A system of practical surgery / by William Fergusson.

  • William Fergusson
Date:
1852
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A system of practical surgery / by William Fergusson. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    39/878 (page 15)
    to become acquainted, and which, I think, may, in a work of this kind, be advantageously referred to at the present time. The probe, which is represented in fig. 21, is of its ordinary shape but slightly Fig. 20. diminished in size, being usually about five inches in length, is a simple instrument of great service in the practice of surgery. With it the course of deep wounds and sinuses, the presence of foreign bodies, the condition of bones, and a variety of im- portant knowledge can be ascertained : it is of use in many operations, and though the finger is a preferable probe, when its presence is admissible, the metal rod is altogether so serviceable, that the surgeon cannot possibly dispense with its use. It ought to be made of pure silver, so that it will not readily break on being bent: one extremity (the point) is rounded off, and a little larger than the body, the other is generally made with a slit (or eye), through which a thread may be passed, when it is wished to employ the probe for the pur- pose of drawing a seton through a sinus, passing a ligature under an artery, or for other objects, as shall be more particularly stated afterwards. Other metals are occa- sionally substituted for silver, and other shapes and sizes may be required to track a sinus or wound, or to detect a deep- seated foreign substance. The different sorts of bougies for the treatment of stric- tures, the sound or searcher, which is used to detect a stone in the bladder, are modifi- cations of the probe adapted to the peculiar circumstances of each case ; but for ordi- , nary purposes, that now referred to is best adapted for the surgeon’s pocket-set of _ instruments. A director (fig. 22) is sometimes of use, partly as a probe, and partly to guide a cutting instrument in a desired course. It may very generally be dispensed with, as the finger is much to be pre- ferred even in cases where this instrument is by some considered abso- lutely necessary, as, for example, in cutting the stricture in hernia, on which occasion the finger is the best and safest guide for the bistoury. 1 have known a surgeon push a director into the gut in this operation and thus inflict an injury by using it, which it was his object to avoid with the point of the bistoury. There are instances, however, where