The principles of surgery and surgical pathology : general rules governing operations and the application of dressings / by Hermann Tillmanns ; trans. from the 3rd German ed. by John Rogers, and Benjamin Tilton ; ed. by Lewis A. Stimson.

  • Hermann Tillmanns
Date:
1895
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Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The principles of surgery and surgical pathology : general rules governing operations and the application of dressings / by Hermann Tillmanns ; trans. from the 3rd German ed. by John Rogers, and Benjamin Tilton ; ed. by Lewis A. Stimson. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The University of Leeds Library. The original may be consulted at The University of Leeds Library.

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    connective-tissue spaces are more or less closed by pressure. But these state- ments are exaggei'ated, since, in tlie first place, there is no certainty that the ecraseur, as it cuts its way through, will not cause hsemori'hage, especially from medium-sized arteries. Consequently it is not to he wondered at that ecrasement should he superseded by the aseptic cutting operation, and that it should have passed almost entirely out of use. If we desire to divide the tissues with as little loss of blood as possible, we now use the actual cautery, or, better still, an instrument made of platinum and heated by the galvanic current (galvano-cautery) or benzene vapour (thermo-cautery of Paquelin). The Cautery—The Paquelin Thermo-cautery.—The division of the tissnes by the cautery (red-hot iron) is a very ancient method, and in the middle ages was used especially by the Arabian physicians. The ordinary cautery is made of different-shaped iron or brass rods vrith a wooden handle, and was formerly heated red-hot among glowing coals; but now it is usually heated in the flame of a Bunsen burner or a spirit lamp. The old-fashioned cautery is at present entirely supplanted by Paquelin's thermo-cautery (Fig. 57). Every physician should possess Fig. 51.—Paquelin's tliertno-cautery. one of these instruments. The apparatus works on the principle that platinum, after being sufficiently heated in the flame of a spirit lamp, will be made red-hot by the ignition, in the already hot ]ilatinum, of a mixture of air and vapour of petroleum ether (hydrocarbon com- pounds). In this process the petroleum ether is decomposed into water and carbonic acid, thus giving rise to so much heat that the platinum becomes red-hot. Paquelin's apparatus (Fig. 57) consists of a glass bottle half filled with petroleum ether {F). I use a mixture of two parts of benzine and one part of petroleum. The impure benzine
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