ligature carrier

A surgical instrument with a bent stem for pa ing a ligature around an artery which is to be ligatured, a bone which is to be divided by a chain-saw, or other object which is to be cut. In the absence of special instruments, therefore, the duty is performed by a curved needle carrying a thread. the puppet-valve. IMG:content-0553.png:[blocks in formation] 1. Anat .: Short bands of strong, white glistening fibers by which the bones are bound together. A typical example is the lig amentum nuchæ , extending from the spine of the occipital bone to that of the seventh cervical vertebra, binding together the oones of the neck, and analogous to a highly important elastic ligament in the lower animals. The ligaments in the human body are very numerous, and all have distinctive names. "A ligament , or sinew, is of a nature between grisles and nerves."-P. Fletcher: Purple Island , ch. ii. (Note 4.) 2. Zool . ( pl .): Two appliances, one external and one internal, for holding together the valves of a conchiferous mollusk. The external ligament, or the ligament properly so called, is a horny substance similar to the epidermis which covers the valves. It is generally attached to the ridges on the posterior hinge-margins, behind the umbones, and is stretched by the closing of the valves. The internal ligament, called also the cartilage, is lodged in furrows formed by the ligamental plates, or in pits along the hinge-line. It is composed of elastic fibers perpendicular to the surfaces between which it is contained, and is slightly iridescent when broken. It is compre ed when the valves are shut. The two ligaments are not always equally developed: thus, the external one is large in the Union ide, as is the internal one in Mactra and Mya. (S. P. Woodward .) lig-a-men-tal, lig-a-men-to us, a . [English ligament; -al, -ous .] Composed of, or of the nature of e ligament; binding.