Montgomery County sentinel. [volume] (Rockville, Md.) 1855-1974, 1955-01-06
Modern Hospitals GiUe Public
Faith in L1e-Sauing Surgery


the services of community
hospital such as Suburban Hos
pital for which a 100000 ex-
pansiOn fund is now in prog
RESI-.
After the young doctor got out
\ of his buggy and hitched his
horse to the post he walked into
the farmhouse with his little
black bag
The older doctor who had ask
ed him to assist in the operation
introduced him to the patient, ly-
ing in readiness on the large
kitchen table. The young doctor
took off his coat and rolled UP
his sleeves. He took the kettle
from the stove and poured hot
water into basin in the sink.
whats he doing?" the pa
tent asked.
"He'S washing his hands,"
explained the older doctor. "A
good idea. But 1 don't need to.
washed mine before left the
office"
This incident which took place
in a small Vermont town in 1894
was recently related by the
younger of the two doctors who
at "a is still practicing medicine.
He told the story to illustrate the
point that most of the benefits
of modern surgery, such as tech
niques which assure asepsis, are
comparatively new.
In the horse and buggy days of
medicine, little progress had been
made in applying the discoveries
of Pasteur, Lister and Koch to
the problem of preventing infec-
ton during and following opera
tons.
These scientists had proved
that heterogeneous transmitted
through the air were responsible
for diseases like erysipelas, pye-
miae and septicemia which often
followed surgery Young doctors
just out of medical school knew
the Importance of asepsis, but
most of the older ones had not
fully appreciated it.
Today, in modern hospitals
where everything thaet goes into
an operating room is steam-steril-
lied, where surgeons go through
the ritual of prolonged hand and
arm-washing before DOMINIC ster-
lie gloves, masks and gowns, the
risk of infection is reduced Writ
ually to zero. Walls of cleaning
tile and equipment of stainless
steel are a further aid to the
maintenance of absolute cleanli-
ness.
The science of surgery has
i, Travelled a long distance in the
first half of the twentieth cent
ury. With. the advance of surgi-
cal knowledge has come a mark
ed increase in the span of human
life.
One by one, several once mop
cradle and usually fatal diseases
have surrendered to the sure
knife aided by the kindly anes-
thetic. Parts of the human body,
such as lungs, heart and brain,
which generation ago were rare
ly entered by the surgeon, are
now opened and repaired.
While there were formerly a
few highly skilled surgeons, who
dared to enter the human skull,
it was chiefly for last-minute ex-
tremity operations on brain tu-
mors, or for trepanning in case
of injury. Today operations on
the brain have become relatively
frequent.
These innovations have, of
course, depended to a large ex-
tent on the marked development
in anesthetic methods. Pain dur
ing surgery was conquered by
inhalation Of ether as far back
as 1876, but only in comparative
ly recent years have several anes-
thetic gases, like ethylene and
syclopropane, and the new pain
dispelling drugs like avertin and
sodium pentothol, been discover
ed and developed each for its own
special use.
New anesthetics and surgical
techniques, together with rela-
lively new sulfa drugs aid peni-
cillin, helped us to emerge from
World War II with record 81
percent recovery from combat
wounds. These same miracles of
modern surgical methods are
sending civilian patients home
from the once-dreaded major"
operation with new health and
vigor for the years ahead.
One of the reasons for the