by investigating it.-New
York Star.