Page:Memoir of George McClellan MD.djvu/21

 raised above the level of the teeth, prevented not only the functions of mastication, deglutition and speech, but also the introduction of food into the mouth. This deplorable condition was aggravated by constant pain, and doomed the sufferer in the morning of life, with precocious intellect, to premature death by pain and starvation. The drawing before you exhibits the case in July, 1823, when McClellan was called to examine and decide on it. He operated. The operation was as rapid as bold, occupying only four minutes and a half. This drawing exhibits the extirpated tumour and jaw; and this preparation is the removed cancerous mass. After the parts had been carefully inspected, the huge flap or pouch of skin was replaced; its cavity partly filled with patent lint bent into the shape of the removed circle of bone, and the whole properly bandaged. The dressing was no sooner completed, than the tongue resumed its natural situation, and, to the great delight and astonishment of all the family, the little sufferer began to articulate with considerable distinctness; called for water, and drank a moderate quantity from a common cup. In three weeks the parts were entirely healed. From the cut surfaces of the condyles shot out a luxuriant crop of granulations, which finally became ossified to the distance of about one inch in front of the angles, forming a solid support for the soft parts below the cheeks. The new flesh beneath the apex of the tongue also became indurated into a ligamentous mass, giving firmness to the integuments, and bolstering out the chin to its natural prominence. The induration of this ligamentous matter eventually became so great as to be a substitute for bone, to which the muscles contracted adhesions, so that the patient masticated common food. In less than five weeks the child became robust and fleshy, went to school in good spirits, articulated