AMPUTATIONS. 



envelope of coarse cloth. The wound may cicatrize by first or by 

 second intention, according to the severity of the original injury, 

 as well as to the amount of attention bestowed upon the antisep- 

 tic apphcations which may have been employed. 



Fig. 289.— Wooden Leg after Amputation. 



CompHcations are not uncommon after amputations, though 

 they do not materially differ from those which are encountered in 

 other serious operations. Among those which may be mentioned 

 are: 1st. (Secondary hemorrhage, as the result of carelessness in 

 the application of the ligatures, which can be overcome, however, 

 by immediate or lateral compression, or by the renewal of the lig- 

 ature. 2d. Abscesses, of various dimensions, resulting from the 

 presence of the ligatures into the wound, or possibly of necrosis 

 of the bone. These collections are to be treated in the usual way, 

 as are also undermining of the skin by suppiu'ative collections, 

 phlehitis, purulent infection and gangrene, all of these being con- 

 ditions having the same indications as in other forms of traumatic 

 lesions. 



There are, however, some complications which belong specially 

 to the sequelae of this operation, such as may result from an im- 

 proper section of the bone, which might end in the formation of 

 a conical stump, a condition which, like that of strangidation of 

 the stump, can only be relieved by a new amputation, with a bet- 



