A dictionary of practical surgery: containing a complete exhibition of the present state of the principles and practice of surgery, collected from the best and most original sources of information, and illustrated by critical remarks (Volume 1).

  • Samuel Cooper
Date:
1810
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Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A dictionary of practical surgery: containing a complete exhibition of the present state of the principles and practice of surgery, collected from the best and most original sources of information, and illustrated by critical remarks (Volume 1). Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the National Library of Medicine (U.S.), through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the National Library of Medicine (U.S.)

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    A M A remarkable in those, who had totally lost the sight of either eye, for, in ihem, the most oblique rays of light seemed to make the first sensible im- pression upon the retina; and in pro- portion as that nervous coat regained its sensibility, the sight became more direct and natural. („Ue</. Obs. undlnq. vol. 5). Many of the causes of amaurosis are of sucli a nature, as to render the dis- ease totally incurable. Bonetus, in his Sepulchre turn Jlnalomicum lib. 1. sect. 18. has given us several such cases : after death, the blindness in one was found to be occasioned by an encysted tumour weighing fourteen drams, situ- ated in the substance of the cerebrum, and pressing on the optic nerves near their organ. In a second, the blind- ness was produced by a cyst, contain- ing water, and lodged on the optic nerves, where they unite. In a third, it arose from a caries of the os frontis, and a consequent alteration in the fi- gure of the optic foramina. In a fourth, the cause of the disease was, a malformation of the optic nerves them- selves. In some of the instances, in which no apparent alteration can be discovered in the optic nerve, Mr. Ware conjectures, whether a dilatation of the anterior portion of the circulus arteriosus may not be a cause of the affection. The circulus arteriosus is an arterial circle, surrounding the sella turcica, formed by the carotid arteries on each aide, branches passing from them to meet each other before, and other branches passing backwards, to meet branches from the basilary artery behind. The anterior part of the circu- lus arteriosus lies directly over, cros- ses, and is in contact, with the optic nerves, just in the same way as the anterior branches lie over the optic nerves, the posterior ones lie over the nervi uiotorcs oeulorum. Hence Mr. Ware attempts to refer the amaurosis itself, and the paralytic affection of the eyelids, and muscles of the eye, sometimes attendant on the complaint, to a dilatation of the anterior and pos- terior branches of the circulus arterio- sus. Dr ] noticed, in his Morbid Anatomy, the frequently dis- eased state of the trunk, or the small branches of the carotid arteries on the side of the sella turcica, and he says the same sort ot diseased structure is and in the basilary artery and its br;i> A M P 23 The most valuable information, con- cerning amaurosis, is to be met with in Medical Observation and Inquiries. Vermischte Chirurgische Schriften von J. L. Schmucker. Band 2. Berlin. Edit. 2. 1786. Remarks on Ophthalmy, He. by James Ware. Inquiry into the causes preventing success in the extraction of the Cataract, &c. by the same. Osser- vazioui sidle Malattie degli Occ/ii di A. Scarpa. Venez. 1802. Bey's Practical Observations in Surgery. AMBE, {tty.Q», the edge of a rocky from oL/xScum, to ascend) an old chirur- gical machine for reducing disloca- tions of the shoulder, and so called, because its extremity projects, like the prominence of a rock. Its inven- tion is imputed to Hippocrates. The ambe is the most ancient mechanical contrivance for the above purpose ; but, not at present employed. Indeed, it is scarcely to be met with in the richest cabinets of surgical apparatus. It is composed of a piece of wood, ris- ing vertically from a pedestal, which is fixed. With the vertical piece is articulated after the manner of a hinge, an horizontal piece, with a gutter formed in it, in which the luxated limb is laid, and secured with leather strings. The patient places himself on one side of the machine ; his arm is ex- tended in the gutter, and secured; the angle, formed by the union of the ascending piece, and by the horizontal branch, is lodged in the armpit, and then the horizontal branch is depres- sed. In this way extension is made, whilst the vertical part makes counter extension, and its superior part tends to force the head of the humerus into its cavity. But, there is nothing to fix the scapula, and the compression made by the superior portion of tin- vertical piece of the machine, tends to force the head of the humerus into it* cavity, before it is disengaged by the extension. (Meyer on J)i*euscs of the Bones, Vol. 2. ) AMBLYOPIA, (from syt&wc, dull, and fc|, the eye). Hippocrates means by this word, in his Aph. 31. Sect. 3. the dimness of sight, to which okJ people are subject. Paulus, Actuarius, and the best modern writers, seem to think, that amblyopia means the same- thing as the incomplete amaurosis. (Encyclopcdie Mcthodique ; Partus Chi~ rurgicale.). AMPUTATION, (from amputo, to cut off.) This term signifies the ope;--