HOW MANKIND IS MENDED.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIII, Issue 107, 13 August 1910, Page 9

HOW MANKIND IS MENDED.

CURRENT PROGRESS IN SURGERY. There is an undeniable fascination in the story of modern surgery, and there is material for many volumes in the progress of the surgeon's art during, say, the past decade. Howard Lilienthal, a skilled American surgeon, compresses some of its marvels into an article in the "Century," and from him we qoute: A German painter, about forty years old, was struck on the right side of his head, receiving a fracture of the skull. After operation, recovery followed in a few weeks; but the man was unable to speak or write. By drawings and diagrams, however, he showed that he understood the ordinary conversation, and was aware of his surroundings. From observations usual in such cases it was determined that the injury causing Ms disability was not in the neighborhood of the fracture, but was in the brain at a point under the left, or unbroken, side of the cranium. An operation for the exploration of the region known as the "speech-centre" was performed, the damaged place easily found and successfully treated.

'Exploratory operations are rapidly diminishing with the increasing facility with which we employ both new and old diagnostic aids. EXPLORING THE LUNGS. Killian, a surgeon of Freiburg, Germany, had devised a tube and electric light for the exploration of the air-pas-sages of the chest even far into the lung. Through this instrument delicate forceps may be manipulated, and objects which have been accidentally inhaled may be extracted. Some of us, no doubt, recall the sad case of the Rev. W. Bothwell, of Brooklyn, iwho; while holding a small cork between his teeth, was moved to laughter by a little child, and drew the object into his chest. The unfortunate man lingered for many days, but finally died of pneumonia. The extraction of such an object with the bronchoscope would to-day be a matter of practical certainty. The X-rays are of greater and greater value to us. In the matter of kidney stone, for example, we can now say with certainty that there is no stone present, whereas we formerly could pin our faith only on a positive demonstration. Many an innocent vermiform appendix has been removed when, the true offender was a stone in the canal which leads from the kidney.

SURGERY OF THE CHEST. The heart, the lungs, and the other organs lying within the chest have long been regarded as forbidden ground. The wide incision of one side of the chest is a dangerous procedure, while the simultaneous opening into both sides means virtually immediate death from collapse of the lungs. Meltzer and Auer, however, working in the Rockefeller Institute, have made the astonishing discovery that with a simple apparatus animal life may be maintained in anaestheisa for hours without breathing, the functions of the heart and other organs 'going on normally. In ordinary ether sleep the breathing must continue (regularly and, even though the patient is totally unconscious, the slightest interference with , his air-supply causes immediate symptoms of impending suffocation. The subjects under anaesthesia by Meltzer's method suffer no distress whatever, and quickly recover when the anaesthetic is withdrawn'. Dr. Alexis Carrel modified the apparatus, and uses it at present in his operations upon the thoracic cavity. As in all surgery the tendency is from the complex to the simpler method, so in all probability the intricate cabinets experimented with lately will be completely supplanted by this simplified device, and tumors of the hingi, abscesses of the lung, injuries of the heart, cancers of the esophagus and of the upper end of the stomach, will cease to be a reproach to the surgeon. SURGERY OF THE BLOOD-VESSELS.

Until very recent years the only surgical operations which could be performed upon the blood-vessels were those which, by checking the circulation, caused dotting of the blood. These operations were done either to stop hemorrhage or to cut off the blood current from a diseased or damaged artery or vein. A few surgeons devised means foT the closure of accidental wounds of arteries without causing the blood' to coagulate, and even for the repair of arteries which had been divided. Should the main artery of a limb be severed through an accident, re-establishment of the circulation would now be possible instead of the almost certain gangrene of other days. It remained, however, for I Carrel to discover how to unite completely divided arteries or veins so perfectly that there is not the slightest impediment to the circulation. It is now even possible to transplant entire organs,' i such, for example, as the kidney, uniting artery to artery and vein to vein so that the transplanted part lives and performs its natural functions.

There is nothing more dramatic in surgery than a transfusion of blood—to see the patient take on the rosy hue of jhealth, waken out of his lethargy, show an immediate live interest in his surroundings, and actually recover under the eye of the operator. In adults we must not permit the amount of transfused to equal the normal for fear of suddenly overtaxing the heart, but in the case of young children who have had severe hemorrhages there may be complete recovery without a period of convalescence, so that at the termination of the operation the patient is well. But blood is an extremely complex substance, and differs greatly not only in different species, but also in individuals of the same species. Neither sex, family, nor so-called blood-relationship is a guarantee that the blood of two persons will safely mix, hence it is necessary to prove experimentally that the blood of the would-be donor will neither clot nor otherwise injure that of the patient. In a recent case there were eighteen men who answered an advertisement, and of their number only three possessed- blood of the necessary qualities, and only one was of such physique as to make him a suitable subject.

SURGERY OP TEE THYROID BOD¥. A few months ago a man presented himself for relief at one of our hospitals, whose face .struck one immediately as the very picture of fear and intense nervousness. He was greatly emaciated, his eyes were bulging from their sockets, his Units trembled, and on .close inspection the arteries in his head and neck could toe seen rapidly and violently pulsating. 'He was suffering from the malady know as Graves' or Basedow's. 'Msease. Later writers have given it the better and more descriptive name of hyperthroidism. Principally owing to the world of Theodore Kocher, of Berne, Switzerland, the operation for the removal of the diseased thyroid has been placed upon a safe footing. The patient whose case has just been described was operated upon by the removal of half |of the gland. The progress of his re[covery was most interesting. His pulse of lfiO became normal; the nervousness, wakefulness and tremor vanished; in a I few weeks there was a gain of many 1 pounds in weight, and even the bulging of the eyes, usually the most stubborn