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.

    82/878 (page 58)
    referred to. A needle of this size (fig. 56), with the eye and end covered with a bit of glass or sealing-wax, to enable the surgeon to Fig. 56. 1 push it through the textures, will answer for general purposes. It is such as was recommended by John Bell, with the addition of the round head, whereby the surgeon can dispense with any assistance from the port-aiguille, or the handle of a tambouring needle. Of late I have frequently used a needle made expressly for the twisted suture. It is flat and sharp at the point, and makes its way more readily and with less pain than the common needle; it is, moreover, not so highly tempered, and its point can therefore be more readily snipped off with the pliers, whose edges will always suffer from the hardness of the former. I now rarely use any other needle for the twisted suture, and having lately succeeded in getting a glass head put on by the makers, I consider it admirably fitted for the objects in view. Figure 57 represents the needle in its full size, and also the shape of the point. Fig. 57. - - -0 The thread for sutures should be a little thicker than that for tying arteries. For the common stitch nothing answers better than ordi- nary linen or silk thread doubled, but I prefer a thick substance for the twisted suture; and with either of these, as also with the ligatures for arteries, if the material appears too limber, a little bees-wax on the surface may be advantageously used to prevent entanglement, and to facilitate the casting of the noose as already explained at p. 35. In consequence of the recommendation of Mr. Nunnely, I have occasionally used caoutchouc thread for the interrupted, suture; but after giving it repeated trials, it seems to me, for various reasons, inferior to the common silk or linen thread. It is more difficult to procure; the slightest stretching causes it to extend irregularly; it becomes thin at one part and thick at another; it curls up into knots, and is not so readily fastened as the common thread; and when I add, that it does not seem to produce less irritation than that for which it has been substituted, and is, besides, somewhat more troublesome, to remove, I think that sufficient grounds have been given for the opinion above expressed. Other sutures are described by surgical authors, but they are seldom used in practice; and, so far as my experience goes, I am