MAN WITH ARTIFICIAL SKULL

Hokitika Guardian, 11 January 1929, Page 1

MAN WITH ARTIFICIAL SKULL

WOXDEII FEAT OF SUROEKV. One of the most astounding cases in medical annals reached London recently from Canada. It is that of a man who has been discharged from hospital with an artificial skull, after he had been electrocuted and thought to be dead, writes the “ Daily Express.” Norman Douglas Ellis, of Toronto, was rendered unconscious by an electric shock two years ago. Doctors removed a large part, of the bone ol his skull, leaving liis brain exposed ilroin about an inch behind the hair line in front to about an inch, above the hair line at the base of the neck. 'Jo-day lie is alive and well, doing a ' man’s work and enjoying the best of health. Re was working in a power house beneath an exposed copper wire carrying electricity to the extent of .>1)1)0 horse power, which supplied tweiuyeight Ontario towns. Re was climbing a step ladder beside a horizontal row ol ■ iron pipes ; the ladder slipped, and he J stepped up on the pipes to keep 'from falling. This brought his head in contact with the wire. There was a blinding Hash as a miniature thunderbolt leaped -o loot to the (oiling and burned out a big porcelain insulator there. The nails in Ellis' shoes were welded to the iron pipe b\ the heat, and he was left suspended in mid-air. Fellow employees got him down and called a doctor. The twentyeight towns were plunged into darkness. The doctor pronounced F.llis dead. Hut the power-house workmen had been trained to employ resuscitation methods, always, alter an accident, no matter how hopeless the outlook. They did so: and, after .forty-five minutes, F.llis stirred, began to breathe, and regained consciousness. " Re wns taken to a hospital for treatment. At first it seemed that his trouble were over; then necrosis, or rotting of the lame tissue, set in in his skull. Finally, however, alter eleven months, the doctors were compelled to cut away piece of skull, approximately ten inches long and six inches wide, to save It is life. Drain specialists in attendance said that he would never be able to leave his bed. Skin from h.s ihigh was grafted over his exposed brain: lint there was no hone under il. With extreme care a mould of Ellis’ 1 head was taken. On it was eonsbruclcd something uuujue—a hakelite arti-

fit-ia! skull, light and strong. It was lilted into plate—and Ellis was liimseli again. A few weeks ago he lelt the hospital and returned to his job at the power house. The electricity left him slightly lame in one leg. and he uses a cane to walk, hut. otherwise he is as well a>ever.