The Salt Lake tribune. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1890-current, 1912-11-08
DIR. CARREL'S WORK.

1t has been announced heretofore that
DR.. Alexis Carrel has this year received
the Nobel prize for achievements in
surgery. The dispatches announcing
this award have stated in a general way
that DR.. Carrel has made the most i'm
portant demonstrations ever known in
the matter of transplanting vital or.
gans and of sutures in veins and arter-
les. We find in the New York Tribune
concise and yet comprehensive expla-
nation of the work which Dr. Carrcl has
done, and on account of the interest in
IT, we reproduce that account as fol-
lows:
The work OF DR., Carrel this years
Nobel prize winner in medicine and sur
authority in The Lancet" OF London,
although II Is frankly confessed that in
England much less is known OF il than
might be desired: He is recognized as
which the epoChal achievements of Lis
ter opened 10 the world and as having
accomplished that which has already
bestowed benefit upon the human race
and which will continue hereafter to be-
stow more. Much OF his work is, Of
course, too technical FOR lay understand
ing, but some OF its fundamental fea-
lures Will appeal TO every intelligent
mind.
His first important demonstrations
were in the surgery OF the vascular sys-
tenn. II had been supposed TO be impos-
siole 10 sew or otherwise TO Join the ends
Of severed vein or artery, or even to
close with a suture a cut or puncture in
the side OF one. but to be necessary 10
employ liSament Less than ten years
ago ii was argued before surgical socle-
ties that any attempt To sew together
the cut ends OF a blood vessel was doomed
10 failure. Dr. Carrel successfully DEM
onstrated the entire practlcabliity OF The
operation. however; the requisite condi-
tions being perfect asepsis and skllful
and sufficiently delicate technique From
that he proceeded 10 demonstrate the
practicab'lity Of replacing an injured OF
lost section OF an artery or vein with a
piece OF another vessel and this remark >
able operation is now fully recognized in
practice.
The practicability Of thus transplanting
portions OF the vascular system sug-
gested TO him next the possibility of per
forming the same marvellous process with
other organs, and his experiments In
that direction met with gratifying sue
cess. Several OF the vital organs. espe-
cially the kidneys, have thus been trans
plated from one animal to another OF the
same species, and they have been ac-
cepted by their new environments and
functions as perfectly as though they
had always belonged there. In addition
IL has been shown that a section OF a
blood vessel may 0e removed from one
animal, be Kept for some days or even
weeks In cold storage and then be sue.
cessfully implanted la another animal
even In one OF another species and ir
another part Of the circulatoTy system.
Thus. a piece OF vein may he taken
from the BODY OF dog be kent In stor-
age for week and then be inserted a n
part Of an artery IN a cat. In the cases
In which these operations have been per
formed upon human subjects "A success
at least equal to that In tho case OF AMI
mails has been attained. The possibili-
tics OF such practice. Ia the elimination
OF diseased or injured tissues and or
Cans and the replacing OF them with
sound ones. arc great beyond the reach
% speculation and they abundantIv pro-
claim their discovercr Il benefactor OF
the race.