The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1897-03-27
A Man Who Has a Load
Of Gold in His Brain.
Work of the Editorial Depart
ment of a Railroad.
How Swimming is Taught in the
Schools OF the London Boarj.

A man who is attracting much atten-
tion among the medical profession Is
William Callahan of Allegheny Pa,
who has just passed through remark
able operation. The operation consisted
of placing layer of gold between the |
membranes covering his brain. THIS
laycr Is intended 10 supplant large sec
tion of bone that was trcphined away IN
the hope OF curing the patient oi epiicptle
fits Callahan is a railroad cmplole. n
little over "a year ago he was severely in
it.red in a railroad accident. His skull
was fractured and his life was dcspalreu
of. The splntcrcd bones were removed
and he apparently recovered: shorty
after this he began 10 take epileptlc nus
Every known remedy was tried 10 cure
him OF them He was patient at the
West Penn Hospital, but got no rellei
He went East and was under the care OF
the leading physicians and surgeons there,
with no better results. Some months ago
NE was admitted To the Alleghany zen
eral Hospital where Drs. Nj. Grew ana
yoight operated upon him His skull
was trcphined again. The cpileptic at
tacks ceased for time after this but
o. for short while. Ii appeared TO
the physicians that the absence of such
large quantity of bone exerted an IN
flucnce that had bad effect upon the
brain. There was also considerable
difficulty in healing the wound properly,
due to the fact that the membranes, the
dura mater and pia mater, adhered To-
gether.
The doctors then decided on u novel
method to cure this. Callahan was taken
10 the operating room, an lnclslon was
made into the brain and the outer mem
brane lifted up This part of the opera
tion was extremely delicate. A heavy layer
of gold was then placed over the dura
mater. lit was laid in sections with the
finest Of gold leaf. The outer membrane
was then placed over and the ends where
the incision was made stitched together.
This was followed by closing the outer
wound. The operation was trying one
10 the patient. Ii required several hours
to complete it, Ii was performed several
days ago Callahan Is now aple 10 sit
M He has not had an attack OF the Tits
since, and apparently does not experience
any i'll effects from the load of valuable
metal upon his thinking organs.
Big railroad corporations rs we'll as
newspapers have their editorial depart
monts and a gentleman who recently
visited that of the Pennsylvania road
gives an interesting account of the work
carried on. There are employed in the
department about n dozen men under
the direction Of chief and in addition
TO looking after the road 5 advertisements,
one of their principal duties is 90 read
the newspapers for the officers of the com.
pany About 800 papers are received
daily from all oyer the world, which are
faithfully examined by experienced
readers, who understand all modern
languages, and, like the exchange editors
of a great newspaper can detect any in
teresting paragraph at a single glance.
Each man has pair of scissors in his
grasp, and clips every item of news and
editorial, every personal and advertise
mcnt, that he thinks will interest the
head men of the road.