Hot Springs weekly star. (Hot Springs, S.D.) 1892-1917, 1892-05-06
DRAFTING DOCS BONE TO bow

DRAFTING DOCS BONE TO BOY.
Results Of the New York Experiment.
Not Entirely SUCCESSFUL.
In the Medical Record Of New
York DIR. A. NJ. Phelps publishes an
account OF his experiment of grating
a bone from a dog to that Of q human
being. The published reports, the
Doctor says, were incorrect. The
experiment was performed at the
Charity Hospital on Blackwell's
Island in the latter part of 1890. Ac-
cording to the Doctors report, the
patient, a lad named John Gethius,
suffered from a cOmminuted fracture
Of the lower third Of the leg, the result
Of an operation to remedy an anterior
curvature Of the tibia which had ex-
listed from childhood. The muscles
Of the boys legs were perfect.
The lad first came under DIR.
Phelps observation two years ago. A
number of experiments were tried
upon the leg, but failed to relieve the
patient or help the deformity. 1t
was decided, therefore, to try the
bone-grafting process. A dog two
years old was secured and pre-
pared for the operation. 1t was
washed in soap and water and a
solution of bichloride of mercury.
The dog was then etherized and en-
veloped in a thick layer of absorbent
cotton. 1t was placed in a natural
sitting posture. Over the cotton we're
placed a few coats of plaster of Paris.
The right foreleg of the animal
protruded through the dressings.
This leg was shaved and made asep-
tic with bichloride of mercury. The
boy was also anasthetized, and the
ends of the fractured bones we're
S~freshened." Two elliptical in%cisions
were then made in the fracture four
inches in length. With a saw the
ends of the bones were %"freshened.n
A space of n inch was made be-
tween them. The portions of the
bone which were removed, the Doc
tor says, resembled ivory more than
bone.
The limb of the patient was then
enveloped in a plaster-of-paris BAN
dage, beginning six inches above the
incision and extending to the upper
third of the thigh. The foot and
ankle were also covered with a plas-
ter-of-paris bandage. An incision
was then made in the side of the dog
for the purpose of cutting a piece
which would fit in the elliptical-
shaped wound of the patients leg.
The elbow was excised next; the ra-
dius and ulna were severed and the
humerus removed. The extremity
near the paw "a amptutated. The
attachment of the biceps tendon was
also detached from the bone.
The dog was then placed by the
side of the patients leg. with the
head toward the patient. An alum
inum dowelpin was passed through
the medullary cavity in the long axis
of the bone. A steel pin, the Doctor.
now thinks, would have been pref
able. The bones were forced
gether by the pin. A silver W
was passed around the graft. 1t hi
the bone firmly in place. A La
tube vas inserted for the purpose
drainage. The patients were
to bed. AT times they receiJ
small doses of morphine. AT
three days the dog and the boy, &
Doctor says, lost their impatience j
became fast frierasS
In speaking of the results OF
operation, which lasted about
weeks, the Doctor says: aSAN
"The operation is a success. in
far as it establishes the princi
that is possible to grow large masses
OF tissue from an animal to man and
to establish the circulation until the
union takes place between opposite
!, species without danger to either. II
also demonstrates that q growth Of
new bone takes place when a section
of bone is transplanted and its nu-
triton maintained by the artery of
the animal. This, if continued for
four or five weeks, would probably
unite a fracture Owing to the in
efficient dressing, which is apt to oc-
u in early operations, the contact
of the tr~ansplanted bone could not
be continued sufficiently long for
bone to unite to bone. But I am
confident after viewing the speci-
men, and taking all the conditions
and surroundings into account, that
bony union would have taken place
if actual contact could have been
maintained for a longer period. The
stimulation of the graft, however,
has excited a reparative process in
the fracture, and 1T now promises
fair to unite. The boy walks with
the aid of n crutch or a cane"
DIR. George +. Shrady, in writing
editorially of the experiment, CON
pliments Dr. Phelps, and says that
the trial opens a field for future
study and experiment. He adds,
among other things:
Notwithstanding actual union Of
hnnn did NOT noo,,n e,,ol, .....,ssl