A manual of minor surgery and bandaging : for the use of house-surgeons, dressers and junior practitioners / by Christopher Heath.

  • Christopher Heath
Date:
1862
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A manual of minor surgery and bandaging : for the use of house-surgeons, dressers and junior practitioners / by Christopher Heath. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    in the Haine of the spirit-lamp until it is thoroughly heated, when a few gentle whilFs of benzole will render the metal incandescent, and it can be kept so by occasionally working the bellows. For arresting htemorrhage the platinum should be only of a dull red heat, whilst for cutting through tissues it should be blown up to a white heat. Caution must be used in bringing the cautery near the mouth of a patient inhaling ether, lest an explosion should occur. Galvano-cautery.—lhe heat is produced by pass- ing an electric current through platinum wire. The current may be obtained from a bichromate of potash battery, but hospitals should be provided with an electric accumulator. The platinum wires are fixed in an insulated handle, having a movable button by means of which connection can be made and broken. Local ancestliesia may be produced by freezing the skin with an apparatus similar to the spray-producer, but employing highly rectified ether, as proposed by Richardson. The effect of the ' ether spray,' wlion played upon the surface, is to blanch and harden it, and incisions may then l)e made with very little pain. The drawbacks to the use of this anaesthetic are, that the subcutaneous tissues are not affected, whilst the skin itself is rendered so hard that it is difficult to operate on it The pain produced by the freezing and thawing of the part is also considerable, and more than counterbalances the advantages claimed for the method. In using the ether-spray at night the greatest care must be taken to avoid the too close proximity of a naked light, as the vapour given off is highly inflammable. Methyl chloride, ethyl chloride, and a mixture of the two drugs known as Anestile and Cory], are largely used by dentists and for small operations. The fluid is supplied in glass tubes with a metal cap, on the removal of which a spray is produced by the