Notes on the progress of Acupressure. (Extracted from the Lancet . with additional annotations.) Second edition.

In-8° broché, exemplaire dérelié mais en excellente condition, 26 pages. Le tiré à part a été envoyé à la Société de Chirurgie à Paris. Apart from his exposure of the perils of burying septic ligatures he propounded sound ideas about wound closure and dressings. He stressed the necessity of careful apposition of wounds without tension, of closing dead spaces, of irrigating wounds to remove all dead or foreign tissue before attempting closure, of achieving complete haemastasis, or providing dependent drainage when necessary and of absolute rest for a wound. 'All touching and fingering of the sides or vicinities of recent wounds should be avoided and forbidden' was one of his aphorisms. He scorned the use of multiple dressings and packs but advocated that wounds should be left exposed to the air to let nature do the healing. Such principles were important steps towards aseptic surgery and remain as important today as ever" (Shepherd, Simpson and Syme of Edinburgh, pp. 173 and 185).