A method of sectioning the whole decalcified body with a knife / R.J. Terry.

  • Terry, Robert J. (Robert James), 1871-1966.
Date:
1900
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: A method of sectioning the whole decalcified body with a knife / R.J. Terry. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

    2/4 (page 2)
    2 jure the larger vessels. Five or six weeks, or even longer, is necessary for the complete decalcification of a hand. There are some precautions which ninst be observed in the treatment of the whole body. It is necessary to examine the surface carefully for pnnctnres, snch as undertakers make with their cannlse in the walls of the belly and chest, or for small gnn-shot wounds. If these exist the body is nnfit for decalcification. A bandage should be evenly wrapped about the head, neck, chest and abdomen, in order that the fluids which are to be injected shall be iiniformly distributed ; for with injections of watery fluids into the vessels there is a tendency to fill the belly and chest to the almost complete exclusion of the limbs. The femoral artery on one side has been selected as the place for injecting the preserving and hardening fluid, which for the whole body has been a mixture of equal parts of formaline and 95 per cent, alcohol. Five or six quarts of this were sent into the artery by an air pressure of lo pounds. While the fluid is running into the subject the head and limbs should be put in proper position and means provided to keep them so; the lips and eyelids should have been closed before the bandage was applied. The subject is to remain undistiirbed for two weeks, and at the end of that time the arms and thighs, for convenience, should be amputated a short distance from the trnnk, and placed at once in the acid bath. Turning our attention now to the trunk, the first thing to be done before beginning to decalcify it, is to find and tie all vessels in the stumps, leaving one femoral artery, however, for the insertion of a canula. The body, still bandaged, should next be placed head down- ward in some vessel which will not be attacked by the acid. The same proportion of acid to water is used for the trunk as for small parts, bnt the subject should be injected with it as well as immersed in it. The injection shonld be done at least twice a day, adding more acid to the fluid as it becomes weaker. When the mandible and the upper part of the femur can be pnnctured with a fine awl the body can be sectioned, for, I have found, these are the last parts to yield to the acid. About ten weeks are required to bring about complete de- calcification.