Democratic Sentinel, Volume 9, Number 33, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 11 September 1885 — UNDER THE KNIFE. [ARTICLE]

UNDER THE KNIFE.

A Wonderful Surgical Operation in Mew York. [New York special.] A remarkable operation was performed at the Charity Hospital in this city to-day. Mrs. Ann Curry, who is fifty years of age, has suffered for two years with malignant cancer of the abdomen. She was induced to enter the Charity Hospital recently, where she was visited by Dr. Thomas H. Allen. When told that an operation from the effects of which no patient has ever recovered—and only three left the operatingtable alive—was her only chance of life, Mrs. Curry announced her willingness to take the risk rather than live longer in such misery. The operation was performed this afternoon, <in the presence of several well-known New York surgeons. The patient was placed un " der the influence of ether, and Dn Alien made a long, straight incision into the abdomen, from the pit of the stomach downward, and the assistants tied the arteries. A spray atomizer was used to sprinkle an antiseptic fluid upon the wound Dr. Allen removed the abdominal organ#, while his assistants tied one artery after another. It was discovered that the bladder And several surrounding organs had been attacked by the germs of the disease, and these had to be scraped until all the traces of cancer were gone. The work was finished in a few minutes, and the opening in the stomach was drawn together and sewed up with a fine silver wire. These stitches were afterward supplemented with others of catgut The cancer weighed nearly twelve ounces. Mrs. Curry was token to her room in Safety, and all danger of a primary shock was removed. Dr. Allen said that it was hardly possible for the patient to recover, but he had great hopes that the operation would prove successful.