Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1921-12-02
SURGERY ADVANCING
Many Amazing FeatS Are Now Per-
formed.
EYES MAY YET Be GRATED is BELIEF


Great improvement Has Been Made In
Artificial Limbs-Bandages Are Be-
ing Discarded in Treating Wounds
Surgical advances as the result of
the great war will he comparativly as
great as it was after the American
Civil war and the Franco German
struggle. That seems now to be sure.
For one example the Carrel- -Dakin
treatment for wounds, which kept
them during the war in several Paris
fluid. open and unbound, while healing,
has been proved and now is accepted
by the medical and surgical profession
here rs vast step in advance Of the
old method OF bandaging and airlcss
healing.
Much larger surfaces can be treated
in this way than could be by the old
Incthods. One amputation, due to
burns which, in connection with the
burns, left an area of more than three
square feet of flesh quite bare of skin
or other protection has healed perfect
ly. ! am told, under this treatment,
without any bandaging whatever and
in less than half the time estimated
as likely to be necessary for it's re-
covcry.
fn pnDipN-prnnpt thnrnfnrn @
distinguished French surgeon DR..
Alexis Carrel, who was given his great
chance by the Rockefeller Institute in
New York, is likely to be of vast i'm
portancc to humanity, not only in the
case Of another war but in instances
of industrial accidents, street injuries,
etc.
Wonderful Artificial Limbs.
Notable in another way has been the
advance which for time was doubted
but now seems generally to be ac-
knowlcdgcd made in Italy in the'con-
struction of artificial limbs. The in
Ccnious creator of this scheme COM
bincs the arts Of surgery and mechan-
les for the benefit of manned men in
such q way that perhaps it may be
POSSIBLE for n man who has lost his
hand or hands, for instance, to move
all the artificial fingers which will be
supplied to him, at will, through an ef-
fort of the brain and with them to
catch hold of objects, point, and so on,
almost il not quite as we'll as he was
able to before he lost his arms.
This ingenious plan entails special
operation at the time OF amputation. BY
this operation the muscles which con-
trol the thumbs, fingers, etc, are left
protuberant from the stump and
formed into loops. AS the wound of
the operation heals these muscle loops
are hardened and made unsusccptible
to scrsitiveness.
Fingers and Thumbs Work.
The new Italian artificial limb has
fingers, thumbs. etc, so arranged that
they can be hooked up with these mus
tlt loops ny Gurus. iHuH 'hS "S"'N'
of the limb who has control over the
muscle loops by means OF his nerves
which are the subjects of his brain,
quite as he has always controlled the
muscles, finds them again connected
with fingers. thumbs, etc, even though
these be but artificial substitutes.
Thus. by an effort of the will, he Is
enabled to grasp things, open and shut
his hand, bend specific fingers, and
perform other movements Of his artifi-
cial limb in such away as to make 1t
almost as complete and perfect Il SER
want Of his brain as the old, natural
hand once was.
Can Eyes be Grated?
Tia! is sufficiently wonderful for
one days writing, but it is by no
means the most wonderful thing which
has been or is being developed by the
cyaorts in surgery who have been
rrcatrI~hy the tremendous need and
the plcatiful practice which the war
SHnpll'u.
The most pitiful Of all victims Of
the war were those VINO lost their
sight through it, and there were many
thousands; of thcm--arc, indeed; they
ma, he seen in sorry groups in the
various homes which have been cs-
lablishcd for them in all the warning
countries and will he seen in evidence
upun the street in any stroll which ono
may wish to make anywhcfc in Eu-
rope.
Nll sorts OF splendid efforts have
been mad" 10 render somewhat more
tolrrablr than otherwise they might be
the lives Of thc"c unfOrtunates, but
uow comes along an announcement
which one must mention almost with
na,vd breath. being careful that 1t
DOES not get 10 the minds of any blind
luiI< until it has been proved out, be-
caus, il might rouse in burdcned hearts
bones which if it should prove inef-