Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1895-12-05
WITH A NEW SKIN.
A Successful Experiment Of Grating
in Case of burns.

From the San Francisco Examiner.
Miss Jessie Proudfoot Of San Rafael should
be proud of her relatives. They are worthy
of any young girls most ardent affection.
Within the past two months seven of them
have submitted to the surgeons knife for her
sake. From their healthy bodies they have
allowed strips of cuti2e to be cut to supply
| the needs of her emaciatei frame, and
| result, the sufferer, seemingly doomed to be
a cripple for life. will soon be up and about
a flesh -and-hlood monument to the devotion
and self-sacritice Of her nearest of kin.
In the early part of last summer Miss
Prordfoot narrowly escaped death in the
flames. Where the fire had touched the body
the skin had peeled off in large flakes in
many places. leaving the raw, inilamcd flesh
exposed. Should this heal up of its own ac-
cord, which would be 4 very slow process, as
| the doctors unanimously agreed. the tissues
would so contract that one of the girls limbs
would be much shorter than the other. Be
sides this there "as the absolute certainty
that she would suffer pain continuously.
At this juncture Dr. w. +. Jones resolved
to try the virtues of grating. lie first tried
graft of about an ncn and half wide and
five inches long of rabbit skin, applying it in
the approved methods. For time the graft
seemed to be growing well. and high hopes
We're entertained. These lasted only a short
| time, however. when 1t was demonstrated
| that 1t would not answer the purpose. The
doctors so informed the parents of the suffer-
|
| themselves to the knife to save their daugh-
| ter, and as soon the matter became known
| to others of the immediate family and next
| closest relatives there was not one who did
| not make the sacrifice. and make it willingly,
| to benefit the pretty little twelve-year-oIi
| girl they loved so we'll
From the bodies OF the seven persons who
| offered themselves for the purpose the sur
geonS have stripped pieces of skin VARYING
| from half to an inch and half in width
and from four to five inches in length. These
| living strips, tingling with nerves were
| placed on the tender flesh of the sufferer and
| firmly bound in place with Rubber tissue, and
| cessful. All the portions of Miss Proudfoots
| body touched by the flames have been coy
| cred over with the skin of her relatives ex-
| cept one patch on the right hip. This will
| be attended to some time early in December
| and DIR. Jones stated last night that, Judging
| from the progress made in the other gratis
| 1t will not be long before Miss Proudfoot is
! as we'll and rs free-l;mbed as eyr
| Aside from Illustration of the self-sacrifice
| of those related to the young lady, the case
| of Miss Proudfoot will excite considerable
attention in the medical world. 1t is one of
few caseS-if not the only one-where skim
grating has ever been attempted in the case
| of burns Then, again, the area to be COW
| cred, not less than lI5 square inches, and
| the length of time after the injuries We're
received will act as factors in case which
| will cause any amount of learned comment
| Taken all around, it is a wonderful case
| fully as wonderful any in the progress of
| the healing art within the past decade