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On the Surgery Hippocrates by Francis Adams—————————————————
—————————————————-1is the business of the physician to know, in
the first place,similar and things dissimilar; those connected with thingsimportant, most
easily known, and in anywise known; which arebe seen, touched, and heard; which are to
be perceived in the sight,the touch, and the hearing, and the nose, and the tongue,
andunderstanding; which are to be known by all the means we knowthings. ——————
————————————————————————————-2things relating to
surgery, are- the patient; the operator; the; the instruments; the light, where and how; how
many things,how; where the body, and the instruments; the time; the manner;place. ——
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3operator is either sitting or standing, conveniently for himself,the person operated upon,
for the light. There are two kinds of, the common and the artificial; the common is not at
our disposal,artificial is at our disposal. There are two modes of using each,to the light, or
from the light (to the side?). There is littleof that which is from (or oblique to the light),
and the degreeit is obvious. As to opposite the light, we must turn the partbe operated
upon to that which is most brilliant of present andlights, unless those parts which should
be concealed, andit is a shame to look upon; thus the part that is operated uponbe
opposite the light, and the operator opposite the part operated, except in so far as he does
not stand in his own light; forthis case the operator will indeed see, but the thing
operatedwill not be seen. With regard to himself when sitting, his feetbe raised to a direct
line with his knees, and nearly in contactone another; the knees a little higher than the
groins, and atdistance from one another, for the elbows to rest upon them.robe, in a neat
and orderly manner, is to be thrown over the elbowsshoulders equally and proportionally.
With regard to the partupon; we have to consider how far distant, and how near,, below,
on this side on that side, or in the middle. The measureto distance and proximity is, that
the elbows do not press thebefore, nor the sides behind; that the hands be not raised
higherthe breasts, nor lower than so as that when the breast reposesthe knees he may have
the hands at right angles with the arm: thusis as regards the medium; but as concerns this
side or that, themust not be beyond his be beyond his seat, but in proportionhe may
require turning he must shift the body, or part of the body,is operated upon. When
standing, he must make his inspection,firmly and equally on both feet; but he must operate
whilehimself upon either leg, and not the one on the same sidethe hand which he makes
use of; the knee being raised to theof the groins as while sitting; and the other measures in
like. The person operated upon should accommodate the operator withto the other parts
of his body, either standing, sitting, or; so as that he may continue to preserve his figure,
avoid sinking, shrinking from, turning away; and may maintain the figure andof the part
operated upon, during the act of presentation,the operation, and in the subsequent
position. ————————————————————————————————
——-4nails should be neither longer nor shorter than the points offingers; and the surgeon
should practice with the extremitiesthe fingers, the index-finger being usually turned to the
thumb;using the entire hand, it should be prone; when both hands, theybe opposed to one
another. It greatly promotes a dexterousof the fingers when the space between them is
large, and whenthumb is opposed to the index. But it is clearly a disease whenthumb is
impaired from birth, or when, from a habit contractedthe time of nursing, it is impeded in
its motions by the fingers.should practice all sorts of work with either of with either of,