EXPERIMENTATION AND SUEGERY 



damaged bowel is now a common occurrence in 

 every surgical hospital, and the sewing of 

 wounds of the intestines is saving hundreds of 

 lives each year. These operations have all been 

 practised upon dogs, the animals being under 

 the influence of anesthesia and surrounded by 

 all the precautions essential for their recovery. 

 It is to be regretted that animal experimenta- 

 tion is so difficult and uncommon that most sur- 

 geons gain their first experience in sewing 

 wounds of the intestines when they encounter 

 the necessity for the operation in the human 

 abdomen. 



The study of the regeneration of bone from Surgery 

 the periosteum was carried on by Du Hamel of bones. 

 (1740) and Hunter (1772) upon pigeons, 

 chickens, and guinea pigs. Sym (1837) con- 

 tinued these investigations upon dogs and 

 found that if a part of a bone and its perios- 

 teum were taken away the bone did not grow 

 together and the limb was useless, but if the 

 same length of bone were removed and its peri- 

 osteum left, new bone would be reproduced. 

 Oilier (1858) practised resection of long bones 

 in dogs and rabbits. As a result of these ex- 

 periments when bone now has to be removed 

 because of disease or injury it is stripped out 



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