A catlin or catling is a long, double-bladed

surgical Surgery ''cheirourgikē'' (composed of χείρ, "hand", and ἔργον, "work"), via la, chirurgiae, meaning "hand work". is a medical specialty that uses operative manual and instrumental techniques on a person to investigate or treat a pat ...

knife A knife ( : knives; from Old Norse 'knife, dirk') is a tool or weapon with a cutting edge or blade, usually attached to a handle or hilt. One of the earliest tools used by humanity, knives appeared at least 2.5 million years ago, as evid ...

. It was commonly used from the 17th to the mid 19th century, particularly for

amputation Amputation is the removal of a limb by trauma, medical illness, or surgery. As a surgical measure, it is used to control pain or a disease process in the affected limb, such as malignancy or gangrene. In some cases, it is carried out on indi ...

s; thereafter its use declined in favor of mechanically driven (and later, electrically driven) oscillating saws. Surgeon William Clowes wrote about the instrument in a medical treatise written in 1596, that amputation required the use of "a very good catlin, and an incision knife," John Kirkup, ''The Evolution of Surgical Instruments: An Illustrated History from Ancient Times to the Twentieth Century'' (Norman Publishing, 2006), 381–382. Later, surgeon

John Woodall John Woodall (1570–1643) was an English military surgeon, Paracelsian chemist, businessman, linguist and diplomat. He made a fortune through the stocking of medical chests for the East India Company and later the armed forces of England. He i ...

referred to a "catlinge" in a work in 1639. By 1693, when British navy surgeon John Moyle described proper amputation techniques, he wrote that "with your Catling, divide the Flesh and Vessels about and between the bones, and with the back of your Catling, remove the Periosteum that it may not hinder the saw, nor cause greater Torment in the Operation,". The term was thereafter understood to refer to an interosseous knife.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Catlin (Surgery) Surgical instruments Medical knives

See also

References