A NEW ANDROCLES.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 599, 30 August 1909, Page 8

A NEW ANDROCLES.

OPERATES ON LIONS AND RATTLESNAKES. A NOVELTY IN INCUBATORS. ( x Tho startling varioty of tho exploits and intentions of Dr. George How make it diffi.cult to recount, in headings, the surprising subjects on which he descanted calmly to a Dominion representative tho other daj. Dr. How has recently come to Wellington His 1 adventurous efforts to relieve the sufferings iof Lons, elephants, and rattlesnakes make,, the ancient perilous service of-Androcles insignificant, and might have been imagined by Munchausen , his tales of Indian rites would ■ move the'envy qf De Rougcmont, and he claims bpsides to bo the first man who exhibited a baby in an incubator, and tho inventor of the ono and only safe consumption cure, whiclrhe is now looking for an opportunity to demonstrate Yet Dr How has none of tho appearance of a wild romancer. He is not even an American, though the stories of his surgical exploits with animals are confirmed by illustrated articles in a Chicago journal He gained his medical degree in Chicago, but he was born in England, and studied for two years at King's College, London He is df calm and sober speech and manner, and has made a special study of tho unromantic obstetrics and infantile diseases.

Treating Wild Beasts. "" Dr How's success in treating wild beasts ho ascribes to a peculiar deficiency in his constitution, and also to a power of influence, which he can hardly explain. "I have no fear," he said "I have never been afraid in my life. It is lacking ra my composition " And in his dealings with wild' animals ho makes use of "suggestion" so that the most savage creatures havo become tame and passive "under its influence. Dr. How showed tho interviewer a photograph of himself extracting a splinter of ( boiie from the throat of a man-eating lion, which lay quite still during the operation. An assistant holds the lion's jaws apart, and a crowd of amazed spectators are peeling through the bars of the great beast 8 cage at the intrepid act. In another photograph Dr. How is seen seated astride his grateful patient, hie two hands folded on its forehead A Chicago paper, which reproduces the illustrations, tells tho story m excitirig stjle. ' "Choking and battling for life, tearing with its paw ai hisl throat, tho enormous .man-eating lion, Cleo, gasped for breath, and struggled to dislodge a splinter of oorio from its esophagus at Forest Park last Thursday Captain Louie Loroh, tho lipn tamer, entered the den' in an J effort to control tho raging animal,- which was slowly succumbing to death iby strangulation " jPhysicians from Chicago wero called in, and each man suddenly discovered that he had a patient of'a milder ilaturo to attend. > < \ -

