Pierre weekly free press. (Pierre, S.D.) 1889-19??, 1915-12-09
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.

~ F0xZicUsr
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
eases 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 a 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 a
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
end laugh and run backward and for
ward and hold their arms I'D above
their heads like normal children.
One Of the children, a boy, who be-
fore the operation couldn't walk or talk
intelligibly, now goes seven blocks to
school twice a day.
One little child that formerly was
always huddled up, with it's head bent
down almost to it's feet, trotted proud
" before the surgeons, some Of whom
stood on chairs in order to get a better
view.
In none of the cases shown ut the
meeting had there been any conyul-
sions or backward symptoms since the
use Of the knife. Out Of over 10 op-
erati0ns, according to the Polytechnic
professor, there were only twelve
deaths, and there We're special reasons
to account for them, including ex-
treme emaciation in a number Of in
stances when the skull was cut open.
One OF the children was a boy of
twelve, who, from being a helpless
paralytic, had been taught by DR.. Bess
NJ. MenSendieck to use one muscle aft
er another until he has finally got al
most as much control over himself as
a professional athlete. The process of
teaching him went on daily for more
than six months.
The boy was stripped, and then on
q mat he went through practically all
the contortions of>a wrestler, bending
his body Backward, forward, sideways.
twisting his trunk, raising his arms.
ticking his legs and rising from the
mat by the use only Of his leg muscles.
DR.. Alfred S. Taylor showed two
young men who had been restored to
health by opening their backs and re-
moving spinal cord tumors.
DR.. G: Burns Craig, who served with
the American ambulance service in
Paris, told Of the injuries to the periph-
eral + produced by modern war
fare.
Few soldiers survive bayonet wounds,
added Or. Craig. They die either from
shock or loss of blood.
H9srZHM-N