A SURGICAL ENGINE.

Daily Telegraph (Napier), Issue 3264, 17 December 1881, Page 4

A SURGICAL ENGINE.

To our American friends, the Times says, belongs the credit of having superseded manual labour by mechanical agency in many special directions, and we are constantly receiving from them some new labour saving appliances or other. The latest, and perhaps the most startling, application of mechanical principles which has come under our notice is that which has been mado 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 effected by the aid of machinery, the machine being a surgical engine, invented by Dr. Bonwill, and recently presented by that gentleman to bt. 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. Ifc will of course, be understood that these instruments are intended to deal only with bone, and that their application was courteously demonstrated to us by one of the surgeons of the hosjjital upon the occasion of our visit. Thus with the drill ifc was shown that in cases where it is desired to hod the parts of a fractured bone rigidly together in a certain position, holes can be drilled and pins inserted which, being 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 ifc 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 nob only is the time occupied in tha operation greatly shortened, but the operation itself is much more neatly performed owing to the smallness of the cutting instrument and the high speed afc which ifc is moved. This apparatus, which was brought under notice afc the late Medical Congress, is stated to be in use in the United Hates with highly satisfactory results. It has not yefc been tried in practice in this country, but it is the opinion of those who are best qualified to judge of its merits that it is destined to render great aid in certain departments of surgery. Dr. Bonwill is certainly entitled to the thanks of the medical profession, and ro less those of the suffering public, for having dedicated his invention to their free service.