The morning call., 1891-05-08
KILLED BY A CORK.

The medical faculty and the public at
large are taking considerable interest in the
case of DR.. Boutwell,, who died in hos pital
in New York few days ago, shortly after
an operation had been performed on him to
extrirate from his respiratory organs a cork
which he had inadvertently swallowed.
Most readers are familiar with the facts.
The doctor was about to give his child a
dose of medicine. and held between his
teeth the cork Of the phial containing the
drug. Something caused his teeth 10 relax
sher hold, he inhaled the cork, and it
passed into the left bronchial tube, where it
became firmly wedged. Attempts to dis
lodge it by emeticS and irritantS failed. The
doctors could not even find it. Their idea
was that it had got into the lung, where il
was likely to cause Inflammation and sup
puration that would endanger life. 1t was
not till some time had elapsed that they
realized it must be in the brOnchus.
Ii was then determined to try to reach it
there. a cOTkScrew fitting into thin hOl-
low tube, was inserted into the windpipe
through a slit, and was pushed down to the
cork. It succeeded in breaking off small
pieces Of the edge, but it failed to take hold
of the cork firmly enough to enable the sur
geon 10 draw it out. 1t was then resolved
to lay bare the bronchial system, which was
done by cutting through the integuments
that cover the organ. The incision was fol-
lowed by a copious flow Of blood, which eX-
hausted the patient; but though tie oper-
ator had the cork almost under his fingers,
and ought. one would suppose. to have been
able to reach it with an ordinary probe and
pincers, after quarter of an hours work,
he deSiSted, and declared that he could not
reach the obstruction. The effects Of the
anesthetic were allowed to pass away, and,
under restoratiyes, the patient recovered
strength enough to say that BE would stand
another operation. This was undertaken
accordingly. and the knife and probe were
again brought into play. but before they
bad exhausted their exploration the man
died. The cause of death is given as inflam-
nation of the lungs and brOnchia produced
by the presence of a foreign substance, AID
by the attempts which had been made to re-
move it.
Whether DE- Boutwell, could have lived
with the cork in bis bronchial system is the
question. Some doctors say that he might,
others again declare that be eould.not. Men
have, however. lived to ripe old age with a
bullet in their lung. Others have gone
through life with only one lung, or part
of one. Nature is hardy, and when pat to
it can make shift with a much more scanty
supply of vital organs than are usually sup
piled. But hardly any body viii assert that
man enfeebled by the presence of 4 for
eign body in the respiratory organs could
have his windpipe aud throat aud chest
hacked by surgeons time after time and sur
yiye the operations.
In the surgery of the future the march of
disease will almost certainly be checked by
operations on internal organs, laid bare by
the scapel Liver, kidneys, lungs, spleen
and stomach will probably be exposed to
view and treated as though they were ex-
ternal organs. But science has not yet
reached that point. Before it gets there
means will have to be devised to counteract
the exhaustion consequent upon operations
involving serious LESSONS of the tissues and
copious effusion Of blood. The time will
doubtless come when maIades which are
now treated by the administration of drugs
viii be dealt with according to logical for
mula. Blunders of diagnosis will be much
less than at present. The knife will super
sede the stethoscOpe, and the eye take the
place of the ear. But there is good deal of
preliminary pioneer work to be done before
that new era dswns. In the meantime sur
geOns who are free with the use of instru-
ments must not expect to escape censure if
their well-meant efforts to cure disease are
arrested by accidents which they should
have f0reseen. All doctors are not as callouS
as Dupreytren, who, while operating for
tumor Of the brain in presence of the stud
ents of the Hotel Dieu. suddenly stayed his
hand and quietly observed: Gentlemen, our
little experiment is failure. The man is
dead"