Evening capital. (Annapolis, Md.) 1884-1910, 1890-07-15
,MARvEre o. suRcERY.
The Brain Probed with Steel and Hear
ing Restored TO Mutes.

The Brain Probed With Steel and Hear
ing Restored to Mutes-
To open the skull and penetrate the
brain is not SO common a surgical fact
that il has ceased to be wonder. m
deed. such an operation performed at the
Roosevelt Hospital, New York. has a.
tracted the attention of the entire medi-
ca profession.
The patient, who Is a ply. ician, was
thrown from his carriage last fall, strik-
ing heavily upon his head. ii was re-
moved 10 his home, where, upon exami-
nation, no external evidence of fracture
of tie skull was found. Later paralysis
of the ent re right sids of the body was
developed, and with il complete ina-
bility To express his thoughts. In the
course of time the paralysis of The leg
gradually disappeared, until the patient
could n owe it satisfactorily, but the par
Alysis OF the arm persisted, as well as
the inability to speak. After several
months. and while in this helpless and
well nigh hopeless condition, the patient
was brought to this city. The physi-
clans who examined him concluded that
the trouble was due to pressure on the
brain, especially on that part of it which
governs the faculty of speech, and that
this pressure was probably caused by
cot of blood, resulting from the rupture
of blood vessel within the skull cavity
nt tho time of the injury.
Acting upon this belief, it was decided
to open the skull, lay bare the surface of
the brain, and remove the cause of pre- s.
ure, If possible. To determine from the
outside Of mans head the precise spot
in tile brain which governs any particu-
lar faculty or function is obviously diff
ficult task After carefully mapping out
the head by the most delicate measure
ments the spot corresponding to the CEN
ter of speech in the brain was found.
Then the patient, having been rendered
unconscious by ether, the surgeon, after
the preliminary incision of the scalp, re-
moved by means of trephine a round
disk Of bone Immediately over the spot
indicated, somewhat enlarging with cut
ting forceps the opening thus made. The
outer delicate membrane covering the
brain was now brought into view. Be-
meath IL lay large dark mass of clotted
Of the brain. The clot was carefully re-
moved, when the effect of its pressure
was clearly perceived in the impoverished
circulation of the part The wound was
then dres ed with every precaution, and
the patient was permitted TO recover from
the operation The following night, for
the first time after his injury, the patient
was able to say "Yese and No. The
condition of his right arm was also inn
proved and ii IA believed that he will
eventually recover.
As a rule mutes are born deaf, but
sometimes severe diseases in infancy de-
stroy completely the sense of hearing.
Under these circumstances even par
tial recovery of hearing is extremely
rare. A girl who is now 10 completely
lost her hearing when 3 years old through
an attack of cerebro-spiral meningitis,
and in consequence was brought up as
deaf mute. attending until recently the
school of the Deaf and Dumb Asylum at
Fordham. Coming to New York this
spring, she was placed under treatment
with slight hopes of benefit. Her ply
sicians ascertained that the delicate nerv-
GUS apparatus of the internal ear was
still sound, else the case would have been
hopeless. Under appropriate treatment,
combined with dilatation of the middle
ear by imitation, improvement was soon
noticed. In month the young woman
heard the ticking Of a watch held 90
inches away and conversation at a dis
tance Of 10 feet. and then she began learn
ing how to talk. A month later she
could hear watch at distance of 5
feet and conversation across the room.