Cautery, Electric

An electro-surgical appliance for removing diseased parts, or arresting hemorrhages, taking the place of the knife or other cutting instrument. The cautery is a platinum wire heated to whitene by an electric current, and when in that condition used to cut off tumors, stop the flow of blood and parallel operations. The application is painful, but by the use of anaesthetics pain is avoided, and the healing after the operation is greatly accelerated. The heated wire of the cautery can be used for cutting operations in many cases where excision by a knife would be almost impracticable. Synonyms--Galvano-cautery--Galvano-caustry--Galvano-electric, do.--Galvano-thermal, do.