A few years since we heard of an occurrence which at once appeared to us of great promise for the future of China. But the thoughts suggested seemed so revolutionary that we dismissed them with the feeling that the time was not, perhaps, altogether ripe for the new future. If there was anything in it we ex to hear from it again, and if there should prove to be nothing in it, it was better not to mention the matter at all, than to excite hopes only to have them dashed. But our prudence and foresight have been amply vindicated, and we are now moved to lay the whole matter before a candid public, which is not likely to be misled. In a recent issue of the Chinese Medical Magazine we find an Editorial reference at some length to the special occasion of our interest a year or two ago. Report is given of the third successful sration—performed in San Francisco—for the entire removal of the human stomach. (The Candid Reader will we trust understand that the three operations were performed on different individuals.) The occasion in one case for desiring this done is not given, but in another it is stated to have been on account of cancer of the stomach, which rendered it a most instance it was Carcinoma, which la the unsatisfactory organ, while in the third
surgeon's name for the sano thing. Now the lay intellect has a marked tendency to enquire how it is possible to take out the whole of a human stomach and have anything left for purposes of digestion. The surgical reply is delightfully simple. All the operator has to do is to find the duodenum which is alleged to make close connections with the lower end of the stomach, and by means of a ' Murphy's button' the nature of which we shall not undertake to explain having a very vague notion of it ourselves—hitch said duodenum earestavailable end of the esophagus, anastomosis. This is a process similar to that of cutting out' a lot of empty freight vans from the middle of a outed train, which is then recoupled, and goes on as before.
In one of these instances er there was no duodenum, or it was indisposed to allow itself to be joined on the gullet as above. But nothing discourages the most modern surgeon. He simply went further down the train, and made a junction with the jejunum, although the uninitiated would have supposed that the latter would have had to be stretched as tight as a bowstring, and unable to do any digesting. But the result showed that the operator had got on the right side of the jejunum, which made no objection whatever, and the patient went on all right without' what has been supposed to be an indispens sable aid to continued existence. The number three has always been held to have mysterious properties, and when we have authentic details of three cases of this sort, we hold that for all practical purposes they are quite as good as thirty, or three hundred. The proposition is now indisputable that the human stomach can, if necessary, be dispensed with, and all the bodily functions go on as before. We ouse to remark that this remarkable discovery is only in the line of many others of recent years. Almost every one of us is endowed, for what reason it is hard to make clear to the ordinary intellect, with a troublesome little pouch called the Vermiform Appendix. is x culdesacof a highly objectionable character, and the number of individuals who have in late years suffered from appendicitis makes one wonder how our an-cesters got on without being aware that they had any such appendices at all. The modern surgeon, when he has a case which heian not explain, finds it a good plan to dig into the patient and extract his appendicitis on general principles, just as the tonsils to be removed by' way of insurance. In the progress of Science, it seems likely that we shall lieable to dispense with almost everything sooner or later, except perhaps a few cells left as vicarious workers to adapt themselves to their new environment.
But we have unconsciously wandered from our theme, which was to show how this new discovery will benefit China. These who are familiar with the Chinese race have long recognised the fact that their digestive organs are among the most unsatisfactory parts of their organism. The number of Chinese who are troubled with dyspepsia in some of its protean forms, is practically unlimited. But aside from the fact that their stomachs often give them a disproportionate amount of trouble, there is equally obvious truth that with a very considerable percentage of Chinese their stomachs are Hnabitually underworked. Such is the difficulty which millions of this people find in getting a living, that the digestive organ can not be kept at work. This is expressed in digestive apperaten but only half of the current adage, "A complete set of
it in use' (Yifu chang tze, pan fu hsien). In other words the digestive organs have to be put on half-time like mills in a dull season. It is for this state of things that the new surgical discovery affords a remedy which fits the case like a glove. No truly philanthropic person can approve of compulsory euthanasia for persons who merely fail to be able to get enough to eat. What is indicated is that there shall be a slight but definite alteration in the machinery to fit it to its environment, If the wind is too strong we take in sail. In other words when it is evident that an individual has a greater digestive capacity than his circumstances justify, it will now be possible to have the individual remodelled to fit his ciroumstances. This will certainly prove to be much easier in the ordinary run of cases than to trim circumstances themselves, which in China are epee, intractable, We therefore take the liberty to suggest that in connection with the multitudinous Reforms which the Emperor is introducing, enough Physiology should be taught in the Universities to able the Chinese to seo that the digestive tract now comes in sections, instead of in one whole as hitherto. The demand for excision of the stomach is sure to be an wereasing one, and at the Medical Univerjes which will soon be found in all the large centres, this will be made a specialty. 'A fond will have to be provided for the furnishing of liquid aliment to those waiting for the new internal connections to be established. But as soon as its advantages are perceived, benevolent persons, of whom there are many in China, will hasten to aid the plan of their own accord. We need not point out the great benefits of the now regime, When aman who has-been thus razeed, to adapt a naval term, applies for a situation, he has only to explain that he has a reformed jejunum of moderate food power, to make his services more valuable than those of a larger eater. In time, perhaps, there may arise acompromiso breed of Chinese, who have either no stomach at all, or a very rudimentary one, and unless the food supply of China can be in some way amplified, no greater blessing than this could well be conferred by science.
It is related of the late General Sherman, one of the most prominent military men in the American Civil War, that on the march he found a soldier chewing a green persimmon, a wild fruit of the most acrid description. "Throw that away," said the General, emphatically,' don't you know that those things are not fit for food?" '*General," was the unoxpected reply, 'I ain't a-cating them for
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.