Iowa state bystander. [volume] (Des Moines, Iowa) 1894-1916, 1894-10-19

Swallowed y l.amp--Rody Artidciatl
g.-i.

\
\ L!ghteI.
| DR.. A.. II. Amos, of 2i7 Equitable
building. who is a leading specialist o.
| Dcs Moines, demonstrated bcfo. the
| Polk County MedicalSociety the practi
| cal use to which the electric light may
! be put in the practice of medicine. The
demonstration was decidedly novel.
| BY the use of the electric light DIR
! Amos made it possible to see the glow
of an incandcscentl lamp in the stomach
through the flesh of the abdomen, q
; most vonderful spectacle. With still an
| other instrument the doctor illumined
| the air passages inside of the skull SO
! that the tissues and blood vessels Of
the face could be distinctly discerned.
With third instrument the light was
thrown into the eye so that the cyeball
reflected the light as if the current of
electricity was inside of it and it were
the globe of the lamp.
The patient, Mr.. Lee, at the demon
stration with the light used in the
stomach, had only to swallow small
rubber tube at the end of which was
the glow lamp, and through which the
wires of the battery ran, the current
was turned on, and at once the pres
ence of the lamp in the stomach was
plainly discerned through the body.
The physician is able to determine by
its location in the body the position
and condition of the walls of the
stomach, being detected by the position
of the light.
The effects of the other demonstra-
tons were as startling as this one. The
small rubber tube with glow lamp at
the end was inserted in the mouth OF a
lady patient and instantly, when the
current was turned on. the tissues of
the face and throat became perfectly
plain TO sight.
DIR. Amos has gastriscope. also n
complicated and enormously expensive
silver instrument. a triple tube bent at
the lower end and which the patient is
forced to swallow while on his back
on the operating table, the electric
light being at the lower end and brill
liantly illuminating the inside OF the
stomach so that the physicians can see
from the telescope at the end of the
tube at the patients mouth the walls
of the organ, the light rejecting the
image through the bent tube by means
OF prisms.
The demonstrations made by pr.
Amos were something new for Des
Moines and the Innovation will be en-
joyed by the people, as it was by the
big meeting last night. The evident
learning of the doctor and his famil-
iaritv with these improved agencies in
tie practice of medicine speak volumes
for the good he can do humanity which
suffers. The science of medicine is
and DR.. Amos is keeping
up with the procession.
Dr. Amos has had exceptional adj
vantages for preparation for his pro-
fession. He graduated at Rush
Medical College, in Chicago, with the
class Of 1852 and practiced general
medicine for seven years. He went to
Europe five years ago and took mp the
study Of eye. ear, nose and throat in
the University Of Berlin. From there
he went to Vienna and studied under
the great masters, Politzer, Gruber,
Fuchs and Stcllwag. Letters of COM
from them secured him at
once the position of clinical assistant |
in the Royal Eye Hospital and the
Royal Ear: Nose and Throat Hospital, |
Of London. two Of the most celebrated |
hospitals in Europe, where he served
one year. He then returned to Des
Moines and opened an Office in the
Equitable building, where he is now |
located permanently, but still not sat
isfed with his preparation, closed the
office temporarily and spent a year
more in Johns Hopkins Hospital, Bal
timore, deyoting the most of his time
to pathology and bacterlology.