The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1890-04-09
THEY CLIPPED HIS EARS.
A Mans Auricular EXCESS Improvingly
Removed by a Surgeon.


From the New York Sun.
PHILADELPHIA, April 1.-Two photo
graphs have been hung in the Jefferson
Medical College. They are portraits with
out faces. They show the back of one mans
head. The hair and confirmation prove that
the two pictures represent the same indi-
vldual; yet there is striking difference, for
in one case the ears are normal, while in the
other they stand out disfiguringly from the
sides of the head. The students of this
orthodox old college are having fun
over these photographs, and one of their
whims is to decide by vote who among
themselves is the owner of the unrevealed
face. The explanation of the ears is that
they grew donkey fashion, but by surgery
were reduced to the proportions of human
comeliuess. The Photographic lens was
permitted to take rear view Of the ears be-
fore their reduction and again after they
had been shortened; but it was not deemed
considerable to portray the face of the man,
and thus subject him to a possibly disagree
able publicity.
The Improvement in the pair of ears is
regarded as novelty in surgery, and that
is why the photographs, before and after,
are placed in the college. To DR.. William
w. Keen of Jefferson college came a brother
physician to repair job that had been
badly done by natures prentice hand,
so to speak. The young man,
for he was only 10, was all ears;
that is, his ears were not Only abnormally
large. but they tapped in a painfully
| absurd manner. The surgeon pro-
| ceeded to lay bare the cartilage by
removing the skin from the posterior sur
face OF the auricle, and then excised long.
narrow piece of the cartilage, V-shaped,
| IN cross sections, as If he had run minia-
ture plow over the ridge on the back of the
ear. Great care was taken not to cut clear
through and thus cause a scar on the ante
rior surface. The edges of the cartilage
| were then drawn together by catgut stitches.
in addition to those in the skin. This was
done whileI the young man was etheriZad
he went to sleep with lolg cars and be
awoke with short ears-very sore ones and
SO intricately fastened into position that for
some nights he had to sleep fiat on his back
But when the wound had healed, and the
plasters were removed, he found himself
possessed of symmetrical and fair-sized
ears.
From time immemorial," sail Prof.
MARITIME, after describing the opera ion,
large and prominent ears have been re-
garded as unfortunate deforfnities They
are altogether too suggestive. But no mat
ter how notifying to the owners vanity,
they were something which he had to wear
summer and winter. There was but one
wey to hide them, and that to allow the
impossible to tell whether u woman had ears
or not, the prevailing mode of dressing the
hair hid them completely Faces of rare
beauty have been married by ears too big.
Pauline Bonaparte was a victim of aricular
superabundance, and it always ser we'd to hui
initiate her when mentioned by her rivals.
What superb beauty but look at her ears
Had she lived in this age this grievous bur-
den could have been lifted from her shout
ders, or. more strickly speaking, from her
head. Is the operation seriouss Not very.
Considerable blood was lost but that can
be obviated in future operations, either by
the freezing process, or by placing a long.
thin clamp on the ear. The patient STAYED
in bed only one day, but it may be there
was a woman in the case-that he was SO
anxious to present himself to his sweet
heart IN a new and improved form, that he
couldn't wait forty-eight hours. He was
obliged to carry the surgical embroidery
for ten days. and then it was ripped out.
The operation was entirely successful, the
young mans earsbeingnow close. up against
his head
"And who is the manF'
ut is a professional secret"
But the patient was discovered in the per-
son of Charles n Forester of Camden,
just across the river in New Jersey Mr..
Forester is a graduate of Princeton COL
lege, and is now studying for entry into the
Ailutotty. uOuJ uluu bno puDucdGlon OF
my name at all, he said. why should /,
My friends were all aware of nv big ears
and my good radiance of them They were
not only deformity, but they seriously
disabled me for my chosen career. Of
course there is jocose view to take of the
matter, but nobody can he better humored
than / am about it, for L am now at least
presentable The operation didn't make an
ugly man handsome, but it gave me good
pair of ears"