On some of the most important diseases of women : with other papers / prefatory essay by R. Ferguson.

  • Robert Gooch
Date:
1859
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: On some of the most important diseases of women : with other papers / prefatory essay by R. Ferguson. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by Royal College of Physicians, London. The original may be consulted at Royal College of Physicians, London.

    196/302 (page 134)
    ]34 of two tubes, capable of being separated and joined, and was originally contrived by a German surgeon, of the name of Niessen, but has since undergone many changes in the hands of different surgeons, especially Levret. A representation of its latest form has been copied from ' Richter's System of Surgery* into Mr. Samuel Cooper's ' First Lines of Surgery.' In tliis sketch the two tubes are curved to correspond with the curvature of the vagina and sacrum. In this instrument I made two changes, the principal one con- sisted in making the tubes straight instead of curved, the latter form I found unnecessary even with the largest polypi; and it was liable to tliis great inconvenience, that when the tubes had been passed round the polypus, so as to meet again on the opposite side, if the upper extremities deviated in the slightest degree from each other, (an accident wliich it was almost impossible to prevent, and which took place, notwithstanding their lower extremities were perfectly parallel,) it was impossible to slip up the cross part which was to join them together. On the contrary, if the tubes were straight it was necessary only to keep the lower extremities perfectly parallel to insure a similar apposition of the upper, and the cross pai't could be slipped up without any difficulty. The instrument which I use for this purpose, and which in numerous cases has assisted me easily tlirough the operation, con- sists of two silver tubes, each eight inches long, perfectly straight, separate from one another, and open at both ends. A long liga- ture, consisting of strong whip-cord, is to be passed up the one tube and down the other, so that the middle of the ligature passes across from the upper end of one tube to the upper end of the other, and the two ends of the ligature hang out at the lower ends; the tubes are now to be placed side by side, and, guided by the finger, are to be passed up the vagina, along the polypus, tiU their upper ends reach that part of the stalk round which the ligature is to be applied; and now the tubes are to be sepa- rated, and while one is fixed, the other is to be passed quite round the polypus tiU it arrives again at its fellow tube; and touches it. It is obvious that a loop of the ligature will thus encircle the stalk. The two tubes are now to be joined so as to make them form one instrument; for tliis purpose two rings, joined by their edges, and just large enough to slip over the two tubes, are to be passed up tiU they reach the upper ends of the tubes wliich they bind together immoveably. Two similar rings, connected with the upper