PRIMITIVE SURGERY.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1024, 13 January 1911, Page 8

PRIMITIVE SURGERY.

CONTRAST BETWEEN TWO OPERA- ; TIONS. The'wonderful progress made . in surgical science is well illustrated by the accounts of-.two operations which readied this journal last from the London Hospital and the other from the lonely island of Tristan da Cunha, in the South.Atlantic, 2000 miles west of Capo Town'. "'■ ' v ' The operation at the London Hospital .was carried out with great success by means of a novel, apparatus for wiring together the ends of a broken bone. The) instrument, which was invented by Professor Lambotti, of Paris, consists of a strong pliable.wire of softened .German silver,'on which a screw-thread has been cut. A-nut runs loosely on this thread. One surface of the, wiro for its last eight inches is flattened out so that' below the nut the wiro has one flat surface and one rounded.

."In wiring a broken .bone," one of the officials at the hospital explained, "tlio surgeon, after haying separated the soft- parts covering the fracture,, bends the flattened end of the wire into the shape of a button .hook, .the flatsurface beiiig. inside and the round threaded surface on the outside.-

"Slipping this hook under tho fragments he pulls the free end up towards him with a pair of, forceps, and then,, opposing. tho two flattened surfaces of the wiro, ho screws the nut down until tho loop thus made grasps tho bone'sufficiently tightly. Tho rest of the wiro abovo the nut is then cut off, and another, similar wire support- is placed round another section of 'tho break. ■.. "'"'With this instrument an oblique fractu.ro of tho thigh-bone.in a middleaged mail was wired in about.half the time jt usually, takes. .. An X-rays picture to-day shows.-that, tho bones are held, in .perfect position. . Instead .of being in. bed five or six weeks, as used to be customary before the days of wiring; this patient will probably in less than three weeks. The.wire-and tho hut, which, of course, are allowed to remain about the bone after , healing, give' no inconvenience in after life." The operation at Tristan da Cunha was carried out by.Mr. A. Eepello, who conducts tho.church services and performs other functions for the ninetynine inhabitants. 'Ho writes.:. "A' child was injured by a stone, coming down the hillside and falling upon her legs, breaking .both of theni, and mak-' ing four very bad wounds which got full of sand. I attended the child for. nearly three months, and I suppose it will be two more months before tho wounds aro healed.

"I was in great difficulty at first, as I had-to operate--on one of the feet, part of which 1 had to remove, including two toes. I havo no surgical instruments. AH I Jiad \yas a little cotton wool and a little lint, my instruments consisting of a "pair of scissors and a' pocket-knife. "But, thank Heaven, sho improved wonderfully. "If things were as they used to be, when a British warship periodically visited, the island, I should be. provided witli alt tho necessary things, but now we'have not that privilege. ljut' I bono better times are in store for us."— "Daily.Mail."