Description:
Steel, scissors-like perforator with pointed heads and sharpened, slightly curved blades on outside edge and hinged with a screw, which were used to pierce and empty the skull in a craniotomy to remove the foetus from the womb. This procedure was used to save the life of the mother, especially at risk before surgical sterility became the rule in the 1880's and a Caesarian section was one of the most hazardous proccedures. The form looks like a Smellie's Perforator developed by William Smellie (1697-1763), British surgeon and obstetrician, who designed this perforator to work like a scissors. The operator was required to use both hands to open the blades and cut the tissue. The end of the short pointed blades has a shoulder, which prevents the device from being introduced to too great a depth.
Link to share this object record:
https://museums.fivecolleges.edu/detail.php?t=objects&type=ext&id_number=HD+57.221.05 |
