The Washington herald., 1907-08-24
By FREDERIC J. HASKIN.

New Inventors. new methods Of travel,
and modern diversions develop new dis
eases. We now have the telephone ear,
the bicycle stoop. the automobile eye,
and the roller skating cough. Pittsburg
physicians recently argued against roller
skating, on the ground that il brought
dust and finely powdered wood from the
floors, and so caused a painful and dan
gerous cough, that may lead to tubercu-
losis. The cures that modern science
works are no less strange than the odd
diseases TO which we are subject Even as
Adam Is believed TO have done remark
ably well after he had a strong rib de-
moved, so dozens of human beings have
been found to get along without organs
which were formerly deemed absolutely
essential. The New York woman who
was deprived Of her stomach, and after
ward went on her way rejoicing, has been
followed siong the same surgical path by
a dozen others. who have only to eat Of
tener and Of more digestible food than
other people to appear perfectly normal.
Long ago a wound through the heart
was regarded as fatal Surgery of to-day
does not always allow It to be so. Field
hospital operations in the South African
war demonstrated that this delicate or
gan could be sewed up as others had
been, and since then it has been mas
saged. washed. cleaned. and pretty rough
" handled in order that its usefulness as
a life-giver might not be impaired. The
brain. that most delicate Of all organs,
has been pried into abeesses taken from
among its convolutions. and even diseased
parts OF it removed successfully.
Western man who had his skull tre-
pinned after A long period of epilepsy,
for which a blood clot was removed, had
a silver plate set in the top of his head.
and was accused Of lifting this before a
mirror TO assure himself at intervals that
his brains were still all there.
Not long ago in London man suffering
from insanity was operated on. An eX-
cess of corebro-spinal fluid was drawn
from his brain, where it had intersered
with the proper functions Of the arteries,
and as a result. reason was happily re-
stored Skin grating has been tried
with extraordinary success in many in
stances. There is an old theory that If
One-third OF the body Is burned,
death must follow, because the skin will
not have the power TO reproduce so great
an amount of itself A factory girl who
was terribly scalded in an explosion. and
who had One-third of her skin removed,
was saved by a process OF skin-gTafting,
each of her associates giving a square
inch Of skin from her thigh 10 help save
her comrades life. Another incident of
like gravity. brought out the possibilities
of grating skin from frogs on the burn
ed surface. A girl accidentally scalped
by machinery in a factory was success
fully treated by hair-grafting in the same
way.
A young lawyer in Muncie. Ind, has
the distinction Of being the only man in
this country whose head is Joined to his
shoulders by silver wire. From childhood
he suffered from white abcesses Of the
spine, and in removing the last Of these.
a surgeon Of Glasgow, Scotland, found It
necessary to cut a muscle. This he re-
paired with silver wire. Later part of
the breast bone was also removed, and
this young man has also a silver plate
taking the place OF that needed mem
Der. A Philadelphia hospital last spring
had as q patient an old man with a
broken back, and as a last resort the
splintered spine was removed and a sll-
yer plate substituted. A crippled girl OF
Lehigh County. Pa, was dropped
by her nurse, with the result that
her neck was dislocated. One day when
the pain of a headache was almost intol-
~. h. urfvF h.v fp
it between her hands. and accidentally
snapped the neck back into place She
began TO get well and could soon walk
about.
Unusual accidents are often the cause
OF queer disease. A Florence On. j. girl
laughed so merrily at a story that she
could not stop. She laughed for eight
hours, despite the efforts Of six physi-
clans 10 stop her, and when she was I'm
ally cured. didn't remember a thing
about it, A pretty telephone girl in
Cleveland. Ohio, yawned too widely one
morning and dislocated her jaw, with the
result that she had to be hurried of 10
the hospital and have It reset before
she could tell how it happened. A Den
yer girl had q worse result from a sim
liar early morning yawn. She threw her
head back as she yawned, and dislocated
ing hospital physicians, and she Tecov-
cred.
The travels Of needles IN the human
body cause some of the queerest cases
that surgeons have 10 contend with. A
Hart County Ky) man swallowed a
needle when chewing sassafras bark for
ty years ago. Recently a pricking sen
sation in his head revealed a needle
point protruding The needle had been
travelling about in his body since his boy
hood days. when he ate the sassafras. A
needle which entered the arm Of Wilkes
barre (Pa.) woman some years ago was
afterward removed from the wall Of her
stomach. A Connecticut girl holds the
record for long travel in the needle line.
as one which entered her foot came out
OF her ear many years after. New York
has a woman patient that circuIates
around among the hospitals because of
her uncontrolled prosensity TO eat needles
by the paperful AS the needles scatter
around in her neck. arms, legs, and even
close 20 her heart, the fad is accounted
d dangerous one. and she has been put
under bond to reform, for a while. al
least, uAlh tne surgeons ana tne Array
machines can have a breathing spell.
Accidents have made several remark
able cures. A blind minister Of Balti-
more. who had lost his sight twenty-five
years ago. fell face down on the Ice last
winter, 70 find when he had recovered
from the shock that his eyesight had
been restored. A soldier who was wound
ed on the head at Gettysburg remember
ed nothing after that time. though all
events up to that fatefuI day remained