SURGERY. 217 
* trachea; ’, carotid artery; °, inferior thyroid artery; °, laryngeal nerve 
and branches; *, cellular tissue. 
To extract the foreign body after the operation, we may make use of a 
straight forceps (pil. 140, fig. 15), or if it be some distance from the opening, 
of a curved foreeps as shown in jig. 78. Degenerate portions of the mem- 
brane of the oesophagus, false membranes, &e., may be removed with the 
knife or with the scissors. The introduction of nourishment when necessary 
is to be effected by means of a flexible tube. 
If the foreign body be not too large it may in most instances be removed 
without an operation. An instrument for extracting such substances, 
invented by Petit, and improved by Eckholdt, is shown in fig. 79. It con- 
sists of a handle, a; a ferule, ); a whalebone rod, cc; a silver tube with 
two hooks, d, to which is fastened an elastic tube, e e; fis a long cylindri- 
eal piece of sponge to which are attached some loops of thread, g, to catch 
hold of small angular bodies. | 
For the extraction of bodies of moderate size Eckholdt made use of the 
apparatus shown in jig. 80. An elastic catheter, g g, is provided at its 
superior extremity with an open convex silver ferule attached to it by two 
arms. Into the catheter is passed a round whalebone rod with a wooden 
handle, which carries a silver ferule, b. This ferule, ¢, has a ridge, c, round 
its margin, cut through in two opposite places; a silver tube, e, on the 
catheter has a small hook, /, on each side, which passing through the breaks 
in the ridge, e,-and slightly rotated, serves to unite the catheter to the han- 
dle. The whalebone rod projects about two inches beyond the tube, and 
to its anterior end is fastened a small silver button having eight grooves 
radiating from the centre, cut on its surface. In these are laid four thin 
whalebone rods about five inches long, and crossing each other in the cen- 
tre of the button; these are held in place by a small cap with eight teeth, 
which bend down between the rods and thus keep them in place; they are 
then bent over and tied along the anterior end of the tube, and afterwards 
surrounded by a ferule with the anterior margin bent in between the rods 
to keep them at a proper distance apart. The cage thus formed will of 
course be enlarged and expanded on drawing back the rod, and on the 
other hand elongated and greatly diminished in diameter by pushing the 
rod out or forwards. ‘To extract pins or other sharp bodies, the cage may 
be covered with a small bag of fine silk, and also encircled by numerous 
loops of thread. 
12. AMPUTATION. 
Amputation proper has reference to the cutting through of a limb: when 
the separation takes place at a joint, we have excision, or ex-articulation. 
Amputating apparatus consists of the following instruments: two tour- 
niquets (pl. 140, jigs. 86-88, those of Henkel and Savigny); amputating 
knives of various sizes, single edged for circular sections, and double edged 
for flap operations (jig. 84, Savigny’s knife; jig. 85, Weiss’s knife for cir. 
923 
