Rensselaer Republican, Volume 21, Number 53, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 5 September 1889 — A SURGICAL SURPRISE. [ARTICLE]

A SURGICAL SURPRISE.

Destroyed Brain Matter duced—Frank Stamm Carrie* a Bullet In His Head, and Qrows Fat With a Hole In His Brain. Fresno claims the honor of a most important discovery in medical science, and Doctors Deardoff and Sponogle are the names that will be mentioned iu the medical journal as the discoverers. i It has herolofore been almost an axiom among- the profession that nerve tissue will not granulate, or iu other words, that when a part of it is destroyed or cut it will not be reproduced, as in the case of muscular tissue. which will granulate and heah The case upon which the doctors named operated in one of some nine months’ standing, and has been frequently mentioned in the local newspapers, but the outcome or the experiment was not definitely ascertained until a few days ago. and is now given for the first time to the public through’ the columns of the Republican. Some time in August last a ten-year-old boy named Frank Stamm was accidentally shot by a playmate with a pistol ball iu the left side of the forehead. The missile crashed .through the skull without glanciug, aud imbedded itself in the brain. From the jagged edges of the wound portions of the brain protruded, and the sufferer lay uuconscions and as one dead. Several physicians were called in, and, after making an examination that satisfied them that the bullet was in the brain, they said there was no hope of the patient surviving. Then Drs. Deardorff and Sponogle were sent for, and, after consultation, decided that there was about one chance in a million to save the lad’s life. They determined to try the chance. They argued that if left alone the boy would die in a few hours, whereas if they operated upon him he would feel no pain, as he was unconscious, and, consequently, there would be nothing brutal in their mode of procedure. Neither would it be unnecessary, for 1 nothing can be unnecessary, to save human life, even if the chance is but as a drop of water in a river. Without losing any time they trephined the skull and removed several pieces of broken bone and a fragment of the bullet that had been split in passing through the skulL Then they cut the torn pieces of the brain that protruded, and after clean* ing the wound left it open for the discharge of pus for a day or two. Then the wound was covered and th* doctors awaited the result with more than ordinary anxiety. The boy gained rapidly in health and strength, but his condition was Still considered critical, as a turn for She worse might come at any moment. To add to the scientific anxiety of the attending physicians several othor doctors in an unprofessional and unscientific spirit circulated a report that they had acted with brutality in operating upon the boy, and prolonged his sufferings when there there was ho chance for his life. After a lapse of several weeks it was found that a fungus growth had pushed the scalp up and formed a large and dangerous-looking protrusion. The doctors did not care to meddle with it until they were positive of its real character, and for three or four months it grew larger and larger. Drs. Deardoff and Sponogle saw that the time had come to remove the ugly protuberance, and they cut it off, cleaned out the wound again and drew the cut edges of the scalp as near together. fiS.lb,ey:.s,Qu.ld, They - took., out two or three quarter ounces of the brain and subjected the fungoid matter to a microscope examination. They found, as the expected, that it was composed of true nerve tissue. Contrary to expectation the wound seemed to heel, and to their great surprise they saw granulations form on the nerve tissue between the cut edges of the scalp. The granulations, however, were rather red, and had an inflammatory appeirance, but the granulations increased, the threatened infiamation disappeared, and to-day the boy is fat and strong. | A piece of the bullet still remains i p his brain, but he“ experiences no pain and eats harty. Of course, it could not be expected that ho would escape from so terrible a shock gnd mutila» tion without some lasting infirmity. The cutting by the bullet of so much brain tissue has partly paralyzed hU« right side, but after he gets fairly started the hesitation in thought and Bpeech is no longer observable. The attending physicians feel very proud of the outcome of the case. If the boy had died they would have been flayed alive with the scalpels of prosessional criticism. Cases in which a patient has survived with a bullet in his brain are exceedingly rare. One of the most recent is that of a Stockton gardener named Paravagna, who was shot with a pistol bullet a little above and in front of the right ear. The bullet wont completely through his brain almost in a horrizontal line and lodged against the skull on left side. The wound was treated by local physicians, and to their surprise he recovered. After his recovery his thinking faculties were found to be considerably impaired. He would har- 1 ness one side of a horse and neglect to harness the other side. Lie never could remember where ho left an article a I moment after be laid it down, but his

health was good and his muscular strength remained unimpaired. The bullet is still in his brain.—Fresno (Cat, Republican.