Scientific American Supplement, No. 643, April 28, 1888Various
Science
Scientific American Supplement, No. 643, April 28, 1888
Various
Science -- Periodicals
The results that have been obtained for some time back at Paris, where
the surroundings are so unfavorable, no longer leave any doubt as to
the excellence of the process. At the lying-in clinic of Assas Street,
Doctors Farnier, Chantreuil, and Budin succeeded in a few days in
bringing some infants born at six months (genuine human dolls,
weighing scarcely more than from 21/4 to 41/2 pounds) up to the normal
weight of 71/2 pounds.--_L'Illustration._
* * * * *
GASTROSTOMY.
Surgery has, as is well known, made great progress in recent years.
Apropos of this subject, we shall describe to our readers an operation
that was recently performed by one of our most skillful surgeons, Dr.
Terrillon, under peculiar circumstances, in which success is quite
rare. The subject was a man whose oesophagus was obstructed, and who
could no longer swallow any food, or drink the least quantity of
liquid, and to whom death was imminent. Dr. Terrillon made an incision
in the patient's stomach, and, through a tube, enabled him to take
nourishment and regain his strength. We borrow a few details
concerning the operation from a note presented by the doctor at one of
the last meetings of the Academy of Medicine.
[Illustration: FIG. 1.--FEEDING A PATIENT THROUGH A STOMACHAL TUBE.]
[Illustration: FIG. 2.--DETAILS OF THE TUBE. C, rubber tube for
leading food to the stomach, E; B B', rubber balls, which, inflated
with air by means of the tube, T, and rubber ball, P, effect a
hermetic closing; A, stopper for the tube, C; R, cock of the air
tube.]
Mr. X., fifty-three years of age, is a strong man of arthritic
temperament. He has suffered for several years with violent gastralgia
and obstinate dyspepsia, for which he has long used morphine. The
oesophagal symptoms appear to date back to the month of September,
1887, when he had a painful regurgitation of a certain quantity of
meat that he had swallowed somewhat rapidly.
Since that epoch, the passage of solid food has been either painful or
difficult, and often followed by regurgitation. The food seemed to
stop at the level of the pit of the stomach. So he gave up solid food,
and confined himself to liquids or semi-liquids, which readily passed
up to December 20, 1887. At this epoch, he remarked that liquids were
swallowed with difficulty, especially at certain moments, they
remaining behind the sternum and afterward slowly descending or being
regurgitated. This state of things was more marked especially in the
first part of January. He was successfully sounded several times, but
soon the sound was not able to pass. Doctors Affre and Bazenet got him
to come to Paris, where he arrived February 5, 1888.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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