A treatise on aneurism : with numerous additions, and a Memoir on the ligature of the principal arteries of the extremities / by Antonio Scarpa ... ; with engravings ; translated from the Italian, with additional cases and an appendix, by John Henry Wishart.

  • Scarpa, Antonio, 1752-1832.
Date:
1819
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A treatise on aneurism : with numerous additions, and a Memoir on the ligature of the principal arteries of the extremities / by Antonio Scarpa ... ; with engravings ; translated from the Italian, with additional cases and an appendix, by John Henry Wishart. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine, through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine, Harvard Medical School.

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    and not sufficiently supported by general and firm principles, or because these metallic instruments, to be introduced into and retained, for a certain time, in the bottom of the recent and exquisitely sensible wound, were, not without very just cause, considered as injurious to the artery and to the wound, in con- sequence of their weight pressing upon the subjacent parts, and being with difficulty kept in an accurate correspondence with the direction and depth of the wound. Having now proved, by steady and incontrovertible facts contained in this Memoir, that the speedy union and complete closure of the artery can be obtained without previously rupturing its two internal coats ; and that this is effected, at least, as quickly as when the two internal coats of the artery have been divided by the ligature, I could no longer hesitate upon the choice of the operative process for the ligature of the great arteries of the extremities. The step which re- mained to be taken for the improvement of surgery, consisted principally, and, perhaps, solely, in adapting the usual ligature in such a manner as not to occasion injury to any of the coats of the artery, and that it should not be the cause of unnecessary irritation to the wound, and, at the same time, that it should be calculated for retarding, as much as possible, the ul- cerative process of the tied artery. As experience, in like manner, had demonstrated, that, on the completion of the course of the adhesive inflammation in the tied artery, it is not at all neces- sary, nor of any advantage, to wait for the separation of the ligature* as is generally done; and that it is even practicable, or rather beneficial, to free the ar- tery and the wound as quickly as possible from the presence of a foreign body, it becomes a subject of