Important: Safety Warning
This page gives first-aid or emergency advice that predates modern medicine and can make an emergency worse. Do not follow it. In any medical emergency, call emergency services and follow current first-aid guidance.
In addition, this page presents medical treatment from an era before modern medicine. The remedies described are ineffective against the conditions named, and some of the ingredients or doses are harmful. Do not use them to treat any illness; consult a qualified medical professional.
This information has been left in for historical purposes but should not be acted upon.
Amputations
managed that the smaller one is completely cut | warm wine, wine whey, brandy and water, etc., through by the time the other is only half so. The arteries are then to be taken up, the flap brought down and secured by adhesive plasters, etc. as already directed.
Amputation of the Forearm.
As the forearm has two bones in it, the narrow bladed knife, and the strip of linen with three tails, are to be provided. The incision should be straight round the part, as in the arm, with this exception, complete it as directed for the preceding case. Amputation of Fingers and Toes.
Draw the skin back, and make an incision round the finger, a little below the joint it is intended to remove, turn back a little flap to cover the stump, then cut down to the joint, bending it so that you can cut through the ligaments that connect the two bones, the under one first, then that on the side. The head of the bone is then to be turned out, while you cut through the remaining soft parts. If you see an artery spirt, tie it up, if not, bring down the flap and secure it by a strip of sticking-plaster, and a narrow bandage over the whole.
Remarks. To prevent the troublesome consequences of secondary bleeding, before the strips of plaster are applied over the edges of the flap, give the patient, if he is faint, a little wine and water, and wait a few minutes to see whether the increased force it gives to the circulation, will occasion a flow of blood; if it does secure the vessel it comes from. If there is a considerable flow of blood from the hollow of the bone, place a small cedar plug in it. Should violent spasms of the stump ensue, have it carefully held by assistants, and give the patient large doses of laudanum; it may in fact be laid down as a general rule, that after every operation of the kind, laudanum should be given in greater or less doses, as the patient may be in more or less pain.
Of Suspended Animation.