AMPUTATING LIMBS BY MACHINERY.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XVIII, Issue 6213, 15 October 1881, Page 7

AMPUTATING LIMBS BY MACHINERY.

Tiik latest, ;mJ 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 effected by the aid of machinery, the machine being a surgical 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 saw, 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. It will, of course, he 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 cases 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, 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 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 preformed owing to the smallness 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 witk highly satisfactory results.