The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1897-06-14


ering IL aught is wrong with the phar-
ynx or other cavities behind the face.
An electric bulb is introduced in such
a manner as to illuminate the whole
mask of the face, so TO speak, the ef-
feet being more ghastly than that of
any deaths head.
Physicians in ordinary practice con-
slider dentists as interiors profession
ally; vet IL is a fact that dental sci
ence has progressed more than any
other branch of surgery within the
last quarter Of a century, II that which
pertains to the eye be excepted. False
teeth are now made to such perfection
that. while deceivlng the eye to admi-
ration, they are almost as good as real
ones for chewing. But the most Won
derful thing accomplished by the dem
tai surgeon is the transplatlon of
teeth. He can actually take a good
fresh drawn tooth from the mouth Of
one person and plant it in the jaw of
another, so that 1t will grow and he to
all intents and purposes as good as
IL 1t had sprouted originally in its new
situation A satisfactory connectS>Sl
with the old nerve is established, the
fortunate act being that nothing in the
tissue.
TRANSPLANTING BONES.
The transportation Of bones Is an
other triumph of the new surgery.
Where a human bone has become dis
eased or otherwise damaged beyond re-
pair, it can be replaced under reason
ably favorable conditions by a bone
taken from an animal Only the other
day the leg bone of a child in New
York city was made good in this way
by a bone from the leg of dog. Rough
on the dog, one may say, but that point
is not considered seriously in questions
of human life and health. The nose is
an organ liable to damage, and va
rious diseases attack it and impair its
beauty. Where the bridge of that or
gan has fallen in, or has been de-
stroyed, it has been found practicable
to put in an artificial bridge of chicken
bone. Sometimes gold or platinum is
preferred as the material The proper
antiseptic methods being followed, the
flesh heals over the new bridge with
out irritation, and thus life Is made
worth living once more.
The eye being one of the most impor-
tant organs of the body, it is lucky
that medical science knows so much
about it. In fact, knowledge of the
eye comes extremely near to being an
exact science. The conditions of civil
lied life do not seem to suit the eye,
and the consequence is that compare
lively few people go through life with
out some trouble with their sight.
Nearsightedness becomes more prevail
ent with every generation; it is a dis
ease producing change of structure and
an abnormal shape of the eye. Nobody
knows just what the nature of the dis
ease is, but optical compensation for
the result is made by means of concave
lenses. Astgmatism-to most people
so mysterious a term-is merely an ir-
regular shape of the cornea, which is
set on the front of the eye like a watch
glass. Most people have more or less
of it. This likewise is corrected by
proper glasses. A generation ago peo-
pie with sore eyes were very common.
Nowadays, thanks to the fact that
most people who need them wear the
proper glasses, such complaints are
rarely observed.
SWAPPING EYES.
Every now and then one reads in the
newspapers about the transportation
of an eye from rabbit or some other
animal to the empty eyesocket of Il
human being. Invariably the result Is
stated to have been a great surgical
triumph. AS a matter Of fact, how
ever, the person thus treated gets no
sight; it is all a fake and nonsense.
| The thing has been tried over and
over again, but always without sue
cess, because no animals eye is just
like mans in size, shape and structure.
If a human being could be persuaded
| to give up a healthy eye for the benefit
| of another individual, there might be
| a success and a renewal OF vision.
| through a uniting of the old optic
| nerve with the new one. But 1T would
be extremely problematical at the best.
| There is no future ahead in that direc-
| ton, The development of modern
| knowledge respecting the eye is due
| primarily to the opbthalmoscope-a
| simple disc-shaped mirror with hole
| through the centre, by means of which
| the physician is enabled to look into
| the organ and examine it's interior He
can even get glimpse of the grey
matter of the brain by gazing through
| the little canal through which the op-
| tic nerve enters the brain from the eye.
Deformities nowadays are almost un-
necessary, so many of them are durable
with the aid of modern surgery. There
| is no reason why anybody should be
cross-eyed; a simple operation cures
| that. When a person is very cross
| eyed, 1t means that he has the sight
of only one eye. But the vision of the
blind eye can be restored perfectly
under ordinary circumstances, by the
| operation aforesaid. No excuse exists
wherefor any one should have a club
| foot in these times, or hand similarly
| disabled. 1t is nearly always practic-
able to remedy such a defect in child
hood by surgical treatment. and there
are plenty of charitable institutions to
which even the poorest may apply for
assistance of the kind. Doctors are apt
| to be glad enough to have the oppor-
| tunity of practice. The humpback to-
day is almost an anachronism, mas
much as this dreadful affliction, due to
inherited disease, is removable by suit
| able means. The sufferer from this
trouble, or from lateral curvature of the
spine, is wrapped in folds of crinoline
saturated with moist plaster of paris,
hanging by the hands from bar mean
while, and the jacket thus formed and
renewed at intervals makes the back
bone straight.
AURAL ACHIEVEMENTS.
1t is fortunate that the ear is not
open to inspection like the eye, its
internal arrangements being unap-
| proachable usually 1t is impossible
even to investigate the organ salts
| factOrily after death for the reason