The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1902-10-26
: WHY LORENZ
TAKES MONEY
Surgeon Says 1t Enables Him
to Help the Poor,
HIS WORK IN CHICAGO
Is BeSeiged at His Hotel by
Many Parents.


VINO IS this Prof. Adolph Lorenz who
performes miracles in surgery? Who is
ne who came from Austria TO Chicago for
a fee greater than any surgeon ever be-
! fore received, and, after dealing success
fully with a most difficult case spent
the greater part of a week attending
deformed children whose parents are
renniless.
Prof. LOrenz is a giant Teuton, with
a beard and an exterior resembling the
impossible King Leopold of Belgium. This
beard has most familiar appearance.
When first you look at it you are remin-
ded Of King Leopold: then you think Of
Toistoi and the painter Verestchagin.
II you had visited the Auditorium annex
almost any day this week you would have
found him the central figure in truly
pathetic scene. Dozens of mothers with
crippled children surrounded his suite.
fearful beseeching him to do something
for their little ones. There were children
with shrunken limbs, with twisted feet
and distorted knee joints. And they were
as eager as their mothers to have this
man who had cared for a millonaires
daughter try to cure their deformities.
In one of his rooms sat the big, kind
correspondence Most of the letters were
from persons in other parts of America,
offering him fabulous sums to give them
a few hours or day Of his time.
what do I care for their money,
said the surgeon. 4 would like to accom-
modate them. but truly. I am homesick;
want to get back TO dear Vienna"
= Then. turning to one Of his secretaries,
he said:
Tell those waiting outside to attend
one of the clinics which 1 am holding at
the hospitals and then I viii try to do
something for the tots"
To the World correspondent he said:
II have so much work on hand that
/ don't see how l viii ever get away
from Chicago. You people here have
wonderful faculty for picking up a man
and carrying him about as though he
were in the centre Of a cyclone. Is that
not a good comparison"
While making his comment he kept sort
ing his letters His large head swayed
like a pendulum. This motion caused
the ends of his beard to perform antics
on the buttons of has sack coat.
You want to know something about my
early Iife2'' he repeated in response to
q question: " elis III the ltSb place. L
was not born in Vienna. I was born on a
farm IN Northern Austria. My father was
not particularly wealthy and when 1 was
lad I had to work hard, very hard.
Il did not go to Vienna until I began
the study of medicines. When I entered
the university there soon became in
terested in orthopedic surgery, and L
have since made this study the aim of
my life. I was a poor student, at least
81 far as money goes, and had no
leasy time of it.
"Some fifteen years ago, when it was
generally considered among surgeons that
nothing could be done to effect cure of
ccngenitai hip dislocation. Buckminster
Brown. a surgeon living in Boston. con-
ceived the idea of holding a patient in
extension and by traction to stretch he
ISSUES sufficiently to bring the head
of the Temur opposite the socket. This
treatment met with little appreciation in
America. but was accepted in England
and is used there today in the treatment
of many cases.
'YThis was. however. a treatment al
most as bad as the disease and it was
questionable whether or not any good
resulted from such operations. At last 1t
was found that the patients were not
cured. But the effect of this theory upon
the profession was TO stimulate interest
ard research, and in Germany, Italy.
Austria and the Uni,ed States some slight
advancement was made
r Mine years ago Plea, the famous Ital-
far surgeon. and myself conceived the
same idea Of operation without knife
by manipulation. ! operated upon an
adult and failed.
fThe surgeons. both in Europe and in
America, were for several years quite
Heath TO accept this form of treatment
/. was a manner OF manipulation and
seemingly apart from regular surgical
procedure and many verbal battles were
Fought as 10 whether or not had made
ar actual reduction of the dislocation.
There is no longer any dispute about It.
That I did make ana have since made
such actual reductions has been proven.
not alone by anatomical dissection. which
IS unanswerable, but the N-ray. the funct-
fcnal result and the unmistakahle pheno-
n7ena At the time Of the operation. prove
that actual reductions are made.
The success of the treatment depends
upon a minute attention 10 details after
the first actual reduction Of the dislocat-
ion IS made. These details refer 10 the
position Of the limb. the stretching OF the
contracting and redislocating muscles and
the enlarging OF the anterior portion of
the capsule Of the socket and by manipul-
; alton before incasing the limb in the
Plaster cast. After this is done / apply
q plaster OF paris dressing such as viii
thouroughIy immobilize the limb and still
permit sufficient weight 30 be transmitted
through the shaft OF the bone to enable
nature to do her part CT the work in form
ing and deepening the socket. which must
no grasp the head Of the bone. as TO give
fl support after the patient dispenses with
the plaster.
Nov it must not be thought that the
application OF the plaster is any second
nrv part Of the treatment OF these cases.
The master cast must be so strong as 10
hold firmly in the desired position for six
months Yes. the cast must be worn that
long. II must be cushioned. too and ad-
justified so that il viii not be source Of
discomfort 10 the patient
II believe ii my duty 10 alleviate ali
che suffering I can. whether among the
rich or poor. II the rich pay a princely
fec II VIII allow me 70 devote more time
60 the poor"
Or. Lorenz is just forty-eight years old