A manual of operative surgery . eand handle of the same piece of steel, since they are so easily cleansedor sterilised (Fig. 354). With regard to the length of the blade, it must be rememberedthat,, when force and precision are required, the blade must be short,and the handle large and strong. This is well illustrated by Symesamputation, for which operation no instrument is better suited thanan old knife, the blade of which has been shortened and narrowedby repeated settings. 472 AMPUTATIONS [PART VI For transfixion operations the length of the blade should be equalto that of one diameter and
A manual of operative surgery . eand handle of the same piece of steel, since they are so easily cleansedor sterilised (Fig. 354). With regard to the length of the blade, it must be rememberedthat,, when force and precision are required, the blade must be short,and the handle large and strong. This is well illustrated by Symesamputation, for which operation no instrument is better suited thanan old knife, the blade of which has been shortened and narrowedby repeated settings. 472 AMPUTATIONS [PART VI For transfixion operations the length of the blade should be equalto that of one diameter and a half of the limb, and the same ruleapplies roughly to the knife required for the circular operation. Over these long blades the operator has little control, as will beshown if he attempt to complete a transfixion or circular amputationwith the long knife used at the commencement of the operation. In performing an amputation at the hip by antero-posterior flapscut by transfixion, the point of the knife has been thrust into the. FIG. 354. — KNIVES MADE WITH THE HANDLE AND BLADE OF ONE PIECE OF STEEL. With these most amputations can be done, though where transfixion of a thigh or arm isemployed a much longer blade is required. femur and broken against that bone, and has found its way into thethyroid foramen, into the scrotum, and into the thigh of the oppositeside. In a good amputating knife the blade is light and narrow, and theback not too heavy. The point of the knife is nearly lancet-shaped. In the smaller knives—such as are adapted for cutting flaps fromwithout inwards—the point may be a little nearer to the dorsumthan to the cutting edge, and the edge itself may be a little 355 shows an amputating knife with almost every bad quality— chap, ij INSTRUMENTS 473 a long knife with a small, weak, smooth, handle ; a blade with aheavy back, a projecting heel, and a tapering and fragile instrument styled in instrument-makers catalogues a meta-carpal k
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