Under the red crescent : being surgical experiences and observations as an ambulance surgeon in Bulgaria during the Russo-Turkish war of 1877-1878 / by Robert Pinkerton.

  • Pinkerton, Robert, M.B.
Date:
1879
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Under the red crescent : being surgical experiences and observations as an ambulance surgeon in Bulgaria during the Russo-Turkish war of 1877-1878 / by Robert Pinkerton. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The University of Glasgow Library. The original may be consulted at The University of Glasgow Library.

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    bone, which could be made out by insertinjsf a finpfer into the wound. The man was in remarkably good coiulitioii, not much pulled down by his surierin<,ns, and seemed a strong healthy fellow. No case cerUiinly could have aj>}X'.'uv(l njore f' ' ' <■ T '<■. Tlie limb was ani] ' • '1 ln'twcon the u.. . . .. . V, . thirds of the le<;, the ion considered mo6t . e for a Teale. The force of the bullet having fallen in great measure upon tlie bone, left the soft structures comjiaratively uninjured. The nature and extent of the injury to ' ■ • ■ ■ ' its division hi^di up, o)K>rate by what- evti and yet it was jiossiMe to get good flapH a e ie way Im Iow the point, where the bone roiiuirod to be siiwn, especially on the anterior aspect just wlu re Teale's long tlap comes from. 1 nieasured and marked out the Haps, with ink. most accurat-ely, aceordiiig to the rule laitl down l»y T ' hinjs»'lf'. The man stood the t)pcration well. Unfortui. > 1 had to leave next morning lor duty further along the IMevna roa<l, and when I returned, some days after, I found the flaps had sloughed, and the leg had been re-an)putateil higher up. This slougliing of the Haps, especially the lor • . is thi' constant expen( nee ofall military surgeons who h.; 11 ied Teale s ojx ration, so that I am afraid we, nmst look upon it as a most misuitable metho<l. I certainly would never think of trying it again, not because one unsuccessful case is sufficient oi itself to condemn a surgical method, but because th»'n> was everything possible associated with this nartirr.xsv to make me distrust this style of operation. Mr. M mac, of St. Thomas' Hospital, in his Noim of an Ah lice Surgeon durivg the Campaign of 1H70, states that the only fatal case of amputation in the middle third of the h . one where Teale's operation had been performed. He s: mtly adds, it was the only instance in which recoui IS ha»l to this form of operation. Although not a military case, the following, as a rare and what some may even consider an obsolete surgical operation, may be interesting:—While I was acting at Philippojwlis as chief medical officer for the Stafford House Hospitals there, I came a goo^l deal in contact with Dr. Vlathos, the chief civil practitioner of the town and district, and who was, besides, one of the surgeons in connection with the Government hospitals. Dr. Vlathos was of Greek nationality, about 52 years of age, and had studied and taken his diploma from the Vienna School of Medicine. He was a most intelligent and agreeable gentle- man, and a very goo<l siirgcon, and took no little trouble in showing me any cases in his private practice which he thought