_Amputation of the Hip-joint as performed by_ Mr. Brownrigg.
_a_ _a_ _a_, anterior flap in dotted lines; _c_, thumb compressing the artery on the pubis; _d_, fingers introduced under the flap; _e_, the straight knife, entrance and exit of.
_Flap Amputation as performed by_ Mr. Luke, _on the lower half of the thigh_.
_A_, middle of the outside of the thigh and point of entrance of knife; _B_, under part; _C_, upper part; _A_ to _E_, the under flap; _G_ to _F_, dotted line of upper flap, beginning short of commencement of under flap.]
The assistant holding up the flap, the surgeon cuts the attachment of the gluteus medius muscle, from the upper edge of the trochanter, if it has not been already done, opens the capsular ligament of the joint, and divides the ligamentum teres. The head of the bone can then be readily withdrawn from the acetabulum. The knife being placed behind the head of the bone and the trochanter, should be carried obliquely downward and backward, so as to form a shorter flap behind than was made before. The amputations of the hip-joint, performed in the Crimea, have not, I understand, been as successful as the ability with which they were performed might have led the operators to expect.
_a_, anterior superior spine of ilium; _b_, commencement of anterior incision, continued by the black line; _c_, the posterior incision joining the anterior one.
_b_ _c_, line of incision marked by three sutures.]