Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1894-02-08
CAMERA IN SURGERY.
PHOTOGRAPHY FOUND TO BE OF
tcREAr AID TO DOCTORS.


EollND TO BE OF
-... ooe-ooe
tGneAs ~'o ~
.r... - All x,nas rrnder the Lens.
.p..
Making ficsures %
and After" Studies-Taik with . fno-
to.r.pher At Bellevue Hospital.
Every large hospital mas history pooH'
and init are carefully recorded tne nlseo-
ries of the important cases; IN Ao.ueI
years this was done exclusively oy wri..en
descriptions. Recently the mefe w.N.us
has come to play very MINOR pafs IN tne
history books. Photograpny mas oecon;o
branch OF surgery anu ono
growing more important every oay.
great many photographs are no" 'axeu ~
doctors in private practice. some VI 'neso
amateurs nave Deco"e WY '..S, 90 =
would Ns soon think OF ooin9 "i'n""' ="
medicine case as their camera.
Mr.. U. u. Mason, the pno.os,aPuel ~
Bellevue, was recently asAoA "oo"s WAS
branch OF his business.
"DO not persons OFTEN ooJect 10 having
their ailments ana lmperiectlons reouce"
"Oh, yes, but not as frequently as one
might think. IL Is curious out nave VI
ten noted the phase o. human nature "nieh
causes the average man or woman 10 TAKE
pleasure IN being Photographed unoer al
most any circumstances. nave seen wo-
men pose before my camera mere WIN inc
air OF professional beauties. VI course
many of the patients are peyond ieehhs
in the matter one way OF the otner' ihose
who are about to undergo operations which
they realize may be fatal or VINO are at the
point of death, as often take them' hatu,
rally pay very little attention 10 me anu
my work, except that IN the FORMER case IL
seems to impress them strongly Win 'he
gravity OF the situation and thus enhances
their fears"
'Do you give those VINO nave neen cured
any of the pictures OF themselves!
mot as rule, although requests ior
them are very frequent. IL Is our ann 10
keep the pictures out OF anything Ike gen
eral circulation, and nobody can obtain
them without giving very good reason,
except, OF course, the medical profession,
whose motives we understand"
what are the most difficult cases TO
photograph" asked the reporter.
'Those where the interior OF the throat
is involved. 1t Is necessary to put the lens
down into the throat and use fiashilght.
The lens is, OF course, very small and one
of the difficulties is to get the focus on just
the right spot. That is chiefly guesswork,
and the pictures are often unsatisfactory.
The loeomotor diseases, which make II I'M
possible for the patient to sit still, OF course
present difficulties. Certain forms OF SKIN
disease, too, whose pecuiiaritles lie In DIS
coloration, are hard to take satisfactorily
Particularly in this the case where the col
or is blue, which makes but little impress
sion on the plates.
Surgical and what may call popu lar
photography have many differences. AS
an example, the ordinary photographer, as
rule, takes only the head and bust or
the whole figure. photograph these and
also the most minute sections OF the hui
man body, the pictures OF which must be
enlarged. This makes necessary "a great
many sized lenses.
lone has to be bit OF doctor in this
work" he resumed. 1.-The surgeons do
not always explain just what they want
brought out in the picture. haveto know
that"
At this stage of the conversation young
doctor appeared in the doorway. Behind
him were four children, who entered the
room in a slow and rather solemn process
sion. Two nurses brought up the rear.
''We have some work for you this morn
ing, Mr.. Mason. Let us see what you can
do in the art department with these little
patients"
Threc-year-old Malachye was the only
one of the children who showed no uneasi-
ness, SO it was decided to take her picture
first. But one wondered why it was nee
essary to take it at all. Her smiling face
and sturdy little figure suggested nothing
but the rosiest kind of health, as indeed
she has now. The picture was taken to
show the great improvement she had made.
Six months ago she was brought to the
hospital suffering from curvature of the
spine, and for long time her back was
kept straight by plaster cast.
The Arabian mother who left her at the
hospital has never come to see her and has
apparently forgotten little Malachye. But
she does not lack care. She gets rather a
superbundance of it, for her sparkling eyes
and little round face are very pretty, and
she is everybody's pet.
The phofouraph IL, tho bicforv booIv IF