Tho Doctor and tho Lion. ( Dr. How promised to perform tl)e needed pporation, and four men forced open the jaws'of the huge beast. "As the J > doctor reached for ks forceps, the lion* mado a sudden niove, and scattered the little J ban.d to the four corners of the den. Towering to its full height it sprang upon Captain Lorch, who fired a iblank cartridge full in the lion's face Growling and desperate, the lion receded to' the corner of the den, where it writhed in, convulsive while the heroic .band of helpers looked on in, in\potency, but the inabibty on the part of the lion ,to breathe freely was having a distinct, effecf, and the JxuA'fi became weaker/ Then the httlo band dashed upon the lion and massed themselves about the'animal Forcing the jaws of tho huge beast 1 open once more, Dr How, with a quick movement of tho forceps, extracted the Done from'the animal's throat The instant relief thus afforded to Cleo soothed tho animal, and in seeming gratitude, which it expressed with its great round eyes and it permitted the doctor to poke its head and even to sitmpon its , back in order to have his porfccailjofcikpn ,by fho photographer , The doctor, interviewed by our represen- , tative, slightly elaborated this account, so as to give 'due prominence to tho influence of suggestion, which, ho isserts, was mainly responsible for the beast's pissivitj »"I looked at'it first,,and" talked to it,.before I touched it. Wh«n I was in this pose (pointlng'to tho photograph ; which showed him, seated astndo the gentle'hoh), the photographer aaked ino to adopt a batter position for his purpose I replied that wTiile 'I had my fingers on tho head of the animal I felt certain that I could control it ,The flash-light,-might startle it, and I considered that with my hands so placed I could infuse confidence, for that is all that is necessary in controlling animal." Elephant and Saored Camel. An elephant belonging to tho 'famous HagenbackjWhich had an. abscess at the root of eaoh tusk, causing pain equivalent to that of a gigantic toothache, was also operated Upon bj I>r. How. "I treated it five times," he stated, and when I was drilling at tho root of -the tusk, two and a half feet from where it protruded from the r jaw, the pain was ( so terrible thai it wild bring tho animal to its knees. Then I would givo it a rest, and it nould stand up ready to take its medicine again. Not once did it attempt to , grab me oi turn away, from me. Each time it got up from..its ktees,.l. would .speak to it,.caressingly." The elephant ' was i jhotographed, and took no alarm at the flash, though usually such a phenomenon , would frighten the beast almost as much as tho appearance of a mouse It is a curious fact, according to Dr. How, that at tho'sight' of a'-mouw in' its vicinity an elephant will shake and tremble in a nanic. v , , x '■ At tho Lincoln Park Zoo, Chicago, and elsewhere Dr. How has operated on a leopard,' which had been bitten by a brother lion to Cleo, a wolf, which was 'absolutely wild, a rattlesnake,' six feet in length,, t a .canary, 'dogs, cats, monkeys, and a camel. The camel,' according to another. -.Chicago paper which gives a photographic reproduction of the operation, was "a sacred camel, tho first ever brought to the Occident, and 1 loaned by'the descendants *of Mohammed, for the purposes of a tenth year, 'jubilee' i celebration in Now York City. , ' It was believed by Moharrfmcdans to bo a direct 'de- [ sce'ndant of the beast that boro the prophet I Mohammed from Damascas , to Mecca, and I was used each year ( to carry tho leader's i successor\ovcr the same route. < Most elaboi rate religious 'rites >>had to be performed J before tho physician was allowed to uso.liis ■ knifo to perform , an'operation for disloca- ? tion of tho thigh bones and broken legs, re-. , I ceived on ship-board.

Monkey;ln>An;lnoubatdr. 0 ;<■ '■ .]■■■ ■"•'■:■.'■ '■".- : :, The treatment of v tbe monkey bririgs ns' to. the.stdry';6f^Dr. How's.electric- incubatpr; The principle\of.this.inyention,was explained a's follows— Ozone,' is 'generated '■ andvforced' by''' the: "machinery; into the ■' tissues; bi,, the, body, ! 'the : ,vital of vlife': beingv. : thus, ;introduced.';' ! ..Theri , '.the -heart -.can 'be' started by theVmethod■.known.'.:'.as V!'pinohing," ; :r ; or. 'massagihg/.aff-ervwh'ich'.the .greatest;, trquble 'with'''whicb''tne'',phswm declared '.to. bq over;-;:. I)rfHow claims that;he has ''solved >.the problem .•: "how; to cure.: consumption"/ by '.of his'invention.; 7 'The patieri.t.is''plnced in'.the lincubatqr, andVafter •a ;; slight'"mpclificatibnWf ;<the machinery the. ozone "is applied;' i.The>bactej;ia; in'the. lungs are reached:i instantly byfthi^rgas,, andi;inistanay,'''destroyed: ■■ ;,IJnder, ordinary : ment' the.bacteria.would most probably,aecompose, -causing, ptomaine poisoning;"but oiohe ; oxidises '.the^pjirtioles,/ which are absorbed Vinto the>:'lymphatics and. pass off .'•■■■■' as-' inert Vv.matter. , ■; : Dr., , /How ' states' - thafr his Vinvention .'was £ot .taken.up, by medical men in,the'. Ifnited States .because he. made the> mistake of patenting ;it, and it is V rule 'of medical men, he assertSj .never to•recomiiiendv a' patented : medicine'.;or ;,in-. ;strumeht/;So ;that, although' assart -Mncu-;-b'atbr Drl' How's invention' , has*, bo states,• been'- frequently ' ÜBed with almost -.unexampled success, its value an .the cure i of consumption has ■ been tested only the, case of'monkeys. The. monkey. Dr. How asserts, is a -'■ splendid medium for demonstration, beihi closely allied to the human species,, and peculiarly, liable ; to: consumption. ;.In ; their, native-forests they prescnbe. f,pr this- com-, plaint themselves, and that they cure it-is proved, the by the X-ray ex-; aminations that,' have "been made ! of mon•koysj showing walled-up cavities .'in. the lung tissue indicative, 'beyond 'the sfoadow of :;a doubt, that ■ they .'hive at one; time Buffered ■/ . - ; "i'-." '- : -- ,, . '■..."' '".':■ ' "."."' ;•-. ■'.'■-■"-':■'."

