A brief description of surgical apparatus : intended to accompany a series of delineations of the most important mechanical auxiliaries of surgery / by Henry T. Chapman.

  • Chapman, Henry T. (Henry Thomas), 1806-1874.
Date:
1832
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A brief description of surgical apparatus : intended to accompany a series of delineations of the most important mechanical auxiliaries of surgery / by Henry T. Chapman. 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.

    22/128 (page 10)
    dressing is concluded. The wound is not to be exposed to the air longer than to ensure its per- fect cleanliness, which must be strictly observed with every part of the dressings and the bed. When the operation is completed, the part should be placed in the position most favourable to heal- ing, and least irksome to the patient. To facili- tate the adhesive process, the neighbouring parts must be maintained in a state of relaxation ; the semi-flex position of the limbs is that most easy and natural, and may be selected with advantage in almost every case. To promote the effects of expellent bandages in preventing purulent collec- tions in the cavities of abscesses or the course of fistulous canals, the opening by which the pus makes its exit should be depressed by position to a point lower than its source. Pressure upon the wound in certain situations is avoided by making- use of soft cushions, or a circular pad with a cen- tral aperture ; the inflated pads suggested by Mr. Benson (PI. XI. fig. 5.) are well suited to this pur- pose. The weight of the bed-clothes frequently proves a serious inconvenience; an arched cradle or foot-stool placed upon the mattrass and crossing the limb, readily obviates this. Among the numerous expedients which have been suggested with a view of rendering the con- straint inseparable from the treatment of many surgical maladies as little burthensome as possible, the invalid bed of Mr. Earle (PI. XIV. fig. i.)