The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1897-12-26
IS THERE NO VITAL SPOT?
WOUNDS OF HEART AND BRAIN
THAT HAVE FfILED TO KILL.
1iviuE Five Months with n Iinlirt Embedded IN
uis Heart-A needle Removed from tho Heart
by surrer, -Rccpvsries from ulrnin woundn.

'oAt 'tf = 'Saf ~ f'A ~ Nv 'fSh ~ .N
whether In the heart, head lungs, livor, or brain.
and yet I have taken note of many cases re-
Gently In which persons have sustained gun
shot wounds of supposedly fatal character, who
are still alive and going nboutsthcir business
Tho doctor and his companion wCrc passing
a downtown museum when the conversation
took this turn. Among tho freaks pictured aud
caricatured in front of the building was
man with q ragged bullet wound torn through
his h~cart-which organ was WILDLY exposed in
the haring daub- while tho angel of death was
lowering over him, ready to snatch him away
at any moment. The appeal to morbid amuso
ment seekers was such rs to lead to the infer
encc that the unfortunate with the wound In
his heart might obligingly drop dead at any
minute, for the special delectation Of those who
paid their dimes and walked in to see him.
Then said the doctors friend. "a shot or
q stab in the heart Is not necessarily fatal, as
1t Is understood by modern surgcryi"
Not at ALL returned tho doctor. But, Of
course, we arc not speaking Of wounds rs big
and terrible as the one in that museum pio-
tnre: that is apparently even worse than the
thrust received by Mercutio- looks about AZ
man who has been wounded like that ever sur
wives more than a minute.
Charles b. Nelson, who was mysteriousiy shot
on one M even Edi,h Ias Ms summit While StnS,1 IN the IN W S9mRPiHmy
ton TO A Park s'' The % shootinE oc SSan'sdi on Gs' nishs
of I oayca a. IF 5lv9 lean mo1 n h Gso be snd the h . mhn a Mish
eyelist Of some note. Nelson's breast was sub.
graphs esslsS Which we're STSi made Ha at I the timess the ' Sul.
let lodged in the septum Of the heart-ths four
the interior of that organ into right and left
%auricles and ventricles. There It has contin.
a day ever since that mysterious shooting, and
at every pulsation rcfuting the old theory Of
to mSa!s S Seart brings shas td Death tGn'h OF hostile metal
The most skilf1l and daring surgeon n,,; on
s srom N 4 he were sea asked %oa to r sh%Re his fsi he sall n
the, negative. SO this man must, carry his
leaden handicap as long as life shall last. Seems
which were made Of Nelson's wound the shadow
Of the bullet appears almost exactly in the cen:
the thorax The location Of the black spot shows
Of cartilage and muscle before It was stopped.
At the point where it entered the thorax the
periCardium, which incloseS the heart, touches
the sternum. itself less than an inch in thick.
ness; so that surgeons claim the other inch and
6 sh half aS St the @, 0G ths bs p8th T Tbs p ss y sn tthTTu Fl.
question, which, will only be determined salts.
been argued by some that the bullet was a spent
bal, which pierced the pericardium and dropped,
were not lacerated or wounded;
And yet. Notwithstanding what have said.
Il We hhNC SuEEcOuS ho"tudsS WIN w unueTIdk0
and carry to a successful conclusion operations
on the heart. This is done by opening the peri
heart, and drawing off the fluid by aspiration.
A man may have his heart punctured, with the
from the injury. It used to be held that wounds
of this character were invariably fatal. But a
wound Of the heart is not necessarily fatal. as is
shown In the case where n needle was removed
BY Calender from the substance of that organ.
Gases of like nature have been reported by Drs.
| Hahn. Agnew, StelZner. and others. More than
| fifty cases where rupture of the heart walls did
not result in immediate death are reported by
DR.. ID. J. Hamilton, a well-known Scotch sur
geon and pathologist.
tn. .T mo,t es ssms of p aSIs. P 8 gTiz wa ls aSs5 IN was e. one %., Ct
named Baker, in New Jersey. in 1855: To all
Gnf foar aa SpPfs sit so Se r. t fsso Se expr rsp,ddl ! 'w asS
to finish the INTERRUPTED contest; Twelve days
i sround h0y Within h i've ,n %lnStes h aFS % p dea 10. tho
More remarkable still, perhaps, are the nu-
merous injuries to the brain and spinal cord.
s : %ss a. AZ aySSi fPPsss{ : E E1ss S {s% %; 4 I + fl :;
ssfRR FgRSss lis '66 ssin, and Put a! last a s sesanSts he sa Mss
bullet. BY ali accounts. passed through the
right and left anterior hemispheres of the brain,
left eye socket. In its course the ball destroyed
q large amount Of brain matter, At the same
time ,, it cut Vt the i. optic nerves OF both eyes. de;
smell, too. was destroyed. 1t seems miraculous
that this man should recover and retain any
of his senses. but the physicians in attendance
reported that aside from the fact of a some
what weakened mental apparatus he appeared
the'self inflicted wound. The ono point at which
they found him most at sea was that he did
Many Chicagoans will remember a tragedy
at the Briggs. House. in this city. several years
bbs Brain 'e got w Wsii. q ). 9 s. Mo TeS %SS a s WeIl. in sRS
veterinary surgeon. and his wife were boarders
at the hotel. 1t was in August, 1887. Ono
Il day there wa6 a great uDfOar and eyCltamAnh
oyer a SHOOTING ARRAY in the apartments Of the
&ePf BY Sls wif In t the bG SIHIstrf ente MSPG aRe Side Se q
his hs1a hesd in the he P Sraia' SShe Hb9 iES the n.2t ear ,o and
taSn il. %%onte sen y and the he" %oundea man t eos
well; The wife at the same time shot herself
Ike His''' that dS Sf MoD Sss% + R Rasai IN every yGqn IN:
patient: Brain injuries are most serious, and
most often prove fatal when they occur near the
STTfs Ar%S %%a Nasg Journal recently told
of IN F 6s 6sa sTt IoI tws SiiiSsF who ys carried H. bull Sul;
shot 4 in IT the eg left ter Temple pSn during the Ss Franco af Pr was
sian war. The bullet could not be extracted,
but S.t, IT soon ceased ;ag m to be painful, H. and Sl The wound
pain and driving him almost mad. Then there
I"Up to the time Of the civil war but little
Of the "b Brain ina1 or 20 Sb SaRsr@ae OF si geSSt tRen wG %neS
has been accomplished through experimental
work and clinical observation to e,ucidat0
the subject. For wounds in the abdomen in
general American and German surgeons advo-
cate laparOtomy as carly ms possible.
%Gunshot wounds in the head directly In
yolving the brain may be either perforating or
penetrating. penetrating. wound is one in
which the missile enters and does not emerge.
A perforating wound Is one in which the
bullet passes entirely through the head. The
injury TO the skull or brain may vary from q
comparatively slight wound to one which in.
ficts Immense and widespread injury both to
between the wound Of entrance and the
wound Of exit Is apt TO be far more marked In
tho skull than In the soft parts. At the
wound OF entrance the aperture in the external
table may be no larger than the bullet ITSELF
or may even be reduced 10 a simple slit
whereas the inner table may be quite extensive
ly fractured. At the wound OF exit the re-
verse is true. The outer table will be more ex.
tonsiyely fractured than the inner. and in
addition to this. the entire aperture al the
wound Of exit. as the ball strikes on the con.
larger than the wound of entrt nee.
THE recent advaNce in cerebral surgery has
materially changed treatment OF such wounds.
The difference between the modern treatment