Commentaries on the surgery of the war in Portugal, Spain, France, and the Netherlands : from the battle of Roliça, in 1808, to that of Waterloo, in 1815, showing the improvements made during and since that period in the great art and science of surgery on all the subjects to which they relate. Revised to 1853 / by G.J. Guthrie.

  • Guthrie, G. J. (George James), 1785-1856.
Date:
1853
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Commentaries on the surgery of the war in Portugal, Spain, France, and the Netherlands : from the battle of Roliça, in 1808, to that of Waterloo, in 1815, showing the improvements made during and since that period in the great art and science of surgery on all the subjects to which they relate. Revised to 1853 / by G.J. Guthrie. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The University of Glasgow Library. The original may be consulted at The University of Glasgow Library.

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    Toulouse; for all arrived full of the notions thoy derived from their teachers; and some of whom were not, even for yearsaftpr- wards.abletodivestthemselvesentirelyoftheirancientopinions. The consequence was, that gun-shot or compound fractures of either extremity, when of a serious nature, were usually considered proper cases for amputation; and many of our best and bravest officers and soldiers suffered, in consequence, a mutilation, which I had learned was unnecessary. The first four conflicts in which that army engaged satisfied me of this error, and led me to recommend a different practice. The strong representations I made, as early as 1809, on the retreat after the battle of Talavera, in the General Hospital at Deleytosa, indisposed some persons towards me to an extent I could never remove. Sufficient time has not even yet elapsed to allow me to name various officers of all ranks who had then lost their limbs unnecessarily, without the risk of giving pain to them, their friends, or their doctors if vet alive, and I therefore refrain. It is one of the points which for thirty years, I have laboured in my lectures, to inculcate in the most earnest manner, and these lectures have been in print these fifteen years. The conclusions therein stated, are ex- plicit, positive, and even peremptory. They are not now dis- puted by any well-informed persons, but it has cost me more than thirty years to carry conviction home to almost every breast; and there yet may be some who are ill-informed as well as others who, being informed) do nofc knQw to ^ hey are mdebted for their information. The precepts are three in number:— v 1. An upper extremity should not be amputated for almost any accident or accidents which can reasonably happen to it from musket shot. v 2. If the head or articulating extremity of the bone enter- broken t comP°siti°« of the shoulder-joint should be broken to pieces, that portion of the bone should be sawn ott, but the arm must remain. the8' fLthG elbK°Wj<!int.is Sh0t throueh>ifc is t0 °° cut out, and the fore-arm brought into the bent position. The sufferer will have a very good and useful arm, &c. I have, however c 2 '