The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1901-10-29
FEATS OF THE SURGEON.
MUCH OF THE BODY ONE MAY LOSE
AND STILL LIVE.

Practically NO organ of which MAN
May Not Now Spare "a Pnrt-Crea-
ton of New Bone and Fleshy
Structure FunctiOnless Muscles
Put to Work in other Spheres.
Crafts From Lower Animals-An
Aluminium Tongue.
From the New York Post.
The parts of ones body one may lose
and still survive are steadily increas-
ing, thanks to the progress of surgery.
though the surgeon is unable to tell the
layman the exact point where living
body would lose its desirability as
human tenement. That, the surgeon
says. varies with the person. life mean
ing more to one than to another. Bret
Harte's story of the unfortunate young
woman who remained faithful to her
young man" through a long series of
accidents involving the loss of various
members, and her agonized question as
to how long she ought to remain cling
ing to the hapless youth, amused peo-
pie who read il a quarter of a century
ago.; but if the young man had lived in
these days he could have made very
the question of matrimony might have
been less doubtful for his lady love.
For nowadays the human body may be
variously cut down, built up, and SUBJ
stituted. Mans framework is
truly a mass of connecting
tissues, which separately and in
trinsically have no vital function, but
merely serve to hold the vital and
other organs flxedly in place and in
their 70 OIL
There are practically none of his or
gans from which he cannot spare a
part to the surgeons knife-and many
he can spare entirely and comforta-
bly,. 1t is not that man is just as we'll
off without part of his body as with it
he is more perfect, anatomically. with
his full possessions, and his functions
more perfect Observation-Disclosures his
special blessing is that he has dis
covered himself to be endowed by ma
ture with the ability TO adjust himself
to many losses. 1t is the surgeons
power and privilege intelligently and
scientifically TO weigh the patients
condition in the light of experience
and it is distinctly the role of the mod
ern, progressive, and conservative sur
geon, working in the best interests of
humanity, to conserve every part rath-
er than needlessly sacrifice any portion
OF the
Viewed by the surgeon. the body, as
whole, is an aggregation of tissues,
which may be grouped into three
classes: Connective tissues, which con-
meet, or bind together. its various sup
porting parts into a framework or
gans, which occupy various positions
and perform various functions while
held in fixed relationships in this sup
porting framework; and external COW
.,.f, - Iii, s,%1 Tt. -
membrane.
In order of Importance to life come,
first. those nerve centers in the upper
portion of the spinal cord, which con-
troll the action of the heart and lungs,
whose destruction is followed by i'm
mediate death; secondly. the viscera,
or organs, death following the destruc-
ton of the organ with a rapidity de-
pendent upon the Importance Of the
special organ involved (the three most
important organs being the brain,
heart and lungs); thirdly, the con-
nective tissues, which rank lowest in
the scale of Importance to life. The
only bones which cannot now be re-
moved are some of those of the head
and spine. Not only may any of the
other bones Of the body be removed,
but in very many cases, where the
bone is removed by taking it out of
its fibrous covering, after cutting
through the everything muscles, the
bone is reproduced by deposit of new
bone from its periostal covering, the
latter borning a mould in which the
new bone is shaped into a useful form.
One of the most brilliant fields of
modern conservative surgery involves
treatment of diseased joints. Formerly
many limb whose joint was badly in
jured was sacrificed by amputation of
the entire limb; now the injured or
diseased joint is simply cut out, the
sawn ends of the bones put into a
splint nearly in contact, and a new
joint formed by subsequently practic-
ing movement at the site of the origi-
nal joint. A joint is often reproduced
capable of almost the full range of
movement; at the knee alone nova
BILE joint is not sought, as it would
hardly support the weight of the body.
Rarely is it necessary to remove an en-
tire muscle, though in many instances
it may be done. The same is true of
arteries, though it may be safely done,
If it be an artery of secondary import
ance. An upper extremity may not only
be removed at the shoulder joint, but
| the collar-b bone and shoulder blade and
the muscles covering these bones may
| all be removed along with it. Lower
| extremities may be removed at the hip
JOAlbs SOiStltulilAS llS ldl 6CSl anu illOol
| important pure amputation of the body
| Ones scalp may be entirely removed
| contrary to the usual impression, de-
| rived from tales of Indians. Then one
may lose both eyes, both ears. the nose
lips, teeth, upper and lower Jaw, palate,
| tongue, tonsils, salivary glands, larynx,
one lung, stomach, gall-bladder, spleen,
appendix, one kidney, one ureter, blad >
der and male and female generative
organs. All these structures are also
removable in part; nowadays, too, one
may lose very large quantities of blood,
its place being speedily and satisfac-
torily replaced by siphoning into the
system up to several quarts of tepid,
boiled, water, weakly impregnated with
salt.
/ If the surgeon thinks it best, one
may have one of his limbs shortened
Especially in the lower extremities,
where they may be different lengths)
by removing a cross-section of the bone
or bones of the longer part sufficient
in extent to equal the amount neces-
sary to correspond with the shorter
limb. There are other things the sur
| geon will do for you. AS many as
! aipbf or nina ,.fl :,