The Leavenworth echo. [volume] (Leavenworth, Wash.) 1904-current, 1915-12-03
BRAIN SURGERY
CURES TWELVE
Exhibition Shows Wonders Of
Modern Operations.
PARALYTIC BOY ATHLETE.

Lad Goes Through Feats to Delight of
New York Doctors-Some of the Vic
Tins Resorted to Use of Faculties
When cysts Were Removed From the
Brain-Symptoms Puzzled.
New York.-A dozen children were
exhibited recently as wonders Of mod
ern brain surgery at the Academy of
Medicine at a joint session with the
New York Neurological society.
The heads of most of them had been
cut open, some ON one side only, some
on both sides, by DR.. William Sharpe
and his assistants at Polytechnic hos
pital.
The children, who ranged in age
from two to twelve years, had suffered
from spasmodic paralysis, due to hem
orrhage inside the skull. In many
cases they had been seized with con-
vulsions soon after birth. In a num-
Der of instances the paralysis was not
much noticeable until eight months or
so after birth.
In cutting into the heads of large
proportion of the cases the surgeon
found cysts, which had to be removed.
Sometimes the symptoms had been
puzzling, and In every case where
hemorrhage was suspected as the
cause of the symptoms the eye signs
were investigated, and an examina-
ton was made of the spinal fluid to
corroborate the diagnosis.
Little ones who before the knife ex-
plored their skulls were incapable of
speech or even of locomotion or move
ments Of the arms were able to talk
and laugh and run backward and for
ward and hold their arms up above
their heads like normal children.
One of the children, boy, who be-
fore the operation couldn't walk or talk
intelligibly, now goes seven blocks to
school twice day.
One little child that formerly was
always huddled up, with its head bent
down almost to its feet, trotted proud
ly before the surgeons, some Of whom
stood on chairs in order to get better
view.
In none of the cases shown at the
meeting had there been any conyul-
sions or backward symptoms since the
use of the knife. Out of over ITO OPP
erations, according to the Polytechnic
professor, there were only twelve
deaths, and there were special reasons
to account for them, including ex-
IRENE emaciation in number of in
stances when the skull was cut open.
One of the children was a boy of
twelve, who, from being helpless
paralytic. had been taught by DR.. Bess
M. Mensendieck to use one muscle aft
er another until he has finally got al
most as much control over himself as
professional athlete The process of
teaching him went on daily for more
than six months.
The boy was stripped. and then on
mat he went through practically all
the contOrtions of wrestler, bending
his body backward, forward, sideways.
twisting his trunk, raising his arms,
fexing his legs and rising from the
mat by the use only of his leg muscles.
DIR. Alfred S. Taylor showed two
young men who had been restored to
health by opening their backs and re-
moving spinal cord tumors.
DIR. G. Burns Craig, who served with
the American ambulance service in
Paris, told of the injuries to the periph-
eral nerves produced by modern war
fare.
Few soldiers survive bayonet wounds,
added DR.. Craig. They die either from
shock or loss of blood.