Freeland tribune. (Freeland, Pa.) 1888-1921, 1897-08-23
THE NEW SURGERY,
Marvellous Results in the Saving OF
Human Life.


Human Life.
1t was Jeffrey who said that "me,li
cine had been defined to be the art OF
science of amusing n sick man with
frivolous speculations about his disor
der and of' tampering ingeniously till
nature either kills or cures him" He
might in his time have pronounced sur.
gerry to be the profession of licensed
mayhem. But medicine and surgery
have made great strides not only since
that day. but since the time when thou.
sands died Inder the lancet in the hos.
pitals of our civil war or came home
mere fractions of their former selves
Some statistics brought forward at the
annual meeting of the Massachusetts
Medical Society are eloquent rs proof
of the triumph of the new surgery over
the old. The comparisons were drawn
from the operations made in the Boston
city hospital between the years 1S64-G9
and those of 1SS9-94. During the for
mer period there We're treated 120
cases of compound fractures. OF these
G6 per cent. came to amputaton. In
the case of compound fractures of the
upper extremity Al per cent. died; of
the lower extremity, GO per cent. were
fatal. This terrible record of mortal
ity occurred too in n new and we'll
equipped hospital an institution which
would compare favorably with any of
that time.
In the later period the beds had in
creased from go to 800. but in spite
of that fact the number of amputations
had fallen to eighty-two, and of these
the mortality was exactly one-third of
what 1t had been. In amputations at
the thigh the mortality was reduced
from 90 per cent. to 12la per cent,
while those of the leg from 80 to 1871;
of the arm from 3S to 1914 per cent. In
short, the mortality from compound
fractures was two-thrds less than un-
der the old methods. The physicians
attribute this saving of life to asepsis.
The new surgery permitted the sur
geons to wait much longer than for
merly before operating. They could
now wait until the aseptic regime to
see If the compound fracture did not
heal itself, which 1t frequently did, and
In the majority of cases amputation
was unnecessary.
Under the new surgery healing is
painless. The only pain now felt is that
of the incislons. After that has sub
sided there is no pain in aseptic heal
Ing. The old and lingering fevers
which so often followed surgical oper-
atoms have vanished, for with perfect
asepsis there is no surgical fever. The
danger of suppuration and secondary
hemorrhage has also gone, from the
same cause
AS to visceral surgery, its triumphs
have been marvellous. Surgeons now
open the visceral cavity and perform
the most astonishing feats. Operations
which to-day are performed with i'm
punity by young surgeons would have
been deemed as preliminary to nothing
short of cold-blooded murder by the
last generation. Scarcely a part of the
body of living man is unexplored by
science, and feats of trephining almost
incredible are performed daily in our
hospitals. OF course with this rapid
advance of surgery has come tenden-
cy TO overoperate, and conservative
surgeons will agree that reckless sur
gerry has gained some headway in late
years. This is confined to the younger
and ultra-enthusiastic members of the
profession and is deprecated by their
elder brethren.-Chicago Chronicle.