EXTRAORDINARY SURGICAL PROPOSAL.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 42, 13 November 1907, Page 5

EXTRAORDINARY SURGICAL PROPOSAL.

GRAFTING HUMAN LIMBS ON TO A LIMBLESS MAN: : An advertisement recently appeared in the foreign Press revealing a remarkable tragedy, the sombre, gloomy background of which is relieved here and there by sido lights of a less serious import. The advertisement was. as follows :— Wanted to Purchase.—Will pay liberally for living .human arm,-leg,, and hand for. important operation in grafting. Address, in confidence, stating prico expected. •< The advertisement was inserted by a Dr. Winslow, and it has'shown, by tho, replies it has elicited, that oven beautiful young women are not only willing but anxious to give up arms, hands and legs, provided they are paid sufficiently well to escape,.the drudgery of daily humdrum toil and the uncertainties of dependence. Men, t00,,,.are. willing to part with their limbs.g'udgirig from seme of tho letters received; but their offers are hedged in with conditions, and moro guarded than those coming froni.tho women. Dr. Winslow, will' riot be the operating surgeon in the'limb-grafting process, which it is contemplated to .perform on a man who has lost a leg, both hands, and an arm by a railway, accident; and who secured several thousands of pounds compensation as a result; Dr. 'Winslow is merely the "middleman," so to, speak, in negotiating the purchase of the limbs. Tho operator will probably be Dr. A. L. Nolden, who is said to have been successful in grafting ears, noses, and'fingers, but has never yet, he says, attempted the transfer of an arm, a hand, or a leg. " ' .■ _ _. "I have no doubt that a live limb can he transferred from one person another," Dr. Nelden tells us, "although it"is scarcely likely that tho limb so transferred can servo more than an ornamental purupso.. It will look like iiaturo's own handiwork, but beyond this, at the present stage of science, I ■doubt whether a grafted hand will be able to accomplish any active results. As for material to work with, tho replies received by Dr. Winslow prove that tho injured man. Mnnro—who is a London man, and has resided abroad for twelve years—need not by any means despair." ■' . "Grafting on such a stupendous scale lias never yet been oven attempted. And, while I heliove that the time is not far distant when surgery will enable us to accomplish such a miracle as replacing a missing arm or log with good, working substitutes, I dp not think the present state of science can enahle us to do moro than produco a presentable cosmetic (relating to looks) effect. • , "I■ mean'by this that I fool confidont of boing- able to graft a hand, an arm and a leg m such a way that .they ■ will look liko nature's product, but not be capable of being employed a f tho will of their owner. Blood will circulate through them, and there' will'not be anything about-them to sugpest by their appearance that thoy are not just as much alivo as the other members."