The Ordway new era., 1906-11-09

the grating process one end of tae
mothers thyroid gland was released
ana stretched over to the exposed psn-
crease OF her idiot daughter.
For days neither motherr nor child
was permitted to move. To insure a
successful grating operation thny
mad been tightly bound together, the
childs body against her mothers neck
and there they remained until the
severed end OF the thyroid gland had
Knit firmly to the pancreas. forming a
living. pulsating link between mother
and daughter. Then the link was cut
leaving a portion of the thyroid gland
grated successfully to the childs
pancreas. 1t is believed now that
both mother and child will recover.
The complete success OF the opera.
tion. cannot. however. be announced
yet, as too short time has elapsed
since the operation was performed.
First Dawn Of Reason.
But It is known that the dawn OF
reason came to little Lena Wolf al
gland began to knit. For the very
first time the idiotic stare gave place
to look OF intelligence. She may
grow up to be very bright young
woman.
DIR. Swale Vincent, professor OF
physiology in the University OF Mani.
toba, at Winnipeg. Canada. has pre-
pared an extremely interesting article
on the duties of the thyroid gland. the
pancreas and other ductless glands.
which appeared in n recent issue Of
the London Lancet.
1T is believed" he says, that these
ductless glands manufacture and pour
directly or indirectly into the blood
stream some substance or substances
which are OF service to the economy.
either by supplying n need or by de-
stroying other substances which are
needless or positively harmful. This
last function is usually prescribed to
the thyroid and parathyroid glands.
1T is obvious that. in the broadest
sense OF the expression, all tissues
and organs OF the body may be said
to have an internal secretion-i. e..
the blood which leaves by their veins
contains different chemical substances
from that which enters by their ar.
teries.
"The most usually quoted example.
however. of a gland which has both
an external and an internal secretion
is the pancreas. A relation between
diseases OF the pancreas and diabetes
has long been suspected. but Minkow-
ski and Mehring first definitely
showed that complete removal OF the
pancreas In the dog. cat and pig Is
followed by diabetes. having the usual
symptoms Of that disease in man.
That this is caused by the absence of
an internal secretion Is proved by the
fact that 1t does not occur II the gland
be left In stu and the duct tied, nor
does 1t occur II portion OF the pan
creas be grated in some situation re-
mote from Its normal position. How
the internal secretion of the pancreas
normally prevents glycosuria Is not
clear. We can only say that 1t exerts
some influence upon the carbohydrate
metabolism, either by favoring the
formation of glycogen In the liver
from the dextrose taken to 1t by the
portal vein or by furthering the oxida'
ton of dextrose in the tissues gener'
ally"
siaht Restored to Child.
Equally remarkable and interesting
is the operation by which sight has
been restored to the blind eyes of liz
tie Margaret Huber. aged ten years
of No. 524 East Eighty-fourth street
New York city. She has become the
subject of widespread interest among
opthalmologists by reason of her pin
hole camera" eyes. Eye surgeons
who have followed the case at the
German Poliklinik declare 1t to be. SC
far as their observations have gone
without an exact parallel.
Nobody knows exactly how Mar
raret became blind. The liquid mat
ter constituting the lens of the eyes
became atrophied and was entirely
absorbed, leaving the lens thick
apanue, fibrous cap. which shut Out
every glimmer of light. This was
three years ago. when the little girl
was only seven.
Several operations were tried, but
with no good results. The membranes
~ the ewes were punctured, but they
Immediately closed again over the
evenings like sheet rubber when =
hole is made in 1t.
DR.. John A. Price. chief surgeon oi
the ophthalmic department OF the
German Poliklinik, took charge OF the
case, q performing three operations IN
February, March and April. 1894. The
third ono restored the sight to the left
ave. The right eye remained stone
tlind until two weeks ago, wnen g
,s.-scrmsd most unusual and sue
oessful operation upon It.
\ - arrt made ! psduliariy shsped
!. g 4 4 scissors, TIA under blale