The record-union., 1895-01-17
BRAIN SURGERY.
SkilIful Operations Performed by
American Surgeons.
Cutting a Tumor From the Brain
How an Epileptic was Cured by
Having a Piece of Bone Removed
From Her Brain.

operations which twenty-five years ago
we're regarded as impossible are to-day
comparatively easy. This is because the
brain specialists understand the organ as
never before. and it is to vivisection of
the monkey and the dog that our sur
geons have learned so much about the
human brain, and are therefore enabled
to repair it and tinker with it in really
marvellous way.
Until quite recent times the brain was
regarded as an organ with single func-
tlon-that OF thought. The heart was
known as machine which pumped the
blood through the body, and the lungs as
great reformatory institution where its
impurities were removed.
The stomach and the liver were under
Gtood to DO one thing, each of them, and
nothing else. But it has been discovered
that the brain, besides well authenticated
centers of sight, smell, taste, hearing,
etc, has also all endless number of well
defined motor centers, each of which con-
trolls the movement of strictly limited
portion Of the human body.
one center produces motion of the face:
another, motion of the shoulder; another
motion Of the elbow; another, motion of
Ine wrist; ana Still others, motion OF the
thumb and of the fingers.
You are walking some day, in late
spring or early summer, in the woods, or
through the fields and your eye lights
upon bush covered with something
beautiful. An impulse of sense mounts
like lightning through the optic nerve to
the sight center in the brain. There
process called Thought" is carried on;
memory is invoked, and that cell, or
those cells, as the case may be. decide
that the things which grow on that bush
are nOWers-Wild roses.
By q certain association of ideas the
conclusion Is also reached that they have
delicious fragrance. Then a command is
carried from this sight center along the
fiber OF connection 10 the motor centers
OF the arm, hand and body generally, and
these second centerS bid you stOOp down
and pluck the rose, and lift it, and smell
It, This is the general process by which
motion OF various kinds becomes a more
or less Immediate result OF sensation.
\ coal has fallen out of the fire on the
carpet. Its red hue, indicative of burn
ing heat to the eye, has disappeared. 1t
IS growing cold, but it is still quite hot
enough to destroy tissue rapidly. You
sloop down, very foolishly, and pick it
up. In the twinkling OF an eye those
different nerves OF your arm and hand
have carried a startling message of fire.
lie
With equal rapidity a message flashes
across the short intervening space to the
hand center OF motion, and ever so much
quicker than the wind the command flies
down through neck and shoulder and
arm TO your hand, drop that coal" 1t
Is done, and though your fingers tingle
for some time. there has been no material
destruction Of your flesh.
Ii was by ViYIseCtiOn of the brain of the
monkey ana the dog that the existence of
these phenomena of the human brain
were first suggested. By electric excita-
ton OF the exposed surfaces of the brain
OF the animals IL was learned that touch
ing certain portion OF brain tissue with
the pole OF the battery produced action in
a Well-denned portion of the body. 1t
was found that the motor centers i'll the
human brain are almost identically the
same as regards location as those in the
brain OF the dog and monkey.
1t ought TO be well known, in view of
all that has been said against vivisection,
that animals thus operated upon are as
tenderly adjusted and as carefully ether
lied as the mllnonalre's daughter under
operation, and that just as much watChful
care Is exercised to mitigate suffering and
to hasten the animals recovery. And in
the next place, operations upon the brain
are almost absolutely painless.
The following is description of two
wonderful operations on the brain per-
formed respectively by DR.. Robert Weir
Of New Iork and DR.. W. w. Keen of
Ihiladelphia:
y gentleman 80 years Of age had always
been perfectly healthy until a certain at
tack of malarial fever occurred, accom-
panied with a good deal OF pain. One
day, as he rose TO go to the window, his
vile noticed Spasm of the right cheek
and neck which did not involve the arm.
nor was consciousness lost. In 1886,
two or three similar attacks having oc-
Cured in the interval, he fell uncon-
sclous, and bit his tongue.
hese attacks were all accompanied
with twitching of the right arm and hand
and right side OF the face. His menorv
became impaired and his speech thick.
\ o injury haG ever been received on his
head, nor was anything abnormal OH
served even when his head was shaved.
Gradually his right hand and arm
became weak, and, as a result, his
handwriting became bad. This weak
ness OF the right arm slowly increased.
and along with 1t a weakness of the ripht
leg. and, as consequence OF the increas-
ing paralysis ol his face, "drooling" at
the right side OF the mouth set in,
Or. Weir examined him, at DR.. Se-
gums request, and both Of them reached
diagnosis, chiefly based upon the facts
already given, that the man had a small
tumor in his brain, and the skull was
opened at the junction Of the arm and
face centers. This operation the writer
had the p'easufe OF witnessing person
ally.
Nothing abnormal was seen on the sur
face of the brain. Yet so confident Wa
DR.. Weir Of the correctness Of the diau-
nOsis that he boldly cut into the brain
substance, and irom its interior removed
tumor by means Of small surgical
spoon. j he man made q perfect recovery
tumor was found 10 be OF malignant
character; IL returned, and several wears
after the patient died from it.
The second case can be found in the
records Of the Orthopedic Hospital and
lnhrmary Tor Nervous Diseases, Iu PhiIa-
delphia, record book ). l., page IZ3.
young girl OF about u was admitted 10 The
lntlrlnary 10 October 1891. She said that
her attacks OF epilepsy always beran in
the right thumb. This fact haviur beep
verified, IL was decided to remove the cen
ter Of the thumb, for the Same reason as
IN the last ease, ]. g., to stop the very be-
ginning of the tit.
1t WAS especially desired to remove
only the center for the thumb, and not
that for the hand, as she was a mill girI
This was an unusual and minute at
tempt at locallzation, and a very severe
test of the accuracy of the mapping of the
brain by viYiSection. ON October 6 lSqI
the tissure OF Rolando was first located
aud a disk Of bone an inch and a half i'm
diameter was removed, the center of it
being two and five-eighths inches to the
lett OF the middle line.
Both bone and Drain, when exposed
Resmed TO be normal. The fissure OF
RolaDdo was seen crossing the middle of
the opening, downward and forward. By
the battery the brain was stimulated at
certain definite points until the thumb
center was recognized, and also the face
center, which lay somewhat below it, and