PAINLESS SURGERY.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLVII, Issue 14465, 3 September 1910, Page 2 (Supplement)

PAINLESS SURGERY.

It is not pleasant, of course, to have an arm or a leg amputated, no matter how painlessly this operation may be performed ; but there are cases where it is absolutely necessary, and then the question of how to do it is important. A French surgeon, Professor D'Arsonval, suggests a method which is quite novel, and not only painless during the operation, but without the slightest trouble afterwards. Neither knife, saw, nor any other cutting instrument is to be used. The limb is simply to fall oft as by magic, with the wound completely healed and cicatrised. The amputation suggested is by means of electric currents of high frequency. Professor D'Arsonval explains that he has been able to send currents of high frequency through animals, and to raise the temperature of their' bodies to a very high degree, without any apparent effect on their sensibility or the contractibility of their muscles. The animals seemed to .feel nothing whatever. In some cases, he says, the calorific effect was such that certain members were literally cooked, and, strange to say, the animal did not betray the least feeling of pain. When the members fell away after some days, as it were, by their own action, the stumps were perfectly cicatrised. The professor made these observations a number of years ago, and the method has never been tried on human beings. It is now suggested that experiments be made.