I^eiv Itijlrumcnt for Trcparmlug. 2cy 



ing as the weather is more or lefs favourable for drying the 

 body. The procefs of drying mioht perhaps be a little 

 fliortened by the application of artificial heat. 



The theory of this procefs, as C. Chaptal thinks, is, that 

 the ether, while it evaporates, volatilifes the moillure in the 

 animal body, by thcfe means eftefts a gradual deliccation, 

 and thus removes the only caufc of corruption. 



III. Defcr'tpt'ion of a 7ieiu Jnflrumcnt for Trepanning, invent fd 

 hy Mr. JoH>4 Rodman, Surgeon in Fnijhy. Communi- 

 cated by the Inventor, 



A HE operation of trepanning muft be confidered a very- 

 important one in furgery, both on account of the dangers 

 with which it is often attended, and the beneficial effefts 

 which follow the fuccefsful performance of it. The danger 

 and accidents which attend this operation arlfe partly from 

 the imperfection of the inftruments employed, and partly 

 from want of dexterity in the operator. 



To manage the inftruments now in ufe for trepanning with 

 neatnefs and facility, would require a degree of mechanical 

 dexterity which falls to the lot of few furgeons : yet furgeons 

 the moft inexperienced, and unaccuftomed to operations of 

 any kind, are often neceflarily called upon to perform this 

 operation. 



The trepan is allowed by the greater number of furgeons" 

 to be a dangerous Inilrument, and the ufe of the trephine, 

 though more generally employed, has been fometimes fol- 

 lowed by fatal accidents. 



The chief objedlion to the more general ufe of the trepan 

 feems to arife from the chance of its pafling fuddenly in upon 

 the brain towards the end of the operation. To avoid fuch 

 an accident, the celebratvid profedor of anatomy at Edinburgh 

 fays, in his letlures, that it might be as well to begin the 

 operation with the trepan, and to finifli it with the trephine. 

 But, whichever of thcfe inflruments be employed, there is flill 

 ariikof the bone being unequally cut: for, if the indrumcnt 

 b'i held in the fmallell degree to one fide during the opera- 

 tion. 