from tho disease, and that a cure has been effected Dγ Koch, it was stated, spent much time in the African forests in an endeavour to ascertain what plant the monkeys ato which cuicd them of consumption Tho animal which Dr How treated in has machino liad been four days sick with tho complaint, and no monkey suffering from tuberculosis had been known to live beyond the fifth day A shopman who owned , about 120 different animals told Dr. How that he had 'ost sin monkeys in two dajs from tbo disease In tho cose of this particular aninjal implements of the symptoms were observed after it had been a few hours in the machine, and when a strict examination showed it cured after three days' confinement in tho incubator tho animal was so lively that it broke loose, and for a long time defied ,the most active attempts to recapture it It is a highly-trained circus monkey, valued at 600 dollars, and is still performing in Professor Schepp's circus in Canada.

Exciting Indian Ritas. The incubator may also introduce an exciting tale of curious Indian rites In the ordinary course of events a Sioux baby born before its time is never known to live Dr How saved such a baby by his incubator, and when tile mother saw it she refused to own it. She insisted that her child was dead, and that this infant was some jugglery of spirits Tho baby was at last disposed of for adop'tion bv tho Gheerokee tribe, who danced the forbidden sun dance to celebrate its reception in their midst The sun dance is for- s bidden because it makes' the Cheprokees mad Evil spirits were believed to possess this infart, and the strangest means were taken for their destruction Ihe baby was given to a squaw, who was concealed in a tent, Dr How and others standing by to see that it received no harm A dumiriy mado in close resemblance of a child was handed from the tent to another squaw outside, in presence of the assembled Indians Then the medicine men, presumably threw themselves upon the dummy, beating in the heirl and hacking the body into small pieces "fl hoops and tho wild sun dance followed, after which the living infant was discovered, smilin™ and uninjured, .and > accepted bv the savages a's 1 a harmless heme, iin, whom thu evil spirits had been effectually demolished A great many of* the onlookers believed that it was the'real child which they saw beaten and hacked , about. ✓ -

v . ; A : Sioux'lnd&ri,- who , 'bccame'pfpster-father' raid : destroyed.; at.company: of United Stat^''-so.ldior3 ; ~. and-.officers.'-'uiider-Gonerali Caster's. 'hodrt\-TOs4takeri'.from',% : '~b<Kly;and:.-divided afcoiig ; ;tho.\lMdinsj-rbravesi'':'ti6',,bp '.which ■■'■•'.tli-S': ■wbuld'jp;i£s::fhto ■; ■ ivDr^. How: ; f :ji/niixious™that \. a'i:' hopeless sufferer^frtm I 'Mniump'ii6n'-.''shpuld-;'_f6ind;-fpr7 ■w.a.rd '■ to'-'bu V treated''.by: : ; hi ill 4: America;: Iwein^Mt^itlwiVmvflvtion ;.is.;nq't..patented; in'vthis ; icbUn-try.' : ':; : -y^'o i-' [K ;..-\