The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1901-02-03

cases we can either make a permanent
opening in the bowel above the cancer and
so relieve the constant pain and distress.
which is caused by the obstruction. or in
a great many cases we make an opening
In the bowel above the cancer and another
below II and by uniting the two openings.
IL may so express It. "sidetrack'' the con-
tents of the bowel II the cancer has no
adhesions and the patients condition al
lows of 1t We can cut out the entire por-
ton of the bowel containing the cancer.
unite the two ends and thusere-establish
the continuity of the intestinal canal As
much as eight feet. nearly one-thiri of the
entire length of the bowel have been re-
moved by Shepherd. of Montreal. and yeS
.h:e patient recovered and lived a healthy
life.
Similarly in gunshot wounds, stab
wounds. etc. involving the intestine the
modern surgeon does not simply stand by
with folded hands and give opium and
morphine to make the patients last few
hours or days relatively comfortable, but
he opens the abdomen, finds the various
perforations. closes them, and recovery
has followed even in cases In which as
many as seventeen wounds OF the inter-
tine have been produced by a gunshot
wound.
The kidney, until thirty years ago. was
deemed almost beyond our reach. but now
entire volumes have been written on the
surgery of the kidney, and it is. one might
say. frequent occurrence to see the kid
ney exposed. sewed fast, IL 1t Is loose.
opened to remove stone in Its interior.
drained II there be an abscess. or IL II be
hopeiessly diseased II is removed in its
entirety. The other kidney. IL not dis
eased. becomes equal to the work OF both.
or the pelvic organs. 1t would not be be-
0ming to speak in detail but one opera
ton can scarcely omit. namely. ovarioto-
my. One Of my old teachers was Wash
ington L. Atlee, who with his brother.
was among the first ovariotomists in this
country who placed the operation on a
firm foundation. heard very distin-
guished physician In 1862, In a lecture to
his medical class. denounce such men as
"murderers:" but today how differently
does the entire profession look upon the
operation, Instead OF condemning the
surgeon because he did remove such tu-
NOR. the profession would condemn him
alton had its rise in America Ephraim
Mcdowell. of Kentucky In 1909. first did
the operation which now reflects so much
credit upon modern surgery. The mortal
ity of the AtIees was about one in three.
Now. owing to the immense improve
ment introduced by the antiseptic meth
DDS, the deaths in competent hands are
not over 5 per cent or even per cent.
The limits of this article compel me to
stop with the story very imperfectiy told.
but yet, perhaps, it has been sufficient in
detail to show somewhat of the astonish-
ing progress of surgery within the CEN
tury but especially within the last quarter
of the century.
About two decades ago one of the fore
most surgeons of London, Mr.. Erickson.
said in public address that surgery had
reached its limits" How short was his
vision is shown by the fact that surgery
at that time was just at the beginning of
it's most brilliant chapter.
We have reached, in many respects, APP
parently. the limits of our success, but
justsas anaesthesia and antisepsis and the
Roentgen rays have opened new fields to
US wholly unsupported until they were
proclaimed. SO l have no doubt that the
twentieth century will see means and
methods devised which will put to shame
the surgery of today as much as the sur
gerry of today puts to shame that of thirty
years ago. and still more of century ago.
The methods by which this will be at
tanned will be by the more thorough and
systematic study of disease and injury. so
as 20 better our means of diagnosis and so
prepare us for immediate surgical inter-
ference, instead of delaying 1t, as we now
do in many cases for want of certain
knowledge; by the use of new chemical
and pharmaceutical means TO perfect our
antisepsfs and possibly to introduce other
methods of treatment. but above all. we
shall obtain progress by the exact expert
mental methods of the laboratory We
can never make progress except by trying
new methods. New methods must be tried
either on man or on animals. and as the
former is not allowable thaponly way re-
naming to us is to test all new methods.
drugs, and applications first upon animals.
He who restricts. and. still more. he who
would abolish our present experiments
upon animals. is. in my opinion, the worst
foe to the human race, and to animals as
well. for they, as well as human beings p
obtain the benefit derived from the meth
Cd He may prate of his humanity, but
he is the most cruel man alive.