AMPUTATING LIMBS BY MACHINERY.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XVI, Issue 254, 25 October 1881, Page 4

AMPUTATING LIMBS BY MACHINERY.

The latest and perhaps the most startling application of'mechanical principles which has come under our notice is that "which has been made by Dr. W..G. A. Bonwill, of Philadelphia, in

the department of surgery. It is startling because the amputation of a limb may now be eflfeetpd l>v tbe aid of nmohinprv. the maplnnp being a Pnrgical engine, invented by Dr. Bonwill, and recently presented by that gentleman to St. Bartholomew's Hospital. The engine consists of an iron standard carrying an arrangement of multiplying wheel gear, which by means of an endless cord passing over pulleys transmits rapid rotary motion to either small drills or very fine circular saws, as the case may be. These instruments are attached to the end of a series of rods connected by universal joints, forming elbows, which permit the operator to move the cutting instrument in any direction he pleases while it is revolving at an incredibly high speed. If will, of course, be understood that these instruments are intended to deal only with bone, and their application was courteously demonstrated recently by one of the surgeons of the hospital. Thus with the drill it was shown that in eases where it is desired to hold the parts of a fractured bone rigidly together in a certain position, holes can be drilled and pins inserted which, heing held in a steel frame, keep the parts exactly in position. With the circular saw it was demonstrated that pieces of any required shape can easily be cut out of and removed from a bone, or a bone can be cut through in a few seconds. For amputations a small straight saw can be used; it is simply fitted into the holder, and as it is attached to a small eccentric worked from the main gearing it has a very rapid reciprocating action imparted to it when the gearing is put in motion, which is done by means of a small hand wheel. The comparatively slow movement of the hand of the operator is here replaced by the inconceivably rapid motion of the mechanical saw. By this means not only is the time occupied in the operation greatly shortened, but the operation itself is much more neatly performed owing to the smollnes-3 of the cutting instrument and the high speed at which it is moved. This apparatus, which was brought under notice at the late Medical Congress, is stated to be in use in the United States with highly satisfactory results.