The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1897-04-11
SURGEONS TOOLS.
Where Carvers OF Human Flesh
Get Their Implements
strange Inventions for ExpIorkA9
and DfssectfnE Mans BODY
Modern Aids to
Surgery.

4
ing of every sort Of surgical instrument
/ and device is lodged is itself one Of
the stranges: in New York But few
blocks from the city hall, il looks "a
though the surrounding piles OF brick
and mortar had squeezed il into h2is
! its proper compass The first fiooFire
o sales-com. The hall floors above ps.
devoted to stock. plan and work rooute
] In a little two-story building in thi
| ward 81 the back Is the Experimental
I and repair shop where eight To tel.
nimble-fngered mechanics are on hand
There is here one room where r<>s
markable ideas are born. or assume
form, each one OF them concerning IN
some way the physical welfare of men
Livery inch of its wall is covered with
| framed photographs of the most IA
nous physicians. past and present. of
Europe and America, each bearing on
autograph signature, all in frames pre-
cisely the same A huge old-fashioned
| desk stands by the window, piled high
with foreign scientific reviews in all
| languages, catalogues and models il.
| cleaning metal. hard rubber and glass.
Here the present controllers of the IS.
tablishment sit all day, porting over
| drawings or half-designed instruments,
and studying the suggestions and ideas
| that scientific and medical men from
| all ends OF the country pour into their
ears.
The elder of these men has been ut
| this work for ~ years. and the estab-
| lishment was not Young then Thou
sands upon thousands of surgical de-
vices have come forth from il. -Four
or FIVE hundred. perhaps 1000, inven-
| tons of real practical value and utility
/ are turned out of this room each year.
Doctors write, describing what q Ger
tain medical appliance, could 10 be
made thus, might. perhaps, probably
would, accomplish. and forthwith plans
| are made, and, after much study and
| care, the instrument is designed and
dispatched.
| No charge Is made the doctors, nor.
on the other hand. do the medical men
derive any profit, however successfully
/ their idea NAV work out Tho estab-
! llshment considers il an honor to be
| applied TO, the more times the better.
and it knows the repute of its product
| is spreading far and wide Thousands
of dollars yearly go out on this con-
tinual experimenting. Some of them
never return. Even in the event OF
great success, and the discovery OF y
completely new surgical principle,
ratent is seldom taken out. The doc
| tor-inventor cannot, because of medical
! ethics; the establishment finds IL hard
| " worth its while, because OF the ex-
pense and the small number made or
| sny one instrument
1t Is as good as a fairy story of the
! old sort 10 spend an hour or moro in
this room, and see and hear OF the
/ curious things being planned and ex'
| perimented with. Many seem 90 tha
| layman fantastic in their uses. and the
results accomplished with them not
| to be believed Ore instrument OF this
sort is the bullet probe telephone, with
which the modern surgeon, an ordinary
telephone receiver strapped 10 his ear,
| can hear. wh,n his probe touches tina
bullet far within the Tissues. distinct
click Another novel implement OF
surgery is a minute saw, to be operated
inside the nose, it's stroke less than a
quarter OF an inch, run by electricity.
Before this was devised. such intArnsl
saving had 20 be done by hand. and.
deft as the surgeon might be- be was
necessarily slow in comparison with
this. A further advantage this electric
saw has is that its strokes are made
with absolute and perfect regularity.
such as the hand and arm Of man can-
not attain.
Many OF the implements made here
have almost reyolutiopized certain
branches Of surgery. In a box on tho
heaped-up desk spoken Of lay, the last
time the writer visited this room. .
delicately adjusted. minute instrument,
with scale marked along ia length
Its purpose was 20 make probing in The
brain safe beyond a doubt. A probe
OF any required size fitted into the
handle. and as the surgeon gently in
serted the tip and went further and
further within the skull the scale would
register the exact energy Of the pres
sure. Beyond certain point there was
danger In penetration. " the scale
registered over a certain fraction % an
ounce. il proved that the probe had
left the track Of the bullet ard had
touched cellular matter.
'.The most curious thing ever
nader replied the old ins'FvrIseS'-
maker. repeating the question That
r. "A hard one ~ answer. There have
been so many strange things But
,es-I think the Tno@t curious war en-
appliance designed on The ideas OF
r. doctor somewhere "a the Nouth~est
for sucking snAhe bites. II Wa
little Instrument anyone could carry
around ssi,h him. and when 80 or tbs
wound would. ths doctor thought
don't know. I cant ssy my>elf-suck
to poison out IN thor. order. made
the INSTRUMENT according 20 iaStr'sS-
sons. aaG The doctor professed himself
veil satisfied How IL worked r. actual
practice never heard ~. ! TribEtns-
Pounded Ch~~r~-
r.. q - s~~~frs.q. 49, {. ~ u MORT