The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1899-04-30
gI8GICAL ACHIEVEMENTS.
~ruop OF CURING IDIOTS BY
SURGERY.

,ducinE sOmnambulism Artif-
ALLY and Its Value I'm Certain
r..otmcnts Injecting Brain Ex-
,c, for LocISjaw-A Patient Who
ted II Lost Surgical Instrument
,.,rs-Success in Curing Deaf
h, Nassage-Treatment of the
II Eardrum.
Nv York. April 2S.-In one of the surgi-
.,r;tbeaters in New York the writer
Ia the conclusion of an operation.
- II was over and the patient had
,.beeled away on a stretchcr to one
I the wards, 1t was noticed that an as
'.,art in gathering up the instruments
,,a antiseptic solution tray, counted
49,, and checked them Off on a memo
a5,,D, which had been made before the
j location was begun. The chief surgeon
nos asked why this was done.
- that" he replied, lis to make sure
.hat no instruments have been sewed up
inside of the patient"
.pyt was the Mortified question, has
,,cb a mistake ever occurred?'
sO YES frequently" replied the sur
geon.
such a case?'
nver some of him live, but the most
g him die. That is the reason we are
oa,efnI Yet it is wonderful how much
q 49,, average person will stand in the way
4 of foreign substances in the body. 1t was
4 announced the other day by Dr. Morestin,
the well-known Russian surgeon, that a
woman who had been treated for constant
lv recurring assesses had finally reCov-
ar.d when a pair of hoemostatic forceps
which had been in her for years, had been
A accidentally discovered and removed. This
4 nair of forceps was four inches long, and
4 had remained in the woman's body four
Years. A short time ago an up-country
a Doctor came TO the city to be operated
mon I believe for the removal of the
IA yermiform appendix, although I under
II stand he never had appendicitis. He was
"a borrowing trouble, and he got it. He did
nat improve after the operation, and one
III night he died. There was an autopsy and
il was found that a sponge had been sewed
"A w in him. 1t was most unfortunate. Yet
have known of many forceps, clamps
and other metal instruments to be for
gotten and left in patients, and the latter
n get We'll. / ne CndIdCl6T OIL lnG instrument
may be said to determine the demise Of
the patient Sponges are bad. From their
very nature they become collecting agents
ana soon poison the body. The smooth
metal objects, on the other hand, are apt
TO work their way into the alimentary
tract, and then they soon pass away.
You doubtless have heard of needles which
have stayed in the human body for years,
gradually working their way out of the
system, or of old soldiers who still carry
the bullets shot into them during the civil
4 war The glass swallowers of the dime
A museums really perform wonders in the
way of resisting foreign substances in the
4 human body But the most wonderful case
4 of all was that of an insane man whom
H saw in an asylum in Lancaster, Pa.
He took to swallowing things in the car
penter shop, and before he was stopped
he had guped down 14O odd nails of all
sizes, some buckles, a piece of old iron,
some screws and lot of other things
l cannot remember them all now, but 1t
Is on the record. Well, they tied him
down and anestheticized him and extract
ed the hardware, somewhat after the
Caesarean principle. Those things are In
'Ae museum, and the man-O, he got well
enough, He's a healthy lunatic now"
Method of Curing Idiots.
The surgeon turned away to the next
n patent who was being prepared for oper-
II allon' she was child lying motonless on
the table and staring upward toward the
great skylight with the hopeless indiffer-
ehce Of the idiot. Her lips were thick, her
tongue protruded, her hair had a peculiar
SILKY appearance. She did not appear TO
De an ordinary Imbecile. She betrayed no
uheaslness under the operation and her
case was soon disposed of. The chief sur
eeon cleansed his hands in the antiseptic
4 washing solution and came over to where
4 the writer sat
Was not that an idiot?" he was asked
Yes; we get good many of them here"
But can you cure idocy?"
We'll, we can help her. She is a Gre
un. Cretinsm is a form of idiocy caused
py the lack of part of the thyroid gland
~ Is a form of goitre. Many children have
It. Inc moment the thyroid secretion stops
4 turning The development of the child stops
sHof'' II, for instance, the child had ad-
.anced TO the age of and then failed of
as 'nyrold' 1t would go through life as z
n !edr-old child as far as brain development
Is concerned. There is an opposite condi-
uoh brought about when too much thyroid
secretion is deposited. We know it then
as eXopthalmic goitre. A person with this
,'o'"uS IS tne opposite of the idlot-that is
Intensely active and alert, supersensitve
81 al things, the antithesis of dulIness, as
~ were EXopthalmic goitre can be cured
W removing part of the thyroid gland
uoln Inc throat: cretinism can be cured,
vi rather held In check by administering
uiyIold extract to the idiot. If child is
,aAeh young and properly doctored with
.nyroid extract it win go on developing
;us' IKE any normal child. But-and here
- possibility for a novel writer-if the
ou'lNiieiering of the extract should be
ST'opped suddenly the youngster would re-
.apSe INTO its former idiotic state, or at
o"y rate stop off where it was. Think of
o curse Of idiocy hanging over ones head
g.. what causes the condition aside from
as physiological features?"
wen, that is not known exactly. The
go. .sease Is endemic in many mountain dis
80 ana is said to occur most frequently
,s ,'ui,asnesium limestone formations. 1t
IN ,.Nlo"n In England, but very common
F-.'Hce' II Is rare in Prussia; Middle
tue mas lot of il IN the mountain dis
sr, ~ Is also found in the Himalayas
Gu Co. ~ 'he Andes. But 1t occurs in fiat
NJ - H.,-s' as, for instance. on the Island
IL .''e4erwerth. below Coblentz, where a