SURGICAL OPERATION ON ONESELF.

King Country Chronicle, Volume VIII, Issue 698, 26 August 1914, Page 7

SURGICAL OPERATION ON ONESELF.

We have already told our readers of the marvellous effects of stoTaine, which, while leaving tka general senses alert, so aS»ets taa part of the body to be operated an t&at mo sensation of pain is felt wkile tka surgeon does his wwl. It is inspocted into the spine. Dr. Taaicoa elected to perform on himself aa operation affecting his lower extremities. He used rachi-strychno-Bto-vaine. His conclusions were as follows : The pain caused by the lumbar puncture is greater than that produced by c) subcutaneous injection, but it is decidedly less disagreeable than the sensations ex perienccd by many patients at the beginning of chloroform anaesthesia, in his case the local insensibility was ushered in by agreeable sensations, and passed off unconsciously. His intellectual faculties remained perfectly intact, and his consciousless was unaffected, the evident proof of this being his performance to comoletion of a delicate operation. All the body above the level of the lumber region remained free, th& movements of the hanis being unaffected. He proved the cfTici?ncy of the anaesthesia by being able to operate upon himself and to cut into his own flesh as if it had belonged to some one else. Not one disagreeable sensation was experienced, in spite of the circumstance that, operattn:* upon himself, he was obliged to maintain the sitting posture, and to reach for * instruments, wash his hands, etc; ..."'.