Science.

Alexandra Herald and Central Otago Gazette, Issue 411, 31 March 1904, Page 7

Science.

SURGICAL OPERATIONS. SjFgHKLTH the advance made of lata fflußxfp, years in scientific knowledge, surgical operations that once would have seemed incredible have become not only possible, but cornmon. In the medical profession Bkin grafting, delicate operations upon the brain, and the opening of the stomach base become ordinary experiences, while from other of wounds in the heart i'tseif being sewn ~ugr~-SFa-3IiU. bourne there are a number of interesting cases on record. Attention has been directed to such work by the publication of accounts of two operations successfully performed by twe of the senior surgeons at the Melbourne Hospital. It will be remembered that in the first case anew scalp made from the skin of a kid, was provided for a girl of fifteen, named May Jones, who had her own torn off by machinery. The patient and the kid were taken into the operating room together and put under chloroform. Sufficient skin was taken from the kid to replace the scalp, and the operation being successful, the girl's life was saved. Subsequently the new scalp became covered with a downy growth of dark hair—the hair of a kid—but the girl's own hair, having been saved, ehe was able to cover this, and, therefore, suffer little inconvenience from the substituted scalp. The other case was that ia which a man was provided with a new nose with flesh taken from the patient's own body. The nose had wasted away, owing to a disease. The surgeon cut two deeply indeed sections of iiviag tissue from the man's forehead, leaving them adhering just between the eyebrows. He brought them down, forming the two sections of the nose, joined down the centre, and moulded into shape, forming nostrils. The operation was successful, and the man has a nose which answers all purposes, although it has no bony bridge. Then, too, in the hospital there was a patient who bad lost an eyebrow, and who had grafted on the eyebrow of another fellow creature, who had to have his off because of a wart. Some singular oases have been dealt with at the Alfred Hospital. A butler, who three months previously had swallowed his false teeth, went to the institution. He had shrunk from having anything done all that time, but at last could bear the pain ho longer. The plate had fixed in h'.s gullet, but at the part where the wind pipe bifurcates. He suffered from a cough and some difficulty in breathing. The hook of the plate had worked its way into the trachea, and he began to spit blood, and the difficulty

! in breathing became mora pronounced. As the plate was a vulcanite one 16 did sot show very well when the X-rays were E laced upon it, and there was a i locating it The passage of a tube down the throat also failed to place it, aa the tube slipped over the smooth vulcanite. The patient was then put under chloroform, his stomach was opened end the tube was entered up through the stomach and through the gullet until the operator felt the tapping against the place where the teeth were hanging by the hook. The man was opened up on the side of the neck and the plate removed. He made a complete recovery. In another case a boy 8 yearejofi age had a hydatid in the brain. He lived with his parents at Ararat, and was always healthy until he was 5 jears old. Then he was suddenly attacked by a pain in the left side of the head, accompanied by vomiting and giddiaesß. Medic&l advice was sought. He was at first treated for neuralgia. He then had a fit, and on coming round it-was discovered that he was paralysed down his right side, and was quite blind. He was also deaf on tba left side. This continued for three weeks, when his sight returned His parents took him to Melbourne, and he was treated at the Alfred Hospital. It was found that he had constantly drunk water from a river which was close to the house, and 'from which dogs and other animals used to drink. He was placed under chloroform and a V-shaped insertion was made down to the bone. The bone was then sawn out, when a large hydatid cyst showed itself. This was removed, and proved to be of the si 7.9 of a large hen's egg. The boy made an uainterrupted recovery He was able to take bis place *t school with other boys of his age, and is .>.ow assisting hia father ia the management of a sheep station. Another strange case was that of a girl «ged 17, who was t*ken to the hospital for a tumor in her stomach, The only particulars that could be got were that when < delirious during an attack of typhoid fever she used to pull her hair out and, put it into her mouth. When she recovered from the fever sbe continued this practice. She was placed under chloroform and her stomach opened, It was found to be filled with a large mass of hair, which had taken the exact shape of her stomach. This was removed, and. she made a complete recovery.