Cases in surgery illustrative of a new method in applying the wire ligature in compound fractures of the lower jaw / by Hugh Owen Thomas.

  • Hugh Owen Thomas
Date:
1869
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Cases in surgery illustrative of a new method in applying the wire ligature in compound fractures of the lower jaw / by Hugh Owen Thomas. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    G It is not necessary for me to enter into any of the difficulties of the numerous methods now in practice; the mechanics of this injury have been so well illustrated hy Hamilton, Packard, and Heath. I make no claim to originality in the use of wire ligature in fractures of the jaw, as it has been used, though only in exceptional cases, by Hr. Buck, of New York, in 1847; Kinloch, of Charleston, 1859 ; Hamilton, of New York, 1858; and Hr. Wheelhouse, of Leeds, 1864. In 1863 I operated successfully in a case where a portion of the lower jaw, including two incisor teeth, had been removed by a direct blow from a capstan bar. Since then I have on every occasion practised this plan. The instruments used are the drill (fig. 3, PL I) and its how (fig. 2), or the steel-rod (fig. 4), covered with india-rubber, to place in the groove A (fig. 3) to drive the drill; the key (fig. 5) for twisting the ends of the wire, a tubular straight needle (fig. 6), and a watchmaker’s broach. Pig. 1 is for the purpose of broaching at right angles between the molar teeth. The operation is advo-