EXPERIMENTATION AND SURGERY 



Hunter worked out the operation which was 

 most successful for two hundred years ; it con- 

 sisted in tying the vessel in sound tissue some 

 distance above the tumor; but before he at- 

 tempted this upon the human subject he ex- 

 perimented with the operation upon dogs, and 

 found how it could best be done. This opera- 

 tion has saved many lives and many limbs. 

 Before this time 85 per cent, of people with 

 aneurism of the main artery of the leg died of 

 it ; now because of Hunter's operation and the 

 perfection of aseptic surgery through the stud- 

 ies of Lord Lister, less than 2 per cent. die. 

 In more recent time Matas has improved this 

 operation by sewing up the opening in the ar- 

 tery, and allowing the circulation to continue. 



The operation of transplanting organs and 

 structures from one animal to another has at- 

 tained a degree of perfection which points to 

 its feasibility in man. It has already been ap- 

 plied in connection with some organs- -the 

 thyroid and the ovary and promises to be- 

 come a useful field of surgical endeavor. 

 Kocher has transplanted bits of thyroid from 

 one animal into the long bones of others. He 

 has then been able totally to remove the nor- 

 mal thyroids from these latter animals with- 



123 



Trans- 

 plantation 

 of organs. 



