New-York tribune., 1897-01-24
TOOLS FOR THE DOCTORS
MAKING INSTRUMENTS TO CARRY oa,r
SPECIAL IDEAS
CURIOUS SHOP WHERE SURGICAL DEVICES Ip,
MAIDSTONE REMARKABLE INVENTIONS

CURIOUS SHOP WHERE SURGICAL DEVICES .p,
MAIDSTONE REMARKABLE INVENTIONS
Every great city has a hundred and one cur,.,..
businesses and trades factories. individual ca,n.'
and shops that seem to bear especial rela,io, .,
the commerce OF every day II does not seem =.
II these odd business interests had much to do ,,,s
the prosperity OF the world or were concerned 4,
II at ALL II IL typcally American that perhar.
the most interesting OF the strange establishment,
in New-York deals with science and inventive IN,
genuty
The building where this curious busIness-,t Ia IN.
manufacturing OF every sort OF surgical insr,nen,
and device-is lodged Is itself one OF the stranss.,
In New-York. But a few blocks from the City
Hall. II looks as though the surrounding piles q,
brick and mortar had squeezed 1t into hal, n.
proper compass. The first floor Is a salesroom
The hall floors above are devoted 10 stock plan
and work rooms. In little two-story building In
the ward at the back Is the experimental and
repair workshop" where eight 10 ten nmbe-fn-
gered mechanics are on hand.
There Is here one room wnere remarkable IDEAS
are born or assume form. eacn one OF them con-
cerning In some way the physical welfare OF men,
Every inch Of its wall is covered with framed
photographs OF the most famous physicians. past
and present OF Europe and America, each bear
ing an autograph signature. all In frames precisely
the same huge. old-fashioned double desk
stands by the window. piled nign with foreign
scientific reviews in all languages. catalogues and
models in cleaning metal, hard rubber and glass
Here the present controllers OF the establishment,
sit all day. poring over drawings OF half-desgned
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 az this work
for forty-seven years. and the establishment, was
not young then. Thousands upon Thousands Of eur.
gical devices have come forth from 1t. Four or hy.
hundred, perhaps thousand, Inventions Of real
practical value and utility are turned out 0. this
room each year. Doctors write describing VIVA;
certain mechanical appliance. could It be made thus
might perhaps. probably would. accomplish. and
forthwith plans made. and after much study and
care the instrument is designed and dispatched
No charge H. made the doctors. nor. the other
hand. do the medical men derive any profit how.
ever successful their idea may work out. The Is.
tablshment considers 1t honor 10 be applied TO-
the more times the better. and IL knows the repuo
Of It's product is spreading far and vide Thousands
OF dollars yearly go out on tns continual expert.
men,ing. Some OF them never return. Even in the
event OF great success. and the discovery OF
pletely new surgical principle patent Is seldom
taken out; The doctOr-inventor cannot. because O.,
medical ethics; the establishment finds 1t hardly
worth it's while because OF the expense and tns
small number ide Of any instrument.
1t is good fairy story Of the old sort 10
hear of the curious things being planned and ex.
perimented with Many to the layman fan.
tastic in their uses. and the results accomplished
with them not to be believed one instrument Of
this sort is the bullet probe telephone with which
the modern surgeon an ordinary tels2hone receiver
strapped to his ear can hear, when his probe
touches the bullet far within the tissues distinct
click Another novel implement Of surgery Is
minute saw. to be operated inside the nose. is
stroke less than quarter Of an inch. run by
electricity Before this devised. such internal
saving had to be done by hand, and, deft as the
surgeon might be. he was necessarily slow In CON-
parson with this A further advantage this eec-
trio saw is that it's strokes made with abb
soute and perfect regularity, such as the hand
and arm Of man cannot attain
Many OF the implements made here have almost
revolutionized certain branches Of surgery. In
box on the heaped-up desk spoken OF lay me ias'
imsted minute instrument with scale marked
out along its length. Its purpose was 10 MAKE
probing in the brain safe beyond doubt A
probe Of any required size fitted into the handle,
and as the surgeon gently inserted the UP ana
went further and further within tho skull the
scale would register the exact energy OF tne
pressure. Beyond a certain point there was Dan
ger in penetraon II 'ne scae egoyed rbS, the
probe had left the track of the bullet and mao
touched cellular matter -. Ill,
the old instrument maker. repeating the question
THAT is hard one TO answer Ihere nave nave 0eea cen
so many strange things. But-yes- thinK ths
most curious an appliance ] designed on ,ns
ideas of a doctor somewhere in the Southwest lo
sucking snake bites. II was little insirumeh.
any one could carry around with him. and when
SET on the wound would. the doctor though,-!
don't know can't say myself-it would suck out
the poison in short order. The doctors theory
was that sometimes n snake bit a man IN por'
tion of the leg say. where he couldn SUCK tns
bitr himself. and that it too much OF good
thing 10 ask friends 10 perform such service Io
him Besides he might be alone ana far iIo'n
any sort of help when such mish1p occurred
made the instrument according to Instructions ana
th. doctor professed himself well satisfied HOW"
worked i'm actual practice / never heard