The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1908-07-01
OPERATE ON THE LUNGS
Remarkable Operation Recently Per.
formed by a Surgeon in New York.

New York, June 25.-An expert
ment which cost a dogs life was per-
formed at the Rockefeller Institute
last Monday.
Among the results may be the
saving Of many human lives in this
| country.
Hy reason Of the civil war and the
number Of men therein wounded, the
United States gave to the world
many opportunities for the advance
ment OF surgery, but nowadays Amer
lea is again going to Europe for
many Of the newest developments in
the science. and it was from Europe
that the men came who operated at
the Rockefeller Institute. The opera.
ton on the dog, which was for the
purpose OF demonstrating the possibl.
tiles Of new method Of surgery de.
vised in Germany. was performed IN
the presence Of considerable group
of physicians and surgeons Of New
York, who were very much interested
In the demonstration.
| Briefly, the purpose Of the new
method is to enable operations in the
chest cavity. Operations within the
area Of the chest have been beyond
the skill Of the surgeons, in large
part. for the reason that the opening
of the chest cavity sufficiently for
free operation work resulted in col
lapse Of the lungs from the atmos-
pheric pressure.
The patient died for want of breath.
For years the profession has studied
how best to narcotize the human pa
tient when 1t was desirable to operate
on the chest.
DR., Ernst sauerbruch, professor Of
surgery at Marburg University. Ger
many. devised a method to this end,
and early last week he arrived in
New York to demonstrate at the
Rockefeller Institute He brought
with him an assistant and a cageIike
operating room, built largely of glass,
which Is the essential vehicle Of his
operations. He remained in New
York only a week and departed for
Germany on Saturday.
The operating room, or glass cage,
in which Prof. Sauerbruch works, is
about four or five feet square and
not qnite high enough for a six foot
man to stand upright in it.
DR.. Meltzer. in talking Of the DEM
onstration today said that no pressure,
as the doctors call 1t, Is necessary for
the function Of breathing in men and
other animals. In other words, a
pressure less than the normal pres
sure Of the atmosphere from which
the lungs are nominally protected by
the walls Of the chest. In studying
the problem, DR.. Sauerbruch evolved
the idea of glass inclosed operating
chamber, enabling the production of
a partial vacuum, yet permitting sufi-
cient air for the operators to live and
work in it.
The normal atmosphere pressure
being 760 millimeters, DR.. Sauerbruch
found that dimunition Of eight or
ten millimeters was sufficient for his
purposes; that with the air pressure
reduced to that degree. the lungs of
animals could continue their function,
though unprotected by their natural
shields. In his operation chamber the
air is so reduced. The pressure is
| kept down by an exhaust pump,
which Is constantly working and
| new supply Of fresh air is admitted
under control all the time, passing
into the chamber through a wash bot
tie, or filter. The operators and body
Of the patient. or subject, except the
head. are thus in a field Of purified,
diluted air. The head Of the patient,
or subject protrudes through q hole
in the chamber wall into a normal
| atmosphere. rubber guard closing
the aperture between the patients
neck and the perimeter Of the wall
opening. So the patient is breathing
normal air all the time. and so is the
assistant who admisiters the anes-
thetic.
Under those condidtions. Dr. Sauer-
bruch found that the chest could be
opened without a collapse Of the
lungs The discovery, therefore, en-
ables operations in desperate cases
on the lungs. or, for example, in can
Ger Of the esophagus. which heretofore
has been inaccessible to the surgeon,
because as soon as the throax was
ODened the lungs cOllaDsed