Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1890-02-20

cheon, Henderson (Ia.) Mcmillan, Viii
Hams, Cannon, Lane, and Springer Then
as mark of respect to the memory of the
deceased, the house adjourned
Extraordinary Achievements of Modern
Surgery.
In the Lancet for December 20. 1884.
DR.. Bennett and Mr. Godlee published an
article which startled the surgical world.
DR.. Bennett had diagnosticated not only
the existence, but the exact locality of a
tumor in the brain, of which not the least
visible evidence existed ON the exterior of
the skull, and asked Mr.. Godlee to attempt
its removal. The head was opened and
the brain exposed. No tumor was seen,
but so certain were they of the diagnosis
that Mr.. Godlee boldly cut open the
healthy brain and discovered a tumor the
size of a walnut and removed it. After
doing well for three weeks inflammation
set in, and the patient died ON the twenty
sixth day. But, like the failure of the
first Atlantic cable, it pointed the way to
success, and now there have been 20 tumors
removed from the brain, of which II have
been removed from the cerebrum with Is
rec0verles, and three from the more danger
our region of the cerebellum, all of which
proved fatal Until this recent innovation
every case of tumor of the brain was abso-
lutely hopeless. The size of the tumOrs
successfully removed has added to the as
constituent with which surgeons view the
fact of their ability to remove them at all.
TumOrs measuring as much as three and
four inches In diameter, and weighing
from quarter to over third Of pound,
have been removed and the patients have
recovered.
Another disease formerly almost invari-
ably fatal is abcess of the brain. In the
majority Of cases this comes as result of
long-standing disease of the ear, which,
after while, involves the bone and finally
the brain. So long ago as 1879 Mr.. Mace
in the brain, and wished to operate upon
and the patient died After death Mace
wen operated precisely as he would have
done during life, found the abcess and
could probably have saved the child's life
Since then the cases treated in such man
ner amount to scores, and more than half
Of them have recovered without a bad
symptom.
In injuries of the skull involving the
brain the larger arteries are sometimes
wounded, and the blood that is poured out
between the skull and the brain produces
such pressure as to be speedily fatal In
some cases, even without any wound, the
larger arteries are ruptured by blow or
fall. and similar result follows the hem
morrhage Nowadays, in both of these in
iuries, any well-instructed surgeon will
10
vessel, and turn out the clot, with a good
chance of recovery in a large number of
cases. Even gunshot wounds of the brain
are no longer necessaril Y fatal. Among a
number of other successful cases one has
been recently reported in which the ball
went all the way from the forehead to the
bone, rebounded into the brain. The
back of the skull was opened, the ball re-
moved, and a rubber drainage tube of the
of the ball completely through the head,
and the patient recovered. So little
danger now attaches to opening the skull,
with antiseptic precautions similar to those
already described. that the latest writer on
trephining (SeydeD estimates that trephin
ing per Sc is fatal only in 1-6 per cent. of
the cases. Mr.. Horsely has recently pub
lished most remarkable paper, including
ten operations on the brain, in which,
without anything on the exterior to indi
cate its situation, the site of the disease
was correctly located in all, and nine of
them recovered after operation.
Almost equally astonishing are the re-
suits of brain surgery in certain cases Of
epilepsy: for the surgical treatment of the
cases justifying such interference has been
attended with the most brilliant results.
In these cases the spasm begins in a parti
cular part of the body, for example, the
hand or the thumb, or it Is limited
to one arm, or to one side of the body.
Some of them have been operated upon
without any benefit, but large number of
other cases have been operated on and
either benefited, or, In not few cases,
have been restored to health That the
words brilliant results" arenot inapprroi-
ate will certainly be granted when we look
at Mr. Horsley's table of cases, One
patient had 2870 epileptic commissions In
thirteen days, and completely recovered,
not only from the operations but also
form his terrible malady, after the removal
of diseased portion of the brain, the re-
suit of an old depressed fracture of the
skull. Besides this, few cases OF head
ache so inveterate as to make ordinary oc-
equations impossible. and life itself bur
den, have been cured by trephining the
skull. Even insanity itself has been cured
by such an operation IN cases In which 1T
has followed injuries to the head. What
the ultimate result Of these recently inaUg
urated operations viii be it Is impossible
to tell as vet, but thus far they have been
so benefcent and so wonderful as to arouse
not only our greatest establishment, but
also our most sanguine hopes.-Dr. w. w.
Keen, In Harper's Magazine.