The San Francisco call., 1897-04-21
WUGER SURVIVED
A BROKEN BACK
An Interesting Case Be-
fore the Medical
Society.
Scientific Problems at the
Twenty.Seventh
Session.
Doctors Hear Papers Read and Talk
Learntdly About Modern Methods
of Treatment.

The twenty-seventh annual session oi
the Medical Society of California convened
at Golden Gate Hall yesterday morning
with a large attendance of delegates from
all parts of the State. Among those
prominent throughout the Stale were the
following:
Drs. William Watt Kerr, w. II. Mays, J. NJ.
Williamson, J. Henry Barbat, r. L. Rigdon,
g. ]. Fitzgibbon, Stanley Stillman and George
B. Somers of San Fran cisco; 7. w. Hunting
ton. Sacramento; W. W. Hitchcock, Los An
geles; D. D. Crowley, Oakland; NJ. NJ. Chip
man. San Diego; A. NJ. Gardner. Napa; c. w.
Jones. Grass Valley; J. S. Sargent, Santa Rosa,
and William J. G. Dawson, st. Helena.
The following new applicants were
elected to active mem bership:
Philip Mills Jones, E. E. Kelly. John C.
Fisher, L. l. Darr, Sonoma County; Kate p.
Van Gorden, Alameda County; Campbell Ford
and Philip King Brown, San Francisco; e. w.
Dwinelle, Siskiyou County; J. Maher and J. ].
Medros, Alameda County.
The following were elected honorary
members:
Lieutenant-Colonei Charles r. Greenleef
surgeon. United States army; Lieutenant
Colonel ]. V. D. Middleton. surgeon, United
States army.
The session was called to order by DR..
Henry Gibbons, and an address of recep-
tion was delivered by DR.. W. L. Cheney,
chairman of the committee of arrange
ments.
In his annual address DR.. Gibbons said
that much had been achieved for science
during the year. The profession was
gradually attaining a higher standard,
ana he confidently prophesied that the
time would soon come when California in
tn at respect would be interior TO that of
no State in the Union. Better classes of
students were being received every year,
superior in ability and education to those
who had entered the profession in past
years. DR.. Gibbons was of the opinion,
however, that the State did not take
enough interest in the profession. A
board of examiners should De established
to pass upon the qualifications OF all
students.
Such a board would undoubtedly fix q
high standard of ability and by keeping
the profession up to that standard work
an improvement to the medical as we'll as
the lay world. In addition to State super
vision of medical practitioners DR.. Glib
bons would have the Federal Government
undertake the regula ton OF medicine and
medical men throughout the country. He
said National Board of Health should
be established, with power to manage all
matters regarding public health. Give
such a body authority to pass upon the
purity of foods, take charge OF epidemics,
manage quarantine affairs in all seaports
and in general supervise the health boards
of the country. Such a body would be of
more benefit to the country than a Depart
ment of Agriculture.
After this address the following were
appointed committee upon medical to-
biography and meteorology: c. Max Rich-
ter, San Francisco (chairman); G. w. Nut
ting, Ktna Mills; H. H. Davis, Sonoma; !;
B. NJ. Gill, Dunsmuir, and c. ". Evans,
Modesto.
During the afternoon there were a num-
ber of interesting papers embraced in the
following programme:
observations on the Subject of Etiology and
Symptomatology of Dementia Paralytica" by
4. W. Hoitshoit, Stock ton; "The Causation ana
Possibility of Its Cure" by j. w. Robertson.
Livermore; "Neura sthenla,' by H. N Rucker,
Oakland; "The Progress of Surgery During the
Last Decade" by Thomas w. Huntington,
Sacramento; "The Radical Cure of Hernia,
with Cases." by William LIE NJ yne Wills, Los
Angeles; Serum Therapy in Surgery" by
pathic Gangrene OF the Skin" by Emmet Rix-
ford, San Francisco; "Laminectomy Sixteen
Months After Injury, with Recovery-Exhibi-
ton of Patient" by Oscar J. Mayer, San Fran
cisco.
DR.. Oscar J. Mayors paper on 'Laminec-
| tony" was one of the most interesting
| features of the session, because he had a
| patient whose phenomenal recovery from
what the laity calls "a broken back was
| illustrated by the exhibition of the man
| himself.
| formerly storekeeper at the Pacific Union
Club. On April %, 1894, he was crushed
| by an elevator so that the second and third
| lumbar vertebre were fractured.
Wuger was given up for On incurable
and was sent to the Kings Daughters
Home for Incurables, where ne lay par
| alyzed and bedridden for sixteen months
when Dr. Mayer was called into the case.
| With the assistance of Drs. Barbat, Car
| penter aud Villain, on Septem Der 6, 1895,
! the muscles and Ilgaments ad jacent to the
| spine were detached as far as the fifth
lumba vertebra, and the arches of the
! first and second VERT br8 were removed,
| drainage tubes being placed in the spine
| In spite OF the delicacy and danger of
the operation. which the books pronounce
unusual, the man recovered and was ex-
! hibited before the society yesterday. When
| the patient was stripped a slight depres-
| sion in the back was discovered, but other.
wise he appeared to be all right. He walks
all right but for a slight weakness in the
ankles, caused by the degeneration of some
| of the nerve tissues adjacent to the spine
| The case was one of great interest by rea-
son OF the small percentage of recoveries
in such operations.
The evening session was we'll attended
| and the papers were very interesting. The
| following constituted the evenings pro.
gramme:
| The application of electro magnetism in the
! tracing and removal OF particles of steel or
| iron from the interior OF the eye, with demon
| stration of the siGeroscope. small magnet
| (Hirsehberg) and large new magnet (Haab),
followed by experiments, by A. Barkan. Sa II
Francisco.
Demonstration of X-ray apparatus and its
uses in diagnosis, by Philip Mills Jones, San
Francisco
| Demonstration of the Roentgen rays in car
diac diagnosis, by Albert Abrams, San Fran
cisco.
| DR.. Barkan's lecture on the modern
methods OF extracting foreign substances
from the eye was heard with great in
terest. He showed how the large magnet
removes steel and iron with ease and how
the small ones may be used with great adj
vantage in certain cases where the large
one is inapplicable. He exhibited the
method by removing steel from hogs
eyes and bad q patient present from
whose eye a steel chip had been removed.
| The conclusion was that many ewes are
| saved by modern methods vharaas ~