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Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XLII, 13 March 1908, Page 3

It would appear from statements made by a leading Sydney surgeon to a "Daily Telegraph" reporter, that operations on tho heart are not new to surgical science. "Only recently," ho remarked, "I cut through a man's ribs, and had his heart in my hand. There is no ill-effect on that patient's physical condition to-day. To get a case like that reported in the cablegram, however, is a stroke of luck, as a bullet wound in the heart usually means instantaneous death. It has so happened—and the cases are well authenticated—that a bullet has struck a man's heart before without a fatal result. Bullets have on several occasions been extracted from the muscle of the -heart." When the last mail left New York a negro, named William Johnson, who had received a knife wound in tho heart in a saloon row, was reported to bo alive and well. An operation was performed for a wound about one-half an inch in length from which, at every contraction or beat of the heart, a little stream of blood spurted to a height of four inches. Examination showed that the wound oxtended to the central cavity of the heart. Four stitches with silk thread were inserted, it being necessary to sew entirely through the wall of the heart for that purpose.