The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1909-03-30

lately, when a large crtery or d large
VEN was wounded, our only remedy
was to cut down upon the blood vessel
and tie 1t above and below the wound.
II 1T were an artery leading to the
arm, and still more if it were one
leading to the leg, as the principal
supply Of blood was cut off, gangrene
was a very common result. .
In case Of aneurysm, a disease in
which the walls Of the artery become
weakened at a certain point. bulge,
and finally rupture, producing death
till recently, as in the case Of a wound,
our only resource was to cut down
upon the arter.r and tie it. Here again
the chief danger was gangrene. In
the treatment OF aneurysm, Matas OF
New Orleans has made the greatest
Improvement from the days of John
Hunter, over a century ago. Instead
OF tying the artery above the aneurySm
and arrastinS the current Of blood in
the artery, he opens the sac Chat is,
the dilated portion of the artery or
aneurysm), and. if 1 may SO describe
it, sews~the wall Of the sac together
on the inside. leaving, however, a
small tunnel through which the circu-
lation is continued.
Il am old enough perhaps without
reproach to relate the following per-
SOna1 incident: While writing this
paper a friend gave me the journal
vi Aoop1ihS ~ 4CVC. o1
page 2 l foundi in an editorial note on
a large gift by it's founder to the
Rockefeller Institute the following:
But the gift only famed into fury
the opposition OF women to expert
ments on living animals. no matter
how great the anticipated benefit.
Three days later. between noon and
bedtime. l happened to meet four
former patients, ali of whom thanked
me warmly for having saved their
lives. Three of these four patients
owed tneir lives chiefly to the knowl-
edge derived from experiments upon
animals. No further comment need
be made on those cruel words-no
matter how great the anticipated
benefit. With a thrill of delight /
fervently thanked God for what mod
ern surgery could do.
BY their fruits We shall know
them. Look at the following start
which could easily be more than
doubled:
"1.) They have discovered antisep-
tic e and SO made possible the
wonderful results of modern urgery.
To complete his beneficent work, Lord
Lister was compelled to go to France
by reason of the strinSency Of the
English antivlvisection laws.
"(2.) They have made possible prac-
tically all modern abdominal surgery,
including operations on the stomach,
intestines. liver. gall, bladder pancreas,
spleen. Kidneys, etc.
"(3.) They have made possible all
the modern urgery Of the brain.
"(4.) They have demonstrated how
lockjaw spreads from the wound:
how sometimes it can be arrested and
cured; and, still better. how it can be
prevented, SO that practically tetanus
has been banished from surgical OPP
erations.
"(5.) They have reduced the death
rate in compound fractures from 65
per cent to less tina / per cent.
90 They have reduced the NOR
tally Of OVariOtOmy from two out Of
three to two or three out Of one hun
dred.
"C7) They have abolished yellow
fever.
; "(S.) They have made possible the
cure of nearly all cases of hydrophobia.
"(9.) they nave cut down the NOR
tality Of diphtlleria in New York city
5 alone from 13S deaths per 100, 900 in
1894 to 3S per 100000 in 1905. and
t practically the same story is told all
, over the world.
; 90, BY the use of the serum re-
Gently discovered by Flexner at the
4 Rockefeller Institute they have
changed the mortality in cerebrO-
spinal meningitis from IS per cent and
f even 80 per cent to so per cent Or
less.
: .f"11.) They have shown the cause OF
: acute tetany alter operation for gOiter,
so that it now can be prevented.
2 "G2.) They have almost complete
] 1y abolished the dangers of maternity,
l reducing it's death rate from ten or
! more mothers out of every hundred
2 to less than one III every hundred.
? OBJ They have shown the cause
and the method of propagation and
: of prevention of the deadly malaria
1 which devastates whole regions and
I armies. It's extinction is only a mat
2 ter of time.