Untitled

Star (Christchurch), Issue 6623, 23 October 1899, Page 3

A young electrician claims to have invented an apparatus which will enable deaf mutes to h£ar. The transmitter is connected with a battery, and two ear-pieces are held to the ear by an aluminium headband. By its aid a deaf mute, it is said, can even hear his own whisper. By imitation of what they thus hear, deaf and dumb persons have be-en enabled also to speak. The new experiments in anaesthesia by Dr Bier, of Kiel, seem to promise important results. By throwing small quantities : Sf ; very. "dilute cbtaine solution into tha spinal canal, the nerves are attacked at their rotits;. and the- lower part of the body is rendered completely insensible to pain, the effect lasting about three-quarters of an hour. Very curiously, perception of heat and cold, as well as of touch and pres sure, are not affected. Under this anesthesia severe operations have been satisfactorily performed ; but the after-eff ects — which include dizziness, severe headache, and vomiting — are quite as unpleasant and more prolonged than those following chloroform and ether.