The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1899-08-07
SOME MARvELs OF SURGERY.
Animal Patients and the Manner Neces-
sary to Treat Them.

|
! We read daily of the marvels of sur
gerry which enable the grating of the
human flesh and frame or OF the re-
| moval of some obnoxious growth or
| substance, but there is considerable
field for surgical effort among the low
er animals that is quite as astonishing
and often more so. of which we hear
little. Many strange adventures befall
| the surgeons who have had animals in
their care, particularly when the sub
| jects of treatment have been wild
beasts in captivity. The most skiliul
surgeon might undertake to perform
some delicate, hazardous operation, but
| how many would undertake to try one
on suffering lion or injured tiger?
For instance,in New York some time
ago, Nero. the star performer in one OF
the shows there. sustained fracture
of the right hind leg. He was worth big
money, and 1t was determined to try to
save his life by setting the leg. The
first difficulty was to get him under
| the influence of some anaesthetic, and
he was at length induced to swallow
piece of meat on which morphia ana
| atropine were sprinkled. An hour
elapsed before the potion took sufficient
effect, but then he was bound to ia
| BILE by stout ropes. The broken leg was
extended and the bones Joined, and
then it was bound tightly with wood
| splnts, over which a plaster of paris
| cast was made. The operation lasted
| two hours, but it saved Nero's leg.
| A still more singular piece of surgery
was the operation performed on a fine
male tiger in the Public Gardens of Ire
vandrum, Bombay. The animals claws
were growing into his flesh, and one
night, maddened by the pain, he pulled
one of the claws out by the roots, leav"
ing an ugly sore He was put into a
I,A..- l,,. IL, faJz Nf
| padded beneath with sacks, had been
hung, and at given signal twelve man
| forced down the false roof with iron
bars. In this way the tiger was made
absolutely helpless and his paws were
easily drawn through the opened bars.
The leg to be operated on was noos I'd
and fastened to bar, and with pair
of clippers the offending claws were
soon pulled out.
Some of them had grown nearly an
| inch into the flesh, but the worst wound
| was that made by the tiger himself
| when he pulled out one of his claws
| There the bone was exposed and hole
three inches long was seen, from which
one hundred magots We're taken. In
deed, when this wound was found It
was almost decided to shoot the poor
brute. but the wound was dressed with
antfseptics, and it was agreed to walt.
Next day he was all right and the 9TH
er claws were treated. an d every day
for six weeks the injured limbs were
dressed with antiseptic dressing, till ut
the end Of that time he was quite
cured and was restored to his run
Caliph, the hippo in Central Park,
New York. was sick, and it was decided
to give him a dose of medicine. Nine
men held him with ropes, while tnlee
| pills about the size of tennis ball.
were forced down his throat with 4
stick They contained 2,94o grains of
aloes and 40 drops of croton oil, mixed
with linseed oil and ginger. Caliph did
not like the treatment, but next day he
was a better hippo. When an elephant
takes physic it is given him by the gal
lon, and one elephant which had infiu.
enza. was dosed with ten gallons OF
| whiskey. But the elephant which mad
toothache stopped has much better
claim to notice. He was in the Paris
zoo and gradually became a prey to
mela ncholy.
Day after day he sat rubbing his jaw
on the ground, and his keeper said he
had toothache. A surgeon came and
found that one of his teeth was sadly
decayed and that it must be filled Or
extracted. 1t was decided to fill the
molar. The risk lay in the possibility
that in some spasm of pain during the
operation the elephant might turn On
his benefactor and kill him. But he
seemed to realize what was being done
| for him and he remained quite Still
| during the hammering and filling. Until
at last he emerged curiosity among
his tribe. Ever after he was the dent
| lists good friend.
A bold man once pulled two teeth
| from the head of lion while the ami
| NAL was only strapped to table. HIS
| roars were terrible to hear, but both the
| decayed teeth We're gel out without ac-
cident, and the lion showed his graft
| tude to the man who had done him this
service by many signs of good will.
In the London Zoo the doctor has a.
| tended more elephants than any other
| animals, but at one time he has been
| in attendance on brown bear suffer-
ing from hemorrhage of the stomach
a stork with broken leg, wolf which
had bitten it's tongue in half and nearly
bled to death, and lot of monkeys in
various stages of asthma and consump-
| ton. The stork's leg was put in spllnts,
the VOLTS tongue was stitched, but the
bear would not take his syrup and lit
| tie could be done for him.
Among the domestic animals strange
cases are sometimes recorded. Bad
sighted poodes have been fitted with
spectacles and cows with wooden legs.
At Sunderland infirmary one day lad
presented himself carrying big TOM
cat with fish hook in his paw. The
cat was very savage, and nothing could
| could be done with him until the sur
| geon decided to try what chloroform
would do. The beast was put under
the influence Of the drug and the hook
was removed, greatly to the lads re-
| lief.
Dogs are generally the best patients,
and often have a lively sense of graft
| tude. Some years ago a black Gordon
| setter appeared at the Queens hospital,