El Paso daily herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1881-1901, 1897-01-09
MENDING MANKIND.
Marvellous Results Achieved by
the Modern Surgeon.
A NoseIess Man Has One of His Fingers
TranspIanted to His Face and
Man who Lives without
h a Face.

The nose is such prominent feature
that it is apt to suffer severely when
there is anything of "smash-up," and
it accordingly happens that surgical
| skill is very frequently called upon to
match I'D broken noses, and sometimes
! even to plant a nose where there is none.
| One case, likely to be long known as
the blackbird case" is recorded from
the London Royal Free hospital. y serv-
ant girl was brought in with her nose
smashed by Il hydraulic lift coming in
contact with it. The surgeon sent out
for blackbird, took out the breast bone
and managed to insert it where the
broken cartilage had been, with COM
plete success in restoring the maids
| former appearance.
\ severe task was set for the surgeons
of another London hospital by an I'M
fortunate individual who, having by de-
fault of nature no nose at all, wanted
to be furnished with one. Willing to
oblige him, an amputated finger of an
other patient. was grated on his face.
but it was found that amputation had
caused the finger to die, and it failed
to take.
The undaunted ''noseless" man then
one of his own (the patient's) fingers
should be cut off to furnish the missing
nasal organ. but IN order that the finger
should not be wasted, should the opera
ton prove unsuccessful, the patients
arm was inclosed in plaster. and for
four weeks he had to hold his finger
to his face. in the hope of its taking
root
i.
off from the hand, and now remains
fixed as a nose, having been so manipI-
lated that it can no longer be recog-
nized as a finger, and the process of
shaping it is proceeding, so that ulti-
nately what is expected to be a very
passable nose will be the result.
There was recently seen at the Paris
academy of medicine a young woman
to whom DR.. Berger. the eminent French
surgeon. had supplied an entire under
| lip in place of the one nature had given
her. which she had accidentally lost.
He had made good the loss with piece
OF flesh cut from her arm, and had ac-
complished the substitution with re-
marIzable skill. There was no appar-
| cnt Disagreement about the mouth, and
the lip was red and quite natural look
ing.
The French. when they wish COLO
quially to refer to something that does
not exist. use the phrase IAN army per-
sioner with an artificial head''-much
as we speak of the horse Marines or
as. on the continent, of ''Swiss adj
miral." But there has now been found
something very like the frst-named
phenomenon, for in a village near Lille
Il
Moreau. who was hero on the French
side of the war of 1870,
In action he was wounded by a shell,
| which exploded right in his face. lie
vas cared for by the surgeons, who were
much astonished to find him still alive
at the end of four days. Nothing re-
| manned uninjured of his face but the
| forehead and jaw. An operation was
| performed. and no fewer than 50 pieces
| Of bone were taken out of the wounded
part. wax mask was resOrted to to
hide the hideous cavity in his face. Mo-
| rcau recovered and for years piled the
government with petitions to be sup
| piled with platinum mask, which he n :
| last got some ten years ago. 1t answers
| well, only requiring to be reprinted
| from time to time.
| DR.. Peau. another Paris doctor of emf
nence. recently showed his colleagues
of the academy man. aged II. from
whom so much of the throat and wind
| pipe had been removed in operating on
tumOrs that speech was lost. An ar
tifcial larynX was made and inserted,
and has restored his voice. The mcchan-
ism consists of a spiral silver tube Gov
cred with india rubber, which causes
no discomfort, and can be inserted in
the throat or removed by the patient
| himself.-London Answers.