Walker Lake bulletin. (Hawthorne, Nev.) 1883-1926, 1912-06-11
TRANSPLANT DEAD EYE
haAFTiNo OF coRNgA RESTORES
eight TO FRENCH BOY.
luoosssfui Experiment Marks Epoch
In Ocular Surgery = Diseases
That Distress Some Serve to
Give Relief to others.

Psrfs.-By slow but sure stepi
science and human skill are widening
he boundaries Of the possible, and In
10 department Of beneficent activity
8 this progress more apparent than
n the domain of surgery. Not 80
ong ago the chief aim Of operative
surgery was tho removal Of dam
lged limb or the extirpation Of a
malignant growth. Then came what
nay, without irreverent presump-
don, be styled creative surgery, when
he object was restoration instead Of
destruction, when skin could be
rafted, a severed nerve spliced and
pven a damaged or useless organ
repaired or replaced by a healthy
,ne. II has remained for a 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 the experiment Of grating a
human cornea, kept In a state OF
Ilackened vitality, upon the eye of a
roung man whose sight had been
practically destroyed by lime. Numer
,us experiments had been previous
y made with corneas OF animal orig
n. but they had all failed to give
he desired result DR.. Magitot made
lis daring attempt--and succeeded
The transparent cornea Of the eye
b one Of the most delicate Of all the
organic tissues. Very soon after
Heath 1t becomes Opaque. But by
placing It in certain conditions as to
.milieu" and temperature scientists
lave succeeded in preserving 1t In a
healthy condition-that is to say,
llive-for several days. This discov-
,ry of the possibility of preservation
IF the cornea is doubtless destined
% render incalculable services to suf-
'ering humanity.
At the Academy OF Sciences Pro-
'essor Dastre performed the pleas
ng duty of describing the results Of
DR.. Magitot's operation. A boy fif-
zen years old had almost lost sight
n ore eye In consequence Of burn
rom hot lime. An Opaque film en-
1rely covered the cornea so that 1t
became impossible for the rays of
light to make even the faintest i'm
preston on the retina.
Seven months ago DR.. Magitot cut
| small rectangular window" In the
diseased cornea, and In this he in
serted a fragment of transparent
Issue, obtained from an unfortunate
patient who had lost his sight
through another eye disease, that of
ylaucoma, but whose cornea re-
NAMED intact. 1t had, however, to
,e removed owing to the pain which
I caused him. Thus, what on one
land constituted relief for one pa
lent became a means Of remedying
he infirmity Of another.
"The adherence Of the tissues"
said NJ. Dastre, was complete in
eight days. A transparent window
had been placed in the Opaque wall.
few weeks later the bandages were
removed and the young man was
lble to see suf1ciently to walk about
without assistance.
For seven months this condition
II things has persisted. and the sight
If the damaged eye has reached one
enth of the normal. which is enough
70 enable him to see and move about.
These facts" NJ Dastre continued,
are in accordance with those pre-
yented TO the Biological Society by
the learned French surgeon, Alexis
carel. OF the Rockefeller Institute,
Of New York, on the possibility of
preserving living tissues outside the
human organism and afterwards
Eransplanting them on other living
organisms. Received with much re-
serve and amidst general incredible
ty, these statements have now been.
1t least. partially confirmed"