Prevention of the entrance of Air when removing Fluid from the
Pleura, Peritoneum, and Cavities of Abscesses.—At a meeting of the
Societe de Chirurgie, of Paris, held on the 14th of November, a letter
was read from M. Raciborski, of which the Union Medicale, for
November, gives the following extract.
A wet, collapsed hog’s bladder is fixed to the outlet of the canula
which is to be introduced. When the trocar has sufficiently entered
the cavity, the bladder must be supported by the left hand of the opera-
tor, the right being used to withdraw the trocar, and so allow the fluid
to flow through the canula into the bladder. If the bladder be insuffi-
cient to contain the whole of the fluid to be withdrawn, the flow has
to be stopped by pressing the side of the bladder against the outlet of
the canula, whilst an assistant punctures the bladder in a convenient
part, and thus evacuates its contents. By securing the opening by a
ligature, the bladder may be made to serve for the evacuation of the
whole of the fluid.—Lond. Journ. of Mtd.