MARVELS IN SKIN GRAFTING.

Taranaki Herald, Volume XLIII, Issue 9921, 5 February 1894, Page 4

MARVELS IN SKIN GRAFTING.

At a meeting of the New York State Medical Association, Dr. Ricketts, of Ohio, read a paper entitled " Some Observations on Bone and Skin Grafting." In hia treatment of this interesting subject Dr. Ricketts paid: — "Grafting or dermepenthesis in t«su vegetable kingdom, has been developed to such an extent that there is hardly any limit to whatmny be donein the t.\ij of repair and production, beauty and finaucial gain being tho greatest desiderata. While the results of grafting animal tissue are less gratifying than those of vegetable tissue, much has been done to convince us that the limit is far beyond anything yet attained. The oculists have displayed unbounded energy and exalted ekitt, as shown by their success in transplanting the cornea of the cat, dog, and rabbit to the eyes of human beings, and of mucous membiane to the oonjunotiva, for the correction of deformity as the result of eye troubles in infancy. It 13 now demonstrated that the nenes of animals may be successfully transplanted tr the nerve stumps or man. Dr. Redait suo cessfully grafted the skin of a chicken upon a child two years old. Dr. Bartens succeeded in grafting the skin of a dead man seventy ytars old to that of a boy fourteen years old. Dr. Wai Her was equally sue cessful in transplanting the mucous mem brane of frogs, rabbits, and pigeons to mv cous areas in man previously occupied by cicatricial tissue, and was the first to show that mucous membianes raniain so if transplanted to mucous membrane, but become skin if transplanted to skin. I ha\e succeeded in grafting the t.kin of a frog to that of a tortoise, and the skin of a tortoise to that of a frog, and also in securing tht $T«wki o^ a Irog^'s skin upon the skin • i man fifty-four } ear's old. Bone gral;:ng is not so far advanced, but has n et the same mccess as skin-grafting. Enough has been accomplished to satisfy me that the day is not far distant when the long bones nnd ribs of the lower animals will be successfully transplanted to man for the purpose of restoring osseoub structures destroyed by any cause whatsoever. lam inclined to believe that the tails of such animals as the cat, dog, oppossnm, etc., after being dhested of the integument anu solt tissue, may be transplanted with success. It may be found that the ribs of lower animals can be substituted for the small hones of the hand."