The Libby herald., 1912-06-27
TRANSPLANT DEAD EYE
GRATING OF coRNEA REeToREe
SIGHT TO FRENCH BOY.
Successful Experiment Marks Epoch
In Ocular Surgery - Diseases
That Distress Some Serve TO
Give Relief to Others.

Paris.-By slow but sure steps
science and human skill are widening
the boundaries Of the possible. and II
no department Of benelcent activity
is this progress more apparent than
in the domain Of surgery. Not %
long ago the chief aim Of operative
surgery was the removal Of q dam
aged limb or the extirpation Of q
malignant growth, Then came wha,
may, without irreverent presump
ton, be styled creative surgery. when
the object was restoration instead oi
destruction. when skin could be
grated, severed nerve spliced and
even a damaged or useless I organ
repaired or replaced by healthy
ono. It has remained for q clever
French ophthalmic surgeon to give
back sight to the blind. He has
been successful in one case only, but
what has been done once can be re.
peated.
Several months ago DR.. Magitot
made tho experiment Of grating a
human cornea, kept in . state Of
slackened vitality. upon the eye Of a
young man whose sight had been
practically destroyed by lime. Numer-
Gus experiments had been previous
ly made with corneas Of animal orig.
In, but they had all failed to give
the desired result. DR.. Magitot made
his daring atte4npt-and succeeded.
The transparent cornea Of the eye
is one Of the most delicate Of all the
organic tissues. Very soon after
death It becomes Opaque. But by
placing 1t in certain conditions as to
''milieu" and temperature scientists
have succeeded in preserving 1t in a
healthy condition-that Is to say.
alive-for several days. This discov.
cry Of the possibility Of preservation
of the cornea is doubtless destined
to render incalculable services to suf
fering humanity.
At the Academy Of Sciences Pro
fessor Dastre performed the pleas
ing duty Of describing the results OF
DR.. Magitot's operation. A boy fiji.
teen years old had almost lost sight
in one eye in consequence of a burn
from hot lime. An opaque film en-
tirely covered the cornea so that It
became impossible for the rays of
light to make even the faintest i'm.
preston on the retina.
Seven months ago DR.. Magitot cut
a small rectangular window" in the
diseased cornea, and in this he in.
serted fragment of transparent
tissue, obtained from an unfortunate
patient who had lost his sight
through another eye disease, that of
glaucoma, but whose cornea re-
manned intact. 1t had, however, to
be removed, owing to the pain which
1t caused him. Thus, what on one
hand constituted relief for one pa
tient became means Of remedying
the infirmity Of another.
"The adherence Of the tissues"
said M. Dastre, was complete in
eight days. A transparent window
had been placed in the opaque wall.
A few weeks later the bandages were
removed and the young man was
able to see sufficiently to walk about
without assistance
"For seven months this condition
of things has persisted, and the sight
Of the damaged eye has reached one.
tenth Of the normal, which is enough
to enable him to see and move about,
"These facts" M. Dastre continued,
"are in accordance with those pre-.
sented to the Biological Society by
the learned French surgeon, Alexis
Carrel, Of the Rockefeller Institute,
of New York, on the possibility OF
preserving living tissues outside the
human organism and afterwards
transp!anting them on other living
organisms. Received with much re-
serve and amidst general incredible.
tty, these statements have now been,
at least, partially confirmed"