The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1912-06-20
TRANSPLANT DEADEYE
GRATING OF cORNEA RESTORES
SIGHT TO FRENCH BOY.
Successful Experiment Marks Epoch
In Ocular Surgery - Diseases
That Distress Some Serve to
Give Relief to Others.

Parsley slow but sure steps
science and human skill are widening
the boundaries of the possible, and IN
no department of beneficent activity
is this progress more apparent IMAM
in the domain of surgery. Not so
long ago the chief aim Of operative
surgery was the removal of a dam
aged limb or the extirpatiOn of
malignant growth. Then came what
may, without irreverent preeump-
ton. be styled creative surgery, When
the object was restoration instead OF
destruction, when skin could be
grated, severed nerve spliced and
even a damaged or useless organ
repaired or replaced by a healthy
one. It 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
human eornea, kept in a state OF
slackened vitality, upon the eye OF
young man whose sight had been
practically destroyed by lime. NumeT-
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 sttemVt-and sucoeeded.
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 10
"milieu" and temperature scientists
have succeeded in preserving 1t in
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 SUI
fering humanity.
At the Academy of Sciences Pro
fessor Dastre performed the pleas
ing duty Of describing the results OF
DR.. Magitot's operation. boy If
teen years old had almost lost sight
in one eye in consequence of 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 a fragment of transparent
tissue, obtained from an unfortunate
patient who had lost his s4ght
through another eve disease. that OF
glaucoma, but whose oornea re-
manned intact 1t had however, to
be removed, owing to the pain which
it caused him. Thus. what on one
hand constituted relief for one pa
tient became a means Of remedyiDg
the infrmity 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.
A few weeks later the bapdages 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" NJ. Dastre continued,
''are in accordance with those pre-
scented 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
ity, these statements have now been,
at least, partially confirmed"