NEW BULLET EXTRACTOR.

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 5, Issue 173, 12 May 1916, Page 2 (Supplement)

NEW BULLET EXTRACTOR.

AN INGENIOUS AID TO THE SURGEON.

Among the many ingenious pieces of appara s designed to aid the Army surgeon in his difficult work is the new bullet extractor.

This bullet extractor has necessarily been constructed to meet definite requirements. Tn the first plate, the operation is performed in the dark, the bullet being visible by the shadow thrown by X rays. In the second place the bullet must bo removed with the least possible danger of injury to important structures. In the third place, the operation of removal must be made as i a-y as practicable. The first; object lias been secured by fitting a fluorescent screen to the apparatus in such a manner that, if an Xrays tube be placed under the table and the room darkened, the shadow of the bullet and of the points of the forceps w'll in- c.sibie continuou.i'v. But the solution of one difficulty in this case r.rsos another—that of tie darkened room. A very powerful pair of fnreppis necessary to grip and extract a bullet, and a great deal of damage might be done if something that was not seen, perhaps an artery or a nerve, was pc!;od up along with the buret. Aoc ."d-ie- tb:' blades of ibe for ■ 'ps are attached to an electric In '1 which onlv rugs wh. n both lb- I.bides are touting the bulb t. Therefore, if the bell i« made to ring while the bullet is seized, nothing eNo can have been pii lad mi bc«ide the bullet, and there is no danger in milling it out. The surgen u-'ing th's instrument can therefore no! only see what he is doing, but. bv mean, of the be'l. be has'a very a-curat -anse nf touch for any piece nf metal that he is watching toe point-- of his forceps attempting to pick up from emeiig the structures down below the skin.