44] Amp to be wholly useless, or threatening danger, it not removed. The cases in which this operation is usually performed, are, severe, compound fractures of the bones, attended with splinters ; extensive lacera- tions, and contusions of wounds, with great loss of substance, and pouring forth a profuse discharge ; wide - spreading mortifications ; white swellings of the joints ; can- cers, cr other incurable ulcers ; exosto>ed, carious and distorted bones, &c. Amputation is one of the most important operations in surgery, and hal lately been brought to the highest perfecti >n. Previous to the invention of the ', and the method of securing the 1 vessels /from hemorrhages/b] turcs, it was rarely undertaken, and a gi »ortion of those who submitted to it, afterwards died. But in consequence of mo- dern improvements, there seldom happens more than one death in twenty or thirty cases. In per- forming this operation, some parti- cular cautions are necessary, viz. to make the incision at a proper place ; to save a quantity ot skin and cellular substance, sufficient to cover the muscles and bone com- pletely; without being stretched ; to prevent hemorrhages ; to secure the arteries carefully, without in- cluding the nerves, or any of die contiguous parts ; and to prevent the retraction of the integuments. Where part of a limb is either car- ried off, or much shattered, it will be necessary to amputate above the
- sed surface, to ensure a spee-
dier and safer cure. Should mor- tification have previously taken place, every other remedy ought to be timely and vigorously em- ed, till its progress be arrest- A M U ed ; the first symptom of ' . will be, an inflamed circle sepa- rating the diseased from the sound parts : as soon as this has taken place, no time should be lost in resorting to the operation, lest die patient suffer from the absorption of putrescent matter, which readily occasions a hectic fever. As the privation o( a limb, and the great destruction of animal parts, are often attended with fatal consequences, nothing but extreme necessity, or the failure of all other means, can justify the choice of this formidable expedient. Some eminent authorities have altogether questioned its utili>y; and M. Bn.- guer, late surgeon-general to die Prussian armies, in his observa- tions on diis subject, declares, " that the cases in which amputa- tion is necessary, are less frequent than has hidierto been supposed." He says, that during die late war, it proved unsuccessful in a variety of instances; and diat he himself had, without resorting to opera- tions, cured many patients, whose limbs had been so much braised and shattered, that the ablest sur- geons thought it advisable to em- ploy their instruments. — SeeTouK- NlftUET. AMUSEMENTS, may be di- vided into public and private; and they are either of an active or se- dentary nature. The former usu- ally consist of balls, plays, enter- tainments, &c. ; the latter, of the various diversions of cards, chess, back-gammon, and other games of chance or skill. Those of an active kind ought always to be preferred, as diey not relieve the mind, when wearied with intense application, or de- pressed with grief; but by their- agreeable variety, together wjth-tba advan-*
