MODERN SURGERY.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXII, Issue 87, 11 April 1912, Page 8

MODERN SURGERY.

, .f.mr- t(|h , . 5 THE FAMOUS MAYO BROTHERS

'Hniang his stay in America, Dr. HoA; of Invercargill, made his way to Rochester, Minnesota,, and spent ten Java in the famous surgery of the Mayo Brother, where many surgical ‘ foal's haVFhfedh performed,.: . Talking to a Southland Times reporter. Dr Ho rg gave an interesting sketch oi the /"methods, adopted by this great school of ' Science.. There’are two brothers—William J. Mayo and Chas. Mayo. A New Zealander, Dr Hogg states, commands some interest in America, and he had the opportunity of hatching the magnificent system which prevails in the Mayo surgery, and the whole success of the group of specialists, he says, is duo to system more than to skill of the individual members. There are probably more clever surgeons than those with the Mayc Brothers, but- the examination and control of patients is worked so admirably that the most thorough work in ‘the world is accomplished.

As an instance, Dr Hors Rave an outline of a patient’s movements in the surgery. If -be wore suffering from some- obscure disease which needed surgical attention, lie first claimed the attention" of a secretary, who noted the symptoms and made a general verbal examination. This officer then passed on the patient to the doctor of the institution who, in his opinion, would treat the case most suitably, ■'but the doctor might not feel satis-: >,£od, and the patient would be passed ■on to another, so that he might be passed through the hands of a dozen skilled scientists before a complete diagnosis was obtained. If the pa--1 tient needed hospital treatment he was sent to St. Mary’s private hospital, providing some two hundred bods, and perfectly managed _ by a section, of the Roman Catholic Sisterhood. If he did not need hospital treatment, Rochester is almost wholly composed "of hotels and boardinghouses which cater for the patients of tho Mayo surgery, so great is the practice' of tho famous surgeons. The whole affairs of tho institution arc carried on in a most business-like Way. Connected with it is a surgeons’ club, formed for the sole purpose of making headquarters for the visiting doctors, for medeal men go from all parts of the world to watch tlie operations performed by the Mayo surgeons. While Dr Hogg was there a Persian, two Frenchmen, and a Russian were amongst the visitors. There are four operating rooms, and each is provided with a large gallery, from which the doctors watch the operations being carried out. In the early afternoon tho visitors assemble at the club, and hoar tho reports of two of their number who had previously beep appointed to take notes of the morning’s proceedings, and when it is stated that some twenty operations are performed every morning of tho week, the magnitude and fame of the institution can he well imagined. 'When these reports have been discussed, a lecture is given by one of the Mayo surgeons, and ait other lecture by yet another member of the Mayo group is delivered every evening", so that besides being a great j surgery, the institution is a school, iu which the very latest in all branches of surgical skill can lie learned. The privilege of standing on the floor of the rooms close by the operating tables was granted Dr Hogg, who was very much impressed by the great work the Mayo group of surgeons are doing.