ON THE CATGUT LIGATURE 107 



the person who supphes it, not being aware of the enormous importance of the 

 question of time, if he happens to run out of that which has been long prepared, 

 will sell what has been only a short time in the preparing liquid, and is, in con- 

 sequence, altogether untrustworthy. A case illustrating this point occurred 

 last year in my practice at King's College Hospital. A patient was admitted 

 who had met with a severe wound on the ulnar side of the forearm, at the anterior 

 aspect. The ulnar artery had been divided. This had been secured by my 

 house surgeon, who had also tied with catgut the corresponding ends of the 

 various tendons that had been severed. But, when I saw the patient next 

 day, I found that he could not feel with his little finger and the adjacent side 

 of the ring finger, and, therefore, it was evident that his ulnar nerve also had 

 been divided, and my house surgeon had not thought of attending to the ulnar 

 nerve. I therefore cut the stitches in the skin, and proceeded to explore the 

 deeper parts of the wound, in order to find the ends of the divided nerve, and 

 tie them also together with catgut ; and I found that all the catgut sutures 

 with which the ends of the several tendons had been tied together were lying 

 absolutely loose ; the knots had slipped within the twenty-four hours ; and 

 yet this catgut had been supplied by one of our ordinary instrument-makers. 

 He had sent us what had not been sufficiently long prepared. I took care to 

 use proper catgut for the ulnar nerve ; and the patient left the hospital with 

 restored sensation in the fingers. The length of time that it requires is, there- 

 fore, an exceedingly serious objection to the present method of preparation ; 

 and one great object which I have had in view, in a series of experiments on 

 this subject, has been to devise a means, if possible, of preparation within a short 

 time. These experiments — it may seem almost ludicrous to say so — have 

 occupied two years of my leisure in the past, some time ago ; and, after being 

 interrupted by an accidental circumstance, have been continued in a more 

 desultory manner since ; but at length I feel myself justified in bringing before 

 you a new mode of preparation, by which the catgut may in a short period be 

 brought into a perfectly reliable condition. 



But before I allude to these experiments, which I must endeavour to do 

 in a short compass — I should weary you if I were to bring a large proportion 

 of my facts before you, though I may say, out of the hundreds of experiments 

 I have performed on the subject, I have never performed one which has not 

 added sometliing to my knowledge of it — before referring to these experiments, 

 I wish to say a few words as to what catgut is. Catgut, as you are all doubtless 

 aware, is prepared from the small intestine of the sheep. The gut is treated 

 in what seems an exceedingly rude manner for so delicate a structure. It is 

 scraped with some blunt instrument, such as the back of a knilc, o\cr a board ; 



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