The Montgomery advertiser. [volume] (Montgomery, Ala.) 1885-1982, 1902-07-20
INJURIES TO BRAIN
REMARKABLE CASES IN WHICH
LITTLE TROUBLE WAS GIVEN.
Leaden Souvenirs In Heads-Sol-
disrs do Not Always Suffer Ill
Effects from Them--Would-b
Suicides Who Both their
Work.

The idea that the human brain is an
organ so extremely dehcate in its struc-
ture that 1t cannot bear the slightest
physical hurt. says Tit-Bits, sometimes
experience of people who have met with
peculiar injuries to the head. The his
/ tory Of brain surgery presents some re-
markable facts In regard TO the extent 10
which the thinking organ will sometimes
resist the effects of external injury. 1t
has been shown that in some cases guam
titles of its substance may be removed
without appreciably diminishing the nor
NAL intelligence of the patient; while some
have been known to carry the most ex-
traordinary foreign substances embedded
In their skulls for years.
Finds of the most singular kind have
been made in the interior substance of
the living human brain. The strangest
things have been known to find entry
there through accident or design. In one
case 1t was the blade of a penknife that
was carried about in the brain for half a
lifetime without the patient being In the
least aware Of il; in another IL was
penholder that had somehow found its
way there and remained in its living hid
ing place without apparently interfering
with the thinking power of the organ;
while recently piece of slate pencil was
recovered from boys brain after 1t had
been hidden there for several years.
1t is, therefore perhaps none the more
surprising that many bullet which has
found its billet in human brain has
proved no more than temporary 1ncon-
venience.
A French soldier who received bullet
in his head during the Franco-German
war of 1870, carried ii there for twenty
seven years. and was said to have felt
no III eeffcts till 1897. when 1t one day
worked its way downward INTO the mouth
and so ID. him of its presence.
In the case of a German soldier who
was s&oe IN the head during the ''Sond-
erbund', war, he lived to carry the leaden
souvenir in his brain for forty-three years
and It was not extracted till after his
death.
These two remarkable cases. however.
seem to be beaten by another that has
recently been brought to light, the case
being that of an old soldier still living
who for over half a century has car
ried IN his head the bullet received DUR
INK the austrian REBELLION of 1S4S.
WOpld=he suicides. have occasionally
put b51tsts into theiF brain to no purpose,
and perhaps one of the most astounding
cases % recent years was that dealt with
at thef Richmond Hospital only year
or so 3Ago. The patient had in vain tried
TO taS8 his life by shooting himself in the
head, and after thus placing two bnIfets
In his1brain he was Immediately conveyed
IN a cab to the hospital. But he was so
little ELECTED at the time by the presence
of the bullets in his head that he actu-
ally alaghted from the vehicle, walked
along The garden path and up the steps
OF the, hospital, and was then able to give
an intelligent account of what had taken
Places 49, p
In q similar case of seIf-inficted injury
that came before the doctors at Guy s
Hospital few months later the would
be SUICIDE, after firing revolver bullet
into his head, was discovered smoking his
pipe as If nothing very serious had hap
peneds tand though the bullet had pene-
fratedsthe skull to a depth of three and
a halfahnches he was able to walk part
OF the way to the hospital and there I'M
dress himself, without assistance previous
to undergoing examination. .-
The effects OF removing bullets from 'he
Drain are sometimes as remarkable as any
of the4 foregoing. and perhaps in this
connection mention may be made of the
case Of q military cadet operated on by
a doctor of Vienna just reeentlI On re-
moving. the bullet a small quantity of
brain had also to be taken away the pc
culiar result being that, though unaltered
IN any other respect, the patient ire
trievably lost all Of his good manners, for
which he was noted. The eminent sur
xeon, therefore, suggests that the portion
or braih removed with the bullet CORE
spends TO what he describes as the bump
NJ Rooffl manners