68 Motion of the 



mortification in extremities ; and how they act in the 

 castration of animals and the removal of warts and 

 fleshy tumours. But it has come to pass, from no one 

 having duly weighed and understood the causes and 

 rationale of these various effects, that though almost all, 

 upon the faith of the old writers, recommend ligatures in 

 the treatment of disease, yet very few comprehend their 

 proper employment, or derive any real assistance from 

 them in effecting cures. 



Ligatures are either very tight or of middling tight- 

 ness. A ligature I designate as tight or perfect when 

 it is drawn so close about an extremity that no vessel 

 can be felt pulsating beyond it. Such a ligature we 

 use in amputations to control the flow of blood ; and 

 such also are employed in the castration of animals 

 and the removal of tumours. In the latter instances, 

 all afflux of nutriment and heat being prevented by the 

 ligature, we see the testes and large fleshy tumours 

 dwindle, and die, and finally fall off. 



Ligatures of middling tightness I regard as those 

 which compress a limb firmly all around, but short of 

 pain, and in such a way as still surfers a certain degree 

 of pulsation to be felt in the artery beyond them. Such 

 a ligature is in use in blood-letting, an operation in 

 which the fillet applied above the elbow is not drawn 

 so tight but that the arteries at the wrist may still be felt 

 beating under the finger. 



Now let any one make an experiment upon the arm 

 of a man, either using such a fillet as is employed in 

 blood-letting, or grasping the limb tightly with his hand, 

 the best subject for it being one who is lean, and who 

 has large veins, and the best time after exercise, when 

 the body is warm, the pulse is full, and the blood 

 carried in larger quantities to the extremities, for all 

 then is more conspicuous ; under such circumstances 

 let a ligature be thrown about the extremity, and drawn 

 as tightly as can be borne, it will first be perceived that 

 beyond the ligature, neither in the wrist, nor anywhere 



