rapidly
improved; the battery was applied daily, with massage morning and
evening; and in November the plaster-of-Paris jacket was removed, and
he propelled himself about the ward in a rolling chair, and shortly
after was able to get about slowly on crutches. He was discharged
December 23d, and when I saw him six months later he walked very well
and without effort; he carried a cane, but this seemed more from habit
than from necessity. At present date he weighs 150 pounds, and drives a
huckster wagon for a living, showing very little loss of motion in his
lower extremities."

Although few cases show such wonderful improvement as this one,
statistics prove that the results of this operation are sometimes most
advantageous. Thorburn collects statistics of 50 operations from 1814
to 1885, undertaken for relief of injuries of the spinal cord. Lloyd
has compiled what is possibly the most extensive collection of cases of
spinal surgery, his cases including operations for both disease and
injury. White has collected 37 cases of recent date; and Chipault
reports two cases, and collected 33 cases. Quite a tribute to the
modern treatment by antisepsis is shown in the results of laminectomy.
Of his non-antiseptic cases Lloyd reports a mortality of 65 per cent;
those surviving the operation are distributed as follows: Cured, one;
partially cured, seven; unknown, two; no improvement, five. Of those
cases operated upon under modern antiseptic principles, the mortality
was 50 per cent; those surviving were distributed as follows: Cured,
four; partially cured, 15; no improvement, 11. The mortality in White's
cases, which were all done under antiseptic precautions, was 38 per
cent. Of those surviving, there were six complete recoveries, six with
benefit, and 11 without marked benefit. Pyle collects 52 cases of
spinal disease and injury, in which laminectomy was performed. All the
cases were operated upon since 1890. Of the 52 cases there were 15
deaths (a mortality of 29.4 per cent), 26 recoveries with benefit, and
five recoveries in which the ultimate result has not been observed. It
must be mentioned that several of the fatal cases reported were those
of cervical fracture, which is by far the most fatal variety.

Injury to the spinal cord does not necessarily cause immediate death.
Mills and O'Hara, both of Philadelphia, have recorded instances of
recovery after penetrating wound of the spinal marrow. Eve reports
three cases of gun