The age-herald., 1897-12-25
THE STOMACH NOT
 A VITAL ORGAN Scientific Discovery Made by Dr. SChIatter, of Switzerland. THE RECEPTACLE FOR FOOD Proven to Be Not AbS( " Necessary to
 a Persons F Stsnce. EXPERIMENT 0s :! ANNA LANDS Entire Organ v is7 is7semoved and She Now Con IS Solid Food. THE OLD THEORIES OF MEDICINE May Have to Be Revised, As It Has Long Been An Axiom That the Sto-
 mach Was Necessary to
 Animal Life.
THE OLD THEORIES OF MEDICINE

will tomorrow publish the following &C., count of the first successful removal of a human stomach:
 "rhe feat itself Is the most brilliant and daring ever attempted in recent surgical history, but the attendant discovery that the stomach is not vital organ, is even more important.
 Hitherto it has been considered utterly impossible for a person to live without a stomach. With the fall of this long recog- nized axiom the old theories of medicine and surgery may be entirely changed and the field of possibilities which the discov- cry opens up is practically limitless.
 Performed in Switzerland
 "The operation which has so startled the medical world was performed in Eur ish, Switzerland, by Dr. Carl Schlatter, on September 6, last. The subject was Anna Landis, 56 years of age, and a silk weaver This woman had complained for years of stomach trouble. Dr. Schlatter diagnosed the and found she was suffering from an exceptionally large oval tumor in her stomach. Laparotomy was performed and Dr. Schlatter found that the woman's en- tire stomach presented hard mass. And then this daring operator, seeing that the organ was useless, went to work and freed it from it's delicate attachments, cut ting, twisting and clamping among the most vital organs with coolness and delib- eration of an expert dentist drawing a hard tooth. The technical details of the operation can only be appreciated by mem- bers of the medical profession.
 Excised the Stomach
 When Dr. schlatter had excised the entire etor1anb e he t.no1u oil of intestine to the oessophagus thus making direct connection between the aimentary canal and the bowels. The work of join ing the intestine and the oesophagus was as delicate. They were bound together with sutures. The organs were allowed to drop back into their positions the abdominal wound was sewed up and all there was to show that Anna Landis had lost her stomach was a slight retraction toward the diaphragm. The operation lasted nearly two hours and half. The loss of blood was slight.
 'The period following proved that the stililzation had been perfect and the op- eration wonderfully performed. The pa- | tient, although old and feeble, exhibited but few of the serious symptoms that usually follow vital operation. Minute quantities of liquid food were given to her at short intervals With the exception of occasional vomiting this food seemed to be l assimilated, despite the absence of a food acceptable. In the second week after the | operation she was given solid food. It was | retained and digested without discomfort. | And even pr. Schlater himself maryeled at | the almost unexpected success of his bold l work. He handicapped in giving the | patient solid food because she only had one | tooth ir her head.
 l A We'll Woman | On Oct. Il, month and five days after l the stomach had been removed, Anna Lan- dis left her bed. By Nov. 25, she was feel ing perfectly well and walked about. Her weight increased and apparently she was in far better health than before the opera tion
 Dr. Edmund Charles Wendt of New York city, the correspondent of the Medical Rec- ord, who obtained Dr. Schlatters personal account of the feat states that the 9th of this month he saw Anna Landis, and that to all intents and purposes she is q well woman She is still under observation at the Zurich county hospital, but is able to do her full share of work in the wards. She has had many medical visitors from all quarters of the globe, and by this time has grown quite proud of her depleted body.
 | stomach Not Necessary | Dr. Wendt concludes from the successful removal of this stomach that the human stomach Is not vital organ; that the di- gestive capacity of the stomach has been considerably overrated; that gain in weight may take place despite the absence of gastric activity; that the chemical func- tons of the human stomach can be sat- isfactorily performed by the other divisions 1 of the alimentary canal.