Silver sutures in surgery : the anniversary discourse, before the New York Academy of Medicine, delivered in the new building of the Historical Society, on the 18th November, 1857 / by J. Marion Sims.
- J. Marion Sims
- Date:
- 1858
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: Silver sutures in surgery : the anniversary discourse, before the New York Academy of Medicine, delivered in the new building of the Historical Society, on the 18th November, 1857 / by J. Marion Sims. 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.
42/80 page 42
![(duodenum cut, ileum and jejunum transfixed in three places,) and for an inch around them there was a delicate little effusion of plastic lymph nicely gluing the wounded parts to the adjacent perito- neal coat, while every thing else was in a perfectly normal state. Fortunately he lived long enough to indicate pretty clearly the propriety of using silver sutures in wounds of the intestines. I expected them to become sacculated like lead, and to remain there innocuously, to be taken care of in nature's own way. I have long felt satisfied that the great danger from Wounds of the Peritoneum was due not so much to the mere admission of atmospheric air as to the universal use of ligatures and sutures, left like setons to irritate and inflame this delicate serous membrane. Operations for Hernia are of frequent occurrence, and if performed before strangulation results in sphacelus, are amongst the safest of all grave operations. They show very plainly that the peritoneum may be opened and handled with com- parative immunity.* For the truth of this assertion * Dr. Warren Sxone, the distinguished Prof, of Surgery in the Medical Department of the University of Louisiana, who, as a great practical teacher, ranks with the most eminent in this country, or any other, says of hernia, That no disease is so dangerous to life, and yet so entirely remediable— that the bowel is in danger from the moment it is strangulated, and should be relieved as soon as possible —that the hernial sac can be exposed without the slightest risk-^and that if it should be necessary to open the hernial sac, it can be done with as much safety as venesection can be performed at the bend of the arm. [JVew Orleans Medical Journal, Jan. 1858, page 79.]](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b22274868_0044.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
