A surgical handbook : for the use of students, practitioners, house-surgeons, and dressers / by Francis M. Caird and Charles W. Cathcart.

  • Caird, Francis Mitchell, 1853-1926
Date:
1889
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A surgical handbook : for the use of students, practitioners, house-surgeons, and dressers / by Francis M. Caird and Charles W. Cathcart. 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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    can be got in a cnidf state from the tar distillers, by gentlemen who prefer to make the preparation themselves. Those who may piefer it ready prepared can get it from Mr. Critehley, 88 Uj)per I'itt Street, Liverpool. Now as to the various modes of a|)plicalion. Wlien 1 desire its action as a moist application, 1 cover the locality, or bury a portion of the limb in the prepared sawdust, immediately covering the sawdust with either guttapercha tissue or sheets of tinfoil. If I am using it for compound injury to the hand or w rist, a bare .sheet- iron s]ilint is applied and strapped to the part for the purpose of ti.\ation, and the whole is then covered with an ample c|uantity of llic dust, sustained by a cloth anil bandages. When using it for a com- pound fracture of the forearm, two hollow sheel-iron sjjiints of suitable length are selected ; their concavities are well lilled up with sawdust, and applied so as to protect the wound, as well as to fix the fractuie. Should two splints not sufficiently cover them, a third of a similar pattern is added. The same plan is followed with compound fractures of the humerus. The reader will note that in using the sawdust to injuries of the hand, the support is applied primarily, the dust after. J follow the same rule with compound injuries of the ankle and foot; the means of fi.xation, if practicable, is first applied, then the dust. Occasionally, of course, this is not possible, and the order has to be re- versed. In compound fractures of the leg 1 select an iron trough boot, which I half fill with sawdust and jjlace the limb on the bed of dust, then reduce the deformity; fill up the trough as high as po.ssible with dust, then apply my bare sheet-iron splints, lining them with the dust contained in the trough. For compound injuries of the knee-joint, and fractures of the thigh, 1 apply my ring splint, with its special mode of fixed extension, then bury the limb in the dust, which is sustained by a bedroom towel and a few bandages.