548 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



stoutly maintained and hotly contested in 

 the egg stage. Woe betide the incautious 

 or over-confident experimenter who shall 

 remove one of these tierce motherly things 

 from her nest with his hands ! — the penalty 

 will be a succession of stabs, which pro- 

 duce notoriously painful wounds. But the 

 occupant of the nearest nest will always 

 receive and tuck under her, together with 

 her own brood, the young of a dispossessed 

 neighbor. All through the nursery arc 

 well-beaten paths along which the birds 

 hop in single file with most grotesque ac- 

 tion to and from the sea ; and from the 

 nests on either side come sharp stabs at 

 the legs of the intruder, a deafening roar 

 accompanying his progress the while, and 

 an odor assaulting his nose which only 

 those who have sailed in a guano-ship can 

 realize. The time has now arrived when 

 the young must be taught their first swim- 

 ming-lessons, and the rudiments of that 

 aquatic life to which their special structure 

 confines them. From the rookery to the 

 sea they advance, hopping with both legs 

 together, and jump feet foremost bolt up- 

 right from a ledge into the water. Then, 

 and only then, are they thoroughly at home, 

 and, making use of nothing but the power- 

 ful scaly flippers, dart about with the rapid- 

 ity of a fish. Frequently the old bird will 

 rise to the surface with a young one bal- 

 anced on each flipper, maintained in its pre- 

 carious position by the grasp of its own 

 tiny paddles, and no doubt vastly enjoying 

 this introduction to life and the novel ex- 

 periences to be met with under water." 



A Cniqnc Surgical Operation. — A sur- 

 gical operation of probably unique charac- 

 ter is described in the Lancet, by Dr. Alexan- 

 der Patterson — namely, the employment of a 

 piece of dog's bone in the treatment of un- 

 united fracture. The patient, while at sea, 

 sustained a simple fracture of both bones 

 of the left forearm. The arm was at once 

 put in splints, and so remained for some 

 weeks. On removing the splints it was 

 found that the bones had not united. It 

 was not till eight months after the occur- 

 rence of the accident that the man was ad- 

 mitted to the Western Infirmary of Glas- 

 gow. Repeated efforts were made to induce 

 the broken bones to reunite, but all without 



avail ; and finally it was decided to ampu- 

 tate the arm. In the absence of the regular 

 surgeon, Dr. Patterson took charge of the 

 case, and obtained permission to make an 

 attempt at savmg the limb. The operation 

 is best described in the author's own words : 



" The patient was taken and placed un- 

 der the influence of chloroform, while at the 

 same time a retriever ciog was being anaes- 

 thetized. I made an incision along the ulnar 

 side of the arm, cutting down upon the ends 

 of the fractured bone, and removing the 

 fibrous band which alone formed the bond 

 of union ; the rounded points were removed 

 by the saw, and a hole drilled obliquely 

 through each squared end. The same pro- 

 cess was repeated on the radial side, when 

 it was found that an interspace of about 

 three-quarters of an inch existed between 

 the two fragments of the radius. In the 

 mean time, one of the senior students had 

 exposed the humerus of the quadruped, 

 completely denuded of every tissue except 

 the periosteum. The length of bone was 

 accurately measured (three-quarters of an 

 inch), while from half an inch beyond the 

 end of the necessary length the periosteal 

 covering was rapidly but carefully dissected, 

 the bone sawed through, a hole drilled in 

 either end obliquely, as in the radius and 

 ulna, and at once placed between the ends 

 of the radius, where it fitted accurately. 

 Wires having been passed through the holes, 

 the bones were firmly tied together, the 

 loose half-inch margin of the periosteum of 

 the foreign bone being carefully spread over 

 the periosteum of the radius. The wound 

 was stitched with silver wire, the bone su- 

 tures coming out at each end of the incision. 

 Wires were passed through the ulna, tied 

 together, and the wound treated in a similar 

 manner. The entire operation was con- 

 ducted under the carbolic-acid spray. The 

 arm was put up in gauze, and held in tMO 

 rectangular splints." 



We need not give details of the patient's 

 condition from day to day. Suffice it to say . 

 that one wound remained open for twelve 

 months, and that then the dog's bone, re- 

 duced to about half its size, came awaj', 

 after which the wound healed completely. 

 The radius seemed to have fallen in some- 

 what toward the ulna, leaving a slight de- 

 formity. The man is by occupation a ma- 



