Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-12-31
A SKILLFUL OPERATION.

/
Temple Bayard Relieved of Fatal Dis
case by . Surgeon-Another Case
| Where the Appendix Was Removed
An Interesting Theory About the Use
less Part.
Not all the remarkable surgical opera
tions are performed in Eastern hospitals.
Occasionally Pittsburg physician distin-
gulshes himself DR.. R. w. Stewart has
just relieved Temple Bayard of painful
and dangerous ailment. 1t was the re-
moval of the appendix vermiformis. The
operation has been performed before, and is
considered one of the most difficult in the
realms of surgery The disease is rare, and
is known in medical books as perityphi-
litis
Mr. Bayard is the night clerk at the Cen
trail Hotel and has been sick for more than
q month. The operation was performed at
the Mercy Hospital on Thursday. He was
taken suddenly i'll some time ago, and DR..
! Cable was sent for. He found the young
man lying on a bed suffering great pain.
His knees were drawn up under his stom-
ach, and he complained of soreness near the
groin. The doctor suspected from the symp-
toms that the appendix, supposed to be
useless part of the alimentary tract, had
become diseased. Bayard said he had made
breakfast of grapes, and DR.. Cable came
to the conclusion that one OF the seeds had
slipped through the ileo caecal valve, and
lodged in the appendix. He recommended
its removal to relieve the sufferer.
When the abscess had completely
formed DR.. Stewart successfully took out
the diseased part. He used the customary
silver tubes to remove pus, and washed out
the region with hot water
A few days ago q case was reported from
New York where the patient had actually
died under the knife, but was restored by
the quick-witted surgeon injecting hot
water into the wound. The sudden reaction
caused the heart to beat again, and in time
the sufferer became conscious. There was
really no danger in Bayard's case at any
time, but the greatest care was exercised.
The slightest slip of the knife is liable to
cut vital part and produce death.
DR.. Cable, in speaking of the disease last
evening, said "The appendix like the
spleen is considered to be remnant of q
prehistoric condition of man. Whether
people believe in the Darwinian theory or
not, DR.. Pepper in his work on this sub
ject, is Of the opinion that the spleen eorre-
spends to the second stomach of the ape
and the appendix is the third, though it is
very small in mar, and, so far as we know,
Is unnecessary. The functions of the spleen
and the appendix haven't been discovered,
and many doctors with Pepper account
for the presence of these organs in the
above way. Not all people have the ileo
caecal valve. 1t is rare in the human body,
and is regular death trap. Any foreign
object like grape seed or other hard sub
stance is liable to pass through it into the
appendix, producing an abscess which only
the removal of the part will cure"
In this connection it may be stated that
several years ago perityphilitis was consid-
cred as hopeless disease as consumption,
but thanks to the skill OF the surgeon it is
no longer fatal The rarity of the aflic-
tion makes it interesting, though most of
the cases are about the same and present no
new features.