USE OF THE SCALPEL. 199 



HOW TO USE DISSECTING INSTRUMENTS. 



590. Hyrtl complains (A, 62) that " some people hold the for- 

 ceps like fire-tongs, and the scalpel like a cheese-knife." It is true 

 that most anatomical instruments are for either grasping or cutting, 

 but their proper and successful employment demands much more 

 care and delicacy than is needed in ordinary household operations. 

 The good whittler is not necessarily an expert dissector, and even 

 the coarse scissors are to be handled very differently from shears. 



The anatomist, like the surgeon who is an anatomist and some- 

 thing more, should have such command over his muscles and 

 nerves that whatever instrument is in his hands becomes for the 

 time being like a part of himself, an extension of his fingers, sharper, 

 firmer and more slender, yet almost equally mobile and sensitive. 



FIG. 63. THE SCALPEL HELD AS A PEN. (From Bernard). 



591. Use of the Scalpel ( 155). The scalpel may be held in 

 either of three general ways : 



A. Like a Pen (Fig. 68). The edge is directed backward and 

 downward, or forward and upward. This is for ordinary dissection. 



B. Like a Carving-knife (Fig. 64). The edge may be directed 

 upward or downward. This is for the division of more resisting 

 tissues. 



C. Like a Violin-bow (Fig. 65). The scalpel is held between the 

 tip of the pollex on one side and the tips of the other digits upon the 



