MAN WITH AN INDIARUBBER TONGUE

Dunstan Times, Issue 2094, 10 September 1901, Page 6

MAN WITH AN INDIARUBBER TONGUE

When a, man loses his tongue, either by disease or by the surgeon's knife, it has hitherto been necessary for him to go through life, without a tongue. Artificial limbs and artificial features have been constructed, but none had ever tried to construct tin artificial tongue until Dr Francis Bradbury made a rubber tongue for George Anderson, who lives in Philadelphia, but was until a few months ago a dweller in New York. Anderson is a cigar-maker by trade and a cigar-smoker by habit. He contracted cancer of the tongue. Unlike most sufferers, however. Anderson recognised the symptoms almost as soon as they appeared, and went to hospital for treatment. A tiny piece of the growth on his tongue was examined under the microscope and recognised an malignant carimona. The surgeons told Anderson that his only chance for life lay in removing the tongue. He finally consented. The first thing done was to place gold caps over the back teeth, so as to form a secure basis for the work to be performed. Then a bar of silver was stretched across Hie mouth, and upon this a tube of the same metal was placed, so as to work as a pivot. Upon this pivoted tube Dr Bradbury hung a- carefully-moulded tongue of vulcanised red rubber, so arranged that it could be removed at will by the patient. The stum]) of Anderson's genuine tongue, M-ih all its attached muscles was in good condition. What was wanted was an arrangement that should bridge the space between the front of his mouth and the back, and which could be controlled by the muscles of the tongue stump. To accomplish this Dr Bradbury bevelled away the rear part of the artificial tongue so that it would slide partially under the stump of Anderson's tongue. When the device was put into place it was found to work exeellentlv. Bv depressing the stump of hw tongue Anderson was able to cause the artificial nibher tip to rise. up. He could not depress if much, but this fact made little difference he found. It required a great deal of practice to work the artificial tongue properly, but Anderson persevered and triumphed.