SQUINT.—There is no need for any person being cross-eyed if attention is early given to the trouble. Sometimes properly fitted glasses will correct this trouble, but an operation is often necessary and is very successful and not serious or painful.
[OPERATIONS 665]
TRACHEOTOMY AND INTUBATION.—The operation of tracheotomy, opening of the wind-pipe, is performed where there is choking from a foreign body in the wind-pipe or when it has become suddenly closed in diseases such as croup and diphtheria. It is always an emergency operation and is only resorted to when it is evident that unless severe measures are taken the patient will choke to death. Intubation is more frequently practised in disease when the breathing has become difficult owing to the growth of membrane in the larynx. A tube of the proper size is placed in the wind-pipe and allowed to remain there until the disease has lost its force and the membrane no longer obstructs the air passage. This tube allows the patient to breathe freely as it furnishes an opening for the air and an attendant notices the change immediately. Intubation should be performed before the patient has become weak.
TONSILS.—A person who is subject to enlarged tonsils should watch them carefully. If they contain pus for any length of time they should be removed, for they not only obstruct the breathing, but are a menace to the health. Enucleation is usually the best method of removal. Enucleation means the operation of extracting a tumor in entirety after opening its sac, but without further cutting. Removal of the tonsils is a simple operation, usually not requiring the use of anesthetics and most physicians advise the removal of an enlarged or troublesome tonsil.
CALCULI OR STONES.—Calculi or stones are removed from the gall bladder, gall ducts, kidneys, ureter and bladder by operations, when it has been ascertained that the patient cannot "pass them." Many physicians prefer to locate the calculus by use of the X-rays before deciding to operate, and there can be no doubt as to the wisdom of this. In these, as in all operations, success depends largely upon the general condition of the patient. They are not considered dangerous operations, but the final decision as to their necessity should rest, in each case, with a competent physician or surgeon.
KIDNEYS, STOMACH, PROSTATE, ETC.—Little can be said in this brief paragraph concerning the many operations that are now performed upon the different organs. What applies to one applies, in general, to all. Operations are now performed, and successfully, for pus in the kidney, floating kidney, etc. Ulcers and cancers are removed from the stomach and reproductive organs. In some cases it has been necessary to remove the organs in their entirety. Pieces of the intestines have been removed with gratifying results in cases of ulcers and injuries. Enlarged prostate nearly always necessitates an operation before relief can be expected. It is impossible here to say much concerning the chances for recovery in each individual case, since they are decided by the strength and temperament of the patient, the care and skill of the surgeon and nurses, and whether the patient has submitted to the operation soon enough in the course of the disease. Let it suffice here to say that the majority of the above-mentioned operations are successful and result in the relief and often the complete recovery of the patient.
[666 MOTHERS' REMEDIES]
THE HOT SPRINGS OF ARKANSAS.
Government Ownership.—The ownership and control of the Hot Springs of Arkansas by the United States Government is absolute, and its endorsement of them for the treatment of certain ailments is unequivocal. After due investigation, congress took possession of the springs in the year 1832, and it retained around them a reservation ample to protect them from all encroachments, It was the first National park reservation of the country. They are set apart by this act as "A National Sanitarium for all time," and "dedicated to the people of the United States to be forever free from sale or alienation."
The Army and Navy Hospital at Hot Springs.—In the year 1883 the United States Government built a hospital known as the army and navy hospital at Hot Springs, Arkansas, on the Southwestern slope, near the base of Hot Springs mountain, since which time the soldiers and sailors of the army and navy have been sent there for treatment for such ailments as the waters may reasonably be expected to cure, or relieve. In his circular for the guidance of the officers of the army in sending the sick there, the surgeon-general of the United States enumerates the ailments for which the sick should be sent to the army and navy hospital at the Hot Springs. It says, "Relief may be reasonably expected at the Hot Springs in the following conditions: In the various forms of gout and rheumatism after the acute or inflammatory stage; neuralgia, especially when depending upon gout; rheumatism, metallic, or malarial poisonings, paralysis, not of organic origin; the earlier stages of locomotor ataxia; chronic Bright's disease (early stages only), and other diseases of the urinary organs; functional diseases of the liver; gastric dyspepsia, not of the organic origin; chronic diarrhea; catarrhal affections of the digestive and respiratory tracts; chronic skin diseases, especially the squamous varieties, and chronic conditions due to malarial infection." Approved, GEO. H. TORNEY, Surgeon-General U. S. Army. J.M. DICKERSON, Secretary of War.