The Washington times., 1915-01-05
Copyright, l1lj. b

~ rs Drm as steel, anu, aCCCTuiuS
~ to Tn ingenious and triumphant
operation Just successfully per-
FORMED upon the heart of a German Of
ilcer. tho poetic sentiment seems sup
ported by the facts.
Prof. a. T. Jurasz, noted Prussian
..urgeon OF Berlin, has just reported
from tho front an unprecedented feat Of
surgical adroitness and proficiency un-
approached hitherto by any operation
on the heart or any other delicate hui
man structure.
It seems that the victim who came
urgently under his care was shot In
such o fashion that the bullet made u
zigZag journey through the most vital
chamber Of the lower story Of the heart
the left vcntricle. While it is true that
operations have upon several previous
occasion beer performed. with more or
less success. upon the heart. few. II any.
nf these penetrated the magazine proper
'of tho hoart That is to say, none Of
these opened a ragged. rough gap into
the cavern where the rich. rushing
BLOOD collects for q moment seventy-two
times minute.
A Muscle Lesson.
\ few instances. indeed. have occurred
in which a clean, smooth. needle-like
blade has perforated tho heart but
never before has roush-hewn wound
been made in 1t only to be happily re-
aired BY a clever surgeon.
The marvel of Prof. JurasEs tech
l,ique depended for its success upon a
i.art. namely. that the muscles In bc-
tween the ribs were by no means as dis
tantiy related to the heart muscles as
amateur anatonists have always
taught.
1t may be remembered that animal
tissues are made up Of three separate
and distinct varieties Of muscle. There
~ smooth. elastic type Of muscle. over
This is commonly spread thrugh the
arteries. the stomach. the intestincs,
There is, also. tho widely distributed
city Of musculature. examples of which
are you biccps, your hamstrinG. wrist,
neck, head. and all the muscles ever
which you have control. and by whici,
you gain knowledge of the outside
world. Force. seizure. weight, resist
Ancc. recosniton--oftcn confused with
= the sense Of feeling. but All entirely diff
ferent muscular sense-are all depend
"nt upon these large bundles Of hesh
called voluntary muscles
Repairing Injured Hearts.
For the noncc, 1t has usually been
considered that tho luuscle-likc fibree
which inclosc the torso, which strctct,
between the ribs and on the bias. arc
also voluntary muscles. Indeed. no one
has yet discovered any anatomical dtf-
ferences. yct pEySiologically it must be
admitted that no man can expand any
particular bctwccn-rib muscle at his
own pleasure.
To mako long and valuable medical
lesson short, 1t may be said that the
holes where the bullet entered and
emerged from this patients heart wero
stitched promptly together. but ono OF
them was SO large, irregular and Jagged
that the stitches would not hold. What
then did this ingenious surgeon do but
rapidly snip out q piece OF otherwise
useless inter-rib muscle from nearby,
and hastily sew it into and over the
ruptured hole of the heart!
The hemorrhage was arrested at once
Tho sack Of the heart was rinsed clean
until all clots were washed out, this
wound and one in the lung were stimuli
taneously repaired, and In two weeks
tho half a degree Of fever-which was
all that he ever had--also disappeared
To be sure, he was kept in the hog