Surgical appliances and minor operative surgery / by Thomas Annandale.

Date:
[1866]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Surgical appliances and minor operative surgery / by Thomas Annandale. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. The original may be consulted at the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh.

    235/264 (page 223)
    consequence, in making such examination in private houses, that all articles of clothing in connection with the body should be kept clean, so that, when they are replaced, they may look as unaltered and neat as possible. The first thing to be done, in making a post-mortem examination, is to note carefully the external condition of the whole body. The amount of emaciation and putrefaction should be observed, as well as any peculi- arity in its conformation. Any external marks, bruises, or wounds, should be carefully examined, especially if the case is a medico-legal one, and their nature (whether recent or old, ante-mortem or post- mortem), extent, direction, and depth determined. When these facts have been ascertained, the different regions should be examined in the following order :— Head.—It is much better to examine this portion of the body before cutting into the thoracic or abdo- minal cavities. The head having been supported on a block, an incision should l>e carried from one ear over the top of the head to the other ear, and should pass quite down to the bone. The scalp is then to be torn off, one flap being drawn backwards over the occiput, the other forwards over the forehead and face. When the vault of the skull has thus been exposed, the knife should be carried round the cranium at a line which will pass across the middle of the forehead through the upper part of the temporal muscles and a little above the occipital protuberance, so that any remaining soft textures may be divided, and the saw applied more readily. The upper part of the skull or calvaria is then to be removed by sawing through the bone along this line. The bone may be sawn com- pletely through, or only partially, the separation being completed in the latter instance by means of the chisel and mallet. Whichever method is adopted, care must be taken to avoid injuring the membranes of the brain. When the calvaria has been removed, the surface of