WIRELESS SURGERY.

Dunstan Times, Issue 3145, 27 November 1922, Page 8

WIRELESS SURGERY.

It is gratifying to l>c able to record, says ;iii editorial writer in American Medicine (New York), that (lie world's first honors of performing a wireless surgical operation and curing illness by wireless prescription go to an American physician. Dr. \V. X. Irwin, slp'p's surgeon on the liner President Adams. Me .tolls the story in the following paragraphs : ? Or Irwin's feat of wireless surgery, which passed almost unnoticed at the time, occurred nearly ten years ago, long before broadcasting became a. household word. At that time, while sailing in the Caribbean, Dr. Irwin's ship picked up a wireless message reporting that a seaman on a distant vessel was in a critical condition, his leg having been caught in some machinery, and asking for advice. Dr. Irwin immediately responded with a minuto message advising the amputation iff the crushed member, and directing the operation in a series el detailed instructions. The operalien proved a great success. During a recent eastward trip of the President Adams a wireless message was picked up by that liner reporting a. sailor on another ship far out at sea I" be on the point of death from pneumonia. Dr. Irwin immediately got in touch with the captain of the vessel which proved to lie the freighter Hickman, and got a satisfactory diagnosis. Me then wirelessed a prescription. The captain of the Hickman replied that he did not possess on board the medicaments prescribed. The (ask then became complicated and prolonged. Dr. Irwin requested a report of the complete list of drugs to be found on the freighter. The reply soon came, and the surgeon found that the supply was extremely limited. However, lie made the most of tho situation, as it was impossible to dispatch the necessary medicaments, and lor (he next three days messages wore exchanged almost hourly between the two steamers. On the third day. Dr. Irwin's efforts were rewarded with a cheerful message stating that the seaman was responding to the treatment and was gradually regaining his strength. The modern bard in quest of epic material could not find a more alluring theme than this battle against death with wireless. The achievement is a notable one. and it opens up a vista of enormous possibilities. The sting of it bee caused I lie driver of an automobile near Cincinnati tr.S.A. 1 ) to lose control of the car. with Ihe result that it plunged over an Sit embankment and overturned, ' pinning iC occupants underneath. Otic woman died. i The American Bible Society which ' distributes annually about five million ;| copies of the Bible in \.',[) ditfcronl ' languages and dialects, is now sending * Bible passages by wireless. i All telephones in North America I slopped for one minute during tho , funeral service of Dr Alexander (ira- ' ham Pell, (hi l inventor of the telephone, t who was buried near his Cape Proton * residence. In a grave hewn out of solid I rock near the foot of a stately lir tree. Dr Pell was laid to -rest in his tweed coiduroy working suit. % I n ' A resident in London was travelling hj in America, when lie fell into conver- u saiion with a. waiter who had been a ( Sammy in Prance during the war. (, '•Have vou anv pleasant memories of I France ?" he asked. "Oh. rather!'' I' answered the ex-Sammy. "What did u you enjoy most in France?'' continued hj the inquirer. "Wall, i guess it was I (he I'Veneh pheasants ringing th" hj Mayonnaise!'' replied the waiter. '>