Antiseptic surgery; the principles, modes of application, and results of the Lister dressing / Tr. from the 2d and completely rev. ed. with the special sanction of the author, and ed. by Frederic Henry Gerrish.

  • Lucas-Championnière, Just Marie Marcellin, 1843-1913.
Date:
1881
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Antiseptic surgery; the principles, modes of application, and results of the Lister dressing / Tr. from the 2d and completely rev. ed. with the special sanction of the author, and ed. by Frederic Henry Gerrish. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Harvey Cushing/John Hay Whitney Medical Library at Yale University, through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the Harvey Cushing/John Hay Whitney Medical Library at Yale University.

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    ence. Although some imitators of Lister advise the hare-lip suture, I consider it defective and useless, and in my anti- septic operations have given it up entirely. A very striking fact to the surgical mind is the freedom with which the suture may be used. The time has gone by for discussion of the question of closing stumps after amputa- tion. The suture is made boldly in wounds of every kind— in amputations, wounds of serous membranes, of articulations, of the scalp. I have used it after removal of a sebaceous cyst of the head; I have employed it upon the scalp after ablation of a lipoma; but I have made it oftener after open- ing immense abscesses, and have obtained perfect reunion of a portion of the opening after reducing the aperture of exit to its necessary dimensions. Apposition is accomplished very easily, and we pay no attention to certain precautions which were recommended in former times. The presence of ligatures in the wound gives no concern; we care verj' little about removing every drop of blood, for what we desire is the asepticity of the wound — its surgical cleanliness, — and this is not interfered with by the presence of little clots. If the parts have been carefully washed with the chloride of zinc solution or the strong solution of carbolic acid, we shall obtain excellent re- union of surfaces which seem to present real, though minute, sloughs. We get it, also, when, the circumstances not ne- cessitating so powerful an antiseptic action, we use weak carbolic solutions, or even the solution of boracic acid. The superficial interrupted suture is the most convenient and the easiest to make. I usually take the stitches more or less deeply, according to the depth of the wound. When there is difficulty in bringing the superficial parts in apposition, repair is greatly facilitated by inserting some deep sutures. Lister advises their use as follows: —