The OoLOGisT. 



Vol. XXII. No. 6. 



Albion, N. Y., June, 1905. 



Whole No. 215 



On the Use in Surgery of Tendons of 

 the Ardeidae and Gruidae. 



compliments of the author. 



The subject of sutures and ligatures 

 and their proper sterilization and use 

 has long been an important subject in 

 the realm of modern surgery. Various 

 materials have from time to time been 

 recommended, many to drop by the way 

 side, and we find even in the materials 

 of the present day, namely, catgut, 

 kangaroo tendon, silk, silkworm gut, 

 horse hair and silver wire, great differ- 

 ence of opinion in the minds of surgeons 

 as to their use. 



The recent introduction by Dr. Kieff- 

 er of an entirely new material will be 

 of much interest to the surgeon, but it 

 likewise will be of no less interest to 

 the American ornithologist. Dr. Kieff- 

 er found after a series of experiments 

 that the tendons of the Ardeidae and 

 Gruidae made an excellent suture and 

 ligature and, moreover, that they seem- 

 ed to possess some advantages over the 

 present materials, principally kangaroo 

 tendon and catgut. The flexor and ex- 

 tensor tendons of the great blue heron 

 (Ardea herodias) were first made use 

 of, and later those of the sand hill 

 crane (Grus canadensis) and whoop- 

 ing crane {G. americana) . The ten- 

 dons were readily made aseptic by the 

 Claudius method of sterilizing catgut. 



Regarding his experiments Dr. Kieff- 

 er says: "There is still room in the 

 armamentarium of the surgeon for a re- 

 liable, slowly absorbable suture and 

 ligature material. I have been recent- 

 ly investigating a material which I be- 

 lieve to be entirely new. Dr. Geo. P. 

 Johnson, of Cheyenne, called my atten- 



tion to the long and strong tendons in 

 the legs of the bird commonly known 

 throughout the United States as the 

 blue crane. He had used this material 

 with excellent results as a suture for 

 the aponeurosis in a case of hernia, 

 the suture giving no trouble and appar- 

 ently being absorbed in time. I obtain- 

 ed from him a number of those tendons 

 and immediately began a series of ex- 

 periments to test their value.*** As a 

 result of these studies I have come to 

 the conclusion that we have not only a 

 valuable suture and ligature material, 

 but one easily obtained in all parts of 

 the world. " It is to be wondered that, 

 the tendons of the larger grallatorjal 

 birds were not long ago thought of as 

 suitable material for surgical purposes. 

 . Dr. Johnson is to be commended for 

 his originality." 



Thus the herons and cranes are given 

 an economic value which unfortunate- 

 ly must further add to their destruc- 

 tion. Think of the thousands of these 

 birds which would have to be killed 

 annually should this material be adoptr 

 ed for ligature and suture purposes by 

 even a small proportion of our Ameri- 

 can surgeons. 



It is the least of my desire to criticize 

 the author above referred to. His well 

 conducted experiments are commenda- 

 ble, but only to voice a word of warning 

 to what at present might prove the 

 extermination of the larger members 

 of two great families of birds. 



Unlike the Anseres (ducks, geese, 

 swans) and members of the order Gall- 

 inae, notably the bob-white (Colinus 

 rirginianus), the members of the Ar- 

 deidae and Gruidae are far from pro- 

 lific breeders. Members of the latter 



