NORTHERN ADVOCATE DAILY SATURDAY, DECEMBER 21, 1929. THE NEW SURGERY

Northern Advocate, 21 December 1929, Page 8

NORTHERN ADVOCATE DAILY

SATURDAY, DECEMBER 21, 1929. THE NEW SURGERY

Registered for Transmission Through the Post as a Newspaper.

Only about fifty years ago a surgical operation, was something to bo dreaded. Tpdeed, it was regarded as the last resource in the, saving ot life. Reliable practitioners held that:the only operations fully justified were those for the removal of dangerously affected limbs or growths producing, unbearable pain: Great changes have been made in; succeeding years. Chloroform and other anaesthetics. have come as beneficent influences,, and Lister’s great discovery has removed hot only the imminent risk, to life during ; operations,; but the imperfect healing pf wounds afterwards. In the last fio.years feats have been performed that would have been considered miracles in.: the former 'generation, but which are today becoming commonplaces. , Concurrent, with the progress of surgery there has been a potable advance in medical science, so much so that surgeons are being reminded that through their art and craft they hold but a temporary mandate, of .which they will be relieved •when the cause of disease is understood and the remedy, revealed.- Meanwhile, surgical progress has marvellously increased the number of patients who can be restored to a life not 'only free from suffering, but of ..complete and lasting health.. A striking survey of the new surgery is given ifi an article in the ‘ ‘ Fortnightly Review ’ ’ by, Mr W. H. Ogilvie, who points. out that in a wide series of major ( operations the death rate is now .aljout three per cent,, and if those for caficer aire excluded, the figure is under jone per cent. :TKe radiologist is able to deliver judgment on. almost eVeyy; orghn of the body, 'detecting and ; frae r . big the’ very ' 'beginnings ‘ of ’disease which only a'f&W years ago established ItsfeYf unasaailably 'before the., sylmp-. toms were betrayed. By means iof X-rays and a variety of electrical. devic4s‘:'the modern- sutgeon khows jas much; aß6ut the hidden : Sutfaces as; his ipredecessfir about the' outer frame, and .theshandieraft of the operating theMre has attained a 'fine level of efficiency. With' such means at his disposal jthc ■•surgeon is able to approach the hurpan frame with a confidence that would have startled Shyloc.k, bringing relief to those vital Organs which'oncc were considered a no mjfn’s land for all but potential 'assassins. 'Mr Ogilvie 6Ut-‘ lines the, achievements of surgeryi in dealing with the brain/ 'chest, and blood-vessels, and the . more dramatic successes in rebuilding a mutilated face, . transplanting organs or tissues and grafting bone. The future ;is bound to produce further changes 1 in, the technique, and scope of surgery, Two factors are suggested as important—the use of a fine arc flame on the operating table, or bloodless cutting; and the employment of radium, the value of which has still to be thoroughly explored, • But, it, is pointed out, , .the ideal of .medical men must always bp the elimination of . all such expedients in the. conquest of- disease, »H. ideal which is, thoroughly jqstif|eil' in the ..light, of successes in, research since the seventeenth century. As. Mr Ogilvie says, the modern healer has, 1 in a .few short ..years, built xip, a record that, places him beyond aJJ...except 1 friendly criticism,, ajid has done more than any man to make life tolerable for those predisposed to disease. :