Description

An 18th-century leather amputation retractor .Length: 17″ or” 42cm approx. We have listed the country of origin as “North America” because they were found in the USA but they could well be English imports. Kirkup notes that: “In the eighteenth-century , split -leather amputation retractors were held against the soft tissue to expose the femur or tibia and thus expedite high proximal bone section deep in the muscles.”(2005: 78-79). Bennion illustrates two split leather retractors  from the collection of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh and captions them: “Very rare leather retractors, mid-eighteenth century , 38.5cm”. We have not been able to find  an example in any  institutional collection, other than those shown in Bennion.  An example can also be seen in Bell ( 1783-88, republished 1804: plate XCVII): He describes it as “A piece of firm slit leather, also answers the purpose of a retractor, Leather is better suited for this than linen, which is generally used, but neither the one or the other answer so well as plates of iron .”Images from Bennion and Bell are among the images we have provided.