The Van Buren press., 1898-03-05
LIVING WITHOUT A STOMACH.
The Most Wonderful of All Surgical
Operations.

Operations.
In these days of remarkable achieve
ments in surgery there seems to be al
most no limit to success in operative
procedure. In the matter of brilliant
achievements along this line must be
noted the operation performed by DR..
Carl Sehlatter, of the University of
Zurich, who has succeeded in eXtirpat-
ING the stomach of a woman. At the
present writing the patient is in good
physical condition, having survived the
operation three months.
Anna Lands was Swiss silk weav-
er, Sc years of age, and, as all surgeons
know, a capital operation at this time
of life is attended with more than
usual risk. From childhood she had
abdominal pains, and medical treat
ment afforded no relief. On examine
ton it was found that she had large
tumor. After a preliminary strength
ening of the vital functions, she WAS
operated upon, and the entire stomach
was found hopelessly diseased Dr.
Schlatter conceived the brilliant idea
of removing the stomach, which he did,
uniting the intestine with the oesoph-
agus. This done, there was then u
direct channel from the patients
throat down through the intestines,
while, in place of stomach, was the
end of the intestinal length of about
IS inches.
The abdominal wound healed rapidly,
and three days after the operation
nourishmcnt by enema was diseon-
tinued and the patient was fed by the
mouth. In a few days she could eat
eggs, chopped meat and even half OF
chicken. This, however, appeared to
have overloaded-we cannot say her
stomach-her substitute for that or
gan, and she vomited, thus proving that
this act, which is usually associated
with the spasmodic contraction of that
organ. can be considered special to it
no longer.
A New York physician who saw the
patient says that he was struck by her
rudy complexion and general alacrity.
Her appetite was good; she did not eat
much at time, but ate every two or
three hours.
In the lower forms of life the func-
tons are little specialized, and in case
of need other parts of the organism
may be impressed into service to take
the place of those which are missing;
but with man it is different. When de-
prived of an organ which ordinarily
performs functions essential to life, he
dies. The recent operation on the
| Swiss woman throws over our preeon-
eeived and stereotyped notions as to
the vital organs. The stomach has
long been supposed, in a certain sense
to govern the other functions of the
body, but its physiological place in the
human economy is threatened and the
work done by this autocrat is now per-
formed by the intestines, which, in this
case, have assumed the whole burden OF
digestion, and, to all accounts, they
are performing their good offices in an
exemplary manner. 1t is not beyonc
the limits of possibility that there will
be a future enlargement of the diges
tive tract to form a food pouch and re-
place, in some degree, at least, the
missing organ. Such an incident
tempts one to speculate on the validity
OF many opinions we now hold regard
ing the physiology of the vital func
tions. There is limit somewhere, bu
medicine and surgery are constantly
pushing it farther away and the enc
is not yet.-Scientifi American.