The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1893-02-04
MARVELS OF SURGERY.
The Great Strides Made In the Las
Thirty

Thirty Years
I Tbirty-fve years ago a distinguished
southern physician, DR. Paul F. Eve,
published bool, entitled "A Collection
| of Remarkable Cases in Surgery" in
which were recorded many examples OF
extraordinary powers of endurance on
the part of the human body, both as
| regards accidents and the results OF
/ surgical operations
! IL has been found that the micro-or-
/ ganisms which cause trou Die in wounds,
/ and which produce pyamia and septi-
ciamia, or what IS commonly termed
blood poisoning. are for the most part
little spherical bodies belonging to the
/ vegeta bic kingdom, known as micrococ-
CT, which means little grains or
: granules. The surgeon of the present
! day does not use carbolic acid nor
operate under spray, but he does take
special care that his hands and finger
nails and those of his assistants. and
| that his sponges, instruments and
dressings are thoroughly sterilized and
! cleansed.
Another thing which the man of
modern surgery is the means used 10
prevent or control hemorrhage. BY the
use of elastic bandages, COMPRISING
the parts to be removed, as much blood
as possible is squeezed into the body,
| and is thus saved to the patient, while
every little bleeding vessel is closed
with small spring forceps as soon as it
is seen, so that at the close of an opera
ton dozen or more of the sc bull
dog clamps may be seen hanging out
of the wound, looking like bundle of
leeches.
A man has several feet more intes-
tines than is required to digest his
food, and therefore, two or three feet
may be cut out if that is the only way
TO get rid of an obstruction or of a
badly wounded part. Or, if it is not
deemed prudent to remove it, a passage
may be made around the obstruction
by joining an upper and a lower loop
and opening a passage between them.
upon somewhat the same principle as
that upon which the "cut offs" or
''chutes" of the Mississippi river were
formed. Most people seem to have
more brain substance than they make
use of, and the loss of some portions
does not appear to cause much incOn-
venience.
There are, however. some organs the
use of which twenty years ago was I'M
known, and which were supposed to be
of small Importance, but which now
tho S,1rUaOr, &c haoopo;rr Y,,ora oa,,+;o,,e
in interfering with. One of these is
the thyroid gland, a vascular bod sit
uated in the neck in front of the top of
the wind pipe and on the lower part of
the sides of the larynx. 1t forms
tumors of various kinds. "a goitre,
struma, etc, and it has often been re-
moved. It has been found however,
that when this body is totally removed,
there is liability to the occurrence of a
rare and curious disease known as
myx9dema, in which the skin becomes
swollen, the senses dull, the speech
stow and monotonous, and the person
looks like Cretin of the Alps
Some of the wonders of modern sur
gerry are effected by grating, which is
very much like that employed in graf
ting fruit tree. If freshly severed
part of the body, such "a the end of
the finger or the end of the nose. be at
once replaced In such a way that the
fresh cut surfaces are pressed together,
and no troublesome bacteria get in, it
will usually unite; the blood vessels
will eSta bksh connections, and, after
few months, the nerves, so that the sew
eral parts will live and grow. This
might be done with a finger or nose cut
from another man, if the ether man
could be found willing to spare such or
gans. but, as a rule the surgeon mas to
obtain his material for replacing lost
parts from the body of his patient-rob-
bling Peter to pay Paul, as it were In
this way a new nose may be made from
the skin of his forehead, q new lower
lip out of the chin, etc, or one nerve
may be grated into connection with
another.
When it is impossible to replace n
lost organ or tissue with living sub
stance a good substitute can some
times be made out of other material.
Perhapes the most striking example Of
this is the use of an artificial larynx
when it has been found necessary to
remove this on account of disease.
The operation of removing the entire
laryhx from a living man has been sue
cessfullY performed in a number Of
cases, and in several Of these an arti-
fetal larynx, with reeds vibrating
somewhat like the reed Of clarinet,
has been constructed. In one case it
could speak in a loud, clear and dis
tinct manner.
Some OF the marvels Of modern sur
gerry depend upon the great improve
melts which have been made in recent
years in determining the precise loca-
ton OF certain diseases Of the brain
from comparatively slight symptoms
due to irritation OF the nerve centers
which control the action of various
groups Of muscles. In this way it is
now possible 70 say with regard TO Ger
tain forms of spasn. or tremor. or
or localized epilep.iforn I
that they depend upon /
irritation of particular portion OF the 1
brain, which can be located vita ref /
erence to the external surface within. !
say an inch 50 that If the skull be /
opened at that point the difficulty can /
be recognized and dealt with accord /
ing % circumstances, In this way a .
nun Der Of brain tumors have been dis /
covered and successfully rem owed with /
excellent resuits-S. Y Commercial! 4
Row Things Law Changed.
Tourist from the north Uncle, can