207 
MR. COSTELLO ON THE TORSION OF ARTERIES. 
Thus, small cones of alum or sulphate of copper have been used 
as corks in the mouth of the cut artery. These means have 
justly fallen into disuse. Talrich’s styptic has been tried ; but 
it appears useful only in small vessels. Agaric, amadou, cob¬ 
web, sponge, and powdered resin, have been looked upon as 
endowed with a styptic power; and, in capillary hemorrhage, 
solutions of sulphate of iron, sulphate of copper, of alum, or ni¬ 
trate of silver, are found effective. 
Cauterization is now but little used, except in operations on 
the rectum or uterus. In such cases the iron is usually applied 
at a white heat, on the mouth of the vessel, to which it is passed 
down through a conducting tube of the same metal. If the iron 
be not at a white heat, it adheies to the eschar, and detaches it, 
so that the blood continues to flow ; and even when it is applied 
at the proper heat, if it be allowed to remain too long, the same 
effect w 7 ill follow. 
Compression is of great use, and is of two kinds, direct and 
indirect; direct, wdien the vessel is commanded by the finger of 
the surgeon, in a small wound, or a flap amputation, or with the 
graduated compress of agaric, lint, or folds of linen, &c.; in¬ 
direct, when it is established at a distance from the wound, by 
the tourniquet or any other means. It is needless to remark, 
that these different modes are resorted to, separately or in com¬ 
bination. I have seen a capillary hemorrhage which could not 
be checked by direct compression until the femoral artery was 
compressed. 
Koch of Munich's method after amputation, consists in joining 
the flaps by bandages, placing a long compress on the artery, 
and raising the limb. An assistant keeps up a gentle and con¬ 
tinuous pressure for several hours, and until the pulsations are 
observed to become weaker in the stomach. He considers the 
danger from hemorrhage to be at an end when the dressing be¬ 
comes dry and stiff, which it does within 12 or 24 hours. 
The ligature , the thought of which Pare looked upon as an 
inspiration vouchsafed to him by the Almighty, was not, how¬ 
ever, an invention of his time. It was described by the ancients. 
A description of this method, comprising its effects on the artery, 
the substance of which it should be made, the manner of its 
application, &c., would form subjects ample enough for the con¬ 
sideration of an entire evening. Happily being the plan most 
in use, it is also the best known, and, therefore, in this assembly 
especially, the details which belong to it may be omitted. I 
shall merely add that Jones recommends the use of a very slender 
thread of silk, applied tightly enough to cut the internal tunics 
