The Denison review. [volume] (Denison, Iowa) 1867-current, 1910-02-02

TT E was less than five years old and as he was
III carried into the operating room surgeons
IL of nationwide fame who looked felt
slight that the first stovaine operation they
were to witness should be young.
Jonnesco. the Roumanian, rubbed his hands to-
gether and stepped forward to the little night
shirted figure, patting the child on the shoulder
The boy smiled back gravely at the surgeon.
There brief glitter OF the hypodermc
needle; the point was pressed into the boys back,
low down on the spinal column, and the injection
had been accomplished in an instant The chlld
finched, but made no cutlery.
Two minutes later DR.. Virgil P. Gibney took hold
of the boys right foot and began cutting to rem
edy a case of infantle paralysis. Surgeons class
this as most painful operation. The leg was
crippled and useless Incisions were made around
the Achilles tendon stretch the foot. Under the
methods with which most of us are familiar, com
plete anesthesia is necessary to prevent move
ment by the patient and eliminate suffering
Fifty Skeptics Watching
q IFTY in the clinic room watched the boy,
i who was perfectly conscious, his face covered
by towel.
listeners caught their breath for the answer Mind
YOU they skeptics They didn't believe IN
spinal anesthesia. painless surgery'-with the
patient fully conscious Acceptance OF revolutlon-
airy changes in medicine and surgery is slower
than in almost any profession.
Il feel aw right" said the boy in childish
treble his voice muffled by the towel over his face
cit don't hurt at ALL feel fine!
be SO easy to give convincing proof at the outset
In twenty-five minutes the boys foot had been
bandaged and he had returned to cot ne
house surgeon removed the towel from the child's
face Fifty heads bent over to catch trace OF
pain in the fragile features. They found, instead
smile! 1t dramatic moment stovaine
had fulfilled the claims OF it's greatest exponent
There have been false ideas about the uses OF
stoyaine and incorrect impressions spread broad
cast about Jonnesco's connection with the admin
istratOn OF the drug.
How Operations Are Performed
n HE theory OF spinal anesthesia and the method
of procedure are simple and readily under
stood by layman as by physician. Cocaine, novo-
caine or novococane, scopolamin stovaine, or the
combination of stovane and strychna, local
anesthetics. That is, when dropped in the eye or
injected under the skin they deaden sensation in
comparatively small, circumscribed area, and tritt
ing operations may be performed without pain If
these are -ected directly into nerves, much more
extensive operations can be undertaken. But to
cut into the cavity of the abdomen to remove
tumors, to amputate limbs and forth more
general anesthesia must be Induced
Hence, DR.. Jonnesco injects these so-called local
anesthetcs directly into the spinal cavity. select
ing spots for the introduction OF the needle into
the inter-vertebral spaces. He is firmly of the
opinion that for convenience, safety and the elm
ination of subsequent untoward effects spinal an
and strychnia, is far superior for operative pur-
poses to the older method of general anesthesia
commonly employed by surgeons throughout the
world In this view he is strongly opposed by
many distinguished surgeons who have witnessed
his recent operations in America.
Spinal anesthesia discovered by eminent
New York neurologst, Dr. j. Leonard Corning.
nearly quarter of century ago. and the first
operation performed under the influence of spinal