Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1905-01-12
FINE STITCHING IN SURGERY
Work of Modern Surgeons Finds Scope
for Skillful Execution
with Needle.

The use of the needle and thread in
closing wounds has come to be a fine
art. In former days the surgeons were
mere bunglers, and most wounds left
hideous scars. But at the present day the
manner in which arteries are ligatured,
tendons spliced, intestines sutured and
wounds closed is the foundation of sue
cess, no skilled use of the scalpel taking
it's place, says the New York Herald.
An English railroad hand recently
walked into a cut where some laboTers
were blasting rocks. His approach was
not noticed and a considerable portion.
of his body was conveyed several feet
distant by the explosion. His left arm
was virtually torn from the socket and
a large part of his scalp had disappeared
altogether. The most serious wounds
were in the trunk. The abdomen hae
been split open as if with a cleaver and
the intestines fell out. An old army
blanket was spread over him and one
of the men was about to get a pine box
when the supposed dead man groaned.
His mutilated body was carried to a hos
pital with the greatest speed.
ALondon surgeon was telegraphed for
by the local doctor who had been sum-
moned. The intestines, which were COW
cred with dirt and small stones, were
washed and warmed with tepid water.
There were IL distinct decorations Of
the small intestines, which were care
fully mended with small stitches. Part
of the mans clothing was found EN-
the cavity. A small, silver watch case
was found bent nearly double where it
had been forced into the stomach. These
foreign bodies were removed and the
abdominal space was washed with a So
luton of bichloride of mercury. The
man fully recovered and returned to
work, but the imitation of crazy quilt
ing" on his hip, where the skin had been
lacerated in a zigzag fashion, showed a
design worked by the surgeon which
would have been the despair Of any
decorative art worker.
Some of the knots which form the
basis of surgical needlework are most
ingenious. There is the square, or reef
knot, which is in most common use. 1t
is never used for tying arteries Or any
delicate work. The "clove hitch" is an
other knot which is found useful n SUI
gerry. 1t is eve known to slip and is
easy to make. It's chief object is to
secure a catheter in the bladder. 1t is
also used to fasten a scarf upon q limb
in order to get a good purchase In re-
ducing a dislocation or Il deformity of a
fracture.
Ligatures are used in many novel
forms. The tying of bleeding arteries,
~bandages, tapes about limbs to control
hfmorrhages or to prevent the absorb
ton Of virus poisoning the blood, as
from a reptiles sting, are the uses Of
l%igaturing in surgery. Those used for
tying arteries are unbleached thread,
A very fine, ductile, metallic thread,
generally of silver, has also been much
used. When there is difficulty in &C.
curing a bleeding point, on account of
the friable nature of the tissues or be-
cause the latter are too dense to be
pinched by the forceps or ligature, the
hemorrhage can be arrested by passing
a suture deeply beneath the bleeding
vessel and tying the thread so as to
include it. 1t is thus that Horsley con-
trolls hemorrhage in operations on the
brain.
1.-THE Staffordshire knot" a method OF
applying l%igatures, has bee introduced
by Prof. TAFT. A small pedicle or an
organ under operation may be trans
fixed with a single thread, tied around
one-half, and the ends carried around the
central pedicle and tied on the other
side.
There are two forms Of sutures for
drawing the edges of wounds together.
They are the interrupted and continuous.
The former is employed when only one
or two stitches are used; the latter when
the wound has to be regularly sewed,
like a seam. By the continuous suture
with each stitch, which is independently
fastened, if the thread should break in
one stitch the wound would be held. An
irregularity of seam is often seer in the
continuous suture owing to the fact that,
although the needle has passed at right
angles to the incision at each stitch.
there is an oblique pull upon the lips Of
the wound when the suture is finished.
This is avoided by passing the needle
after each stitch through the loop Of the
preceding one, thus making a sort Of
continuous chain called the Glover
suture," and making each stitch partly
independent of the rest.