The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1899-05-08
PEOPLE MAY LOSE BRAINS
AND BE RESTORED TO MENTAL
VIGoR.
Some Interesting Facts Suggested By
the Skidmore Case-Mail Carrier
Is Steadily Recovering.

Mail-carrier Skidmore is slowly, but
entirely healed, and the patient is eat
ing and sleeping well. All the func-
tons of the body are performed, and
he is gradually recovering his mental
faculties He can now talk nationally
on subject for a short time, then his
mind wanders. The improvement is
perceptible- Concerning him DR.. Root
said yesterday: THE outlook is I'M
certain. The fact that he shows grad
ual Improvement would lead one to be-
lieve that he will ultimately recover
in every way. There is a remote pos
sibility of an abscess forming u some
part of the brain, possibly on the op-
posite side from the injury. In such
cases the result is usually, though not
always, fatal. The final outcome is al
ways uncertain, as sometimes trivial
cases will prove fatal. The patient
may recover for a time and then COM
plications may arise which will end
fatally"
The doctor spoke of a case where
man had his brain injured, and recov-
cred so completely that he was able to
carry on an active mercantile business
for year, at the expiration of which
time an abscess formed. which resulted
fatally.
There is considerable misapprehen-
sion among the masses the doctor
stated, concerning the result of in
jury to the brain. The fact is that a
considerable loss of brain matter may
occur, either by accident or operation,
without serious results, if no import
ant centers are affected"
The doctor went on to tell of Ca
madam named Martin, who had a crow
bar driven clear through his head, and
then recovered with slight loss of fac
ulties. The dangers arising from in
jurieS to the brain are various and de-
pend on the part afflicted. Paralysis
may result from injury to the motor
centers, while injury to the frontal lobe
seems to have little, if any, special
significance, although, when extensive,
it results in loss of mental power and
may be fatal from compression as well
as from loss of blood. Infection may
take place, especially when brain It's
sue has been exposed. There is also
danger from fungous growth from in
jured brain matter.
In this injury of Skidmore there was
no apparent paralysis. The part in
jured would not produce paralysis or
spasms, unless by reason of compress
sion caused by bone being driven or
a blood clot forming. There was pro-
trusion of brain tissue, caused by
swelling, and after it was removed
there were no symptoms of swelling or
infiammatory action Neither was
there infection, because they secured
primary union of the wound. In this
case. after the wound has healed, the
dangers still existing to the patient are
from adhesion of brain tissue to the
scars or to the skull. Sometimes such
adherences cause epileptic fits. some
times mental depression, and even in
sanity. 1t does not matter how small
the injury to brain substance, any of
these results may follow.
DR.. Monahan has a case now lying
at the Holy Cross hospital where an
operation was performed for epilepsy,
where the brain matter had been ad-
herent to the old scar tissue. Several
operations had been made on the same
case previously, with little or no bene-
fit. until the loosening up of scar
from the brain matter apparently re-
lieved the symptoms. The patient has
had no epilepsy so far, nor pain in the
head. but it is too early to say what
the final result will be-
The vast majority of the cases of
badly fractured skulls during the civil
war resulted fatally because of the
lack of knowledge of antiseptic sur
gerry.