4 ms·

Wouldn’t using dead flesh increase the risk of infection? In the article, it’s also mentioned that Hippocrates recommended using gold, and many of his teaching

Wouldn’t using dead flesh increase the risk of infection? In the article, it’s also mentioned that Hippocrates recommended using gold, and many of his teachings were still followed in Byzantine times. So what’s your next theory? Gold sounds fairly plausible to me.

tablespoon 5y ago
I was kind of skeptical too, but then I found this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catgut_suture#History https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catgut_suture#History: > Gut strings were being used as medical sutures as early as the 3rd century AD as Galen, a prominent Greek physician from the Roman Empire, is known to have used them.[4]
- gnramires 5y ago
  > Catgut suture is a type of surgical suture that is naturally degraded by the body's own proteolytic enzymes It couldn't be an organic suture, unless it was supposed to last very little (on wiki it says 90 days). Also only something study like a metal could hold a bone in place reliably, I imagine.
  - klyrs 5y ago
    90 days would probably be enough for a bone to set. But given that the wiring was threaded between the teeth, the sutures would be subject to the digestive enzymes of the mouth, which are significantly more aggressive than anything outside of the digestive system.
    - DoreenMichele 5y ago
      They could have periodically replaced it if it was only wrapped around the teeth. Changing a bandage is a pretty normal part of medical care. Changing the cast periodically is a routine part of modern treatments for club foot in children. The assumption that it had to last X amount of time is questionable.
      - klyrs 5y ago
        I agree, but another problem with gut is that it stretches under load when moist -- one of the issues with catgut strings on instruments is that they can't hold a tune, and that's much worse on hot & humid days (digression, they sound great though... much like nylon). Gold is also malleable, but can take quite a bit more tension before failure and work-hardens where catgut undergoes plastic deformation. The other point I'm less certain of is that the discovery was based on dental calculus... I suspect that this wouldn't have been so pronounced if the thread was replaced frequently.
        DoreenMichele 5y ago
        Thank you for that very informative comment.
Igelau 5y ago
To make gut, you have to clean it and stretch it and dry it first. By then it's about as clean as anything was back then.
- jacquesm 5y ago
  Boil it just before use.
  - simonh 5y ago
    That might soften it too much.

tablespoon 5y ago

I was kind of skeptical too, but then I found this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catgut_suture#History https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catgut_suture#History: > Gut strings were being used as medical sutures as early as the 3rd century AD as Galen, a prominent Greek physician from the Roman Empire, is known to have used them.[4]

gnramires 5y ago
> Catgut suture is a type of surgical suture that is naturally degraded by the body's own proteolytic enzymes It couldn't be an organic suture, unless it was supposed to last very little (on wiki it says 90 days). Also only something study like a metal could hold a bone in place reliably, I imagine.
- klyrs 5y ago
  90 days would probably be enough for a bone to set. But given that the wiring was threaded between the teeth, the sutures would be subject to the digestive enzymes of the mouth, which are significantly more aggressive than anything outside of the digestive system.
  - DoreenMichele 5y ago
    They could have periodically replaced it if it was only wrapped around the teeth. Changing a bandage is a pretty normal part of medical care. Changing the cast periodically is a routine part of modern treatments for club foot in children. The assumption that it had to last X amount of time is questionable.
    - klyrs 5y ago
      I agree, but another problem with gut is that it stretches under load when moist -- one of the issues with catgut strings on instruments is that they can't hold a tune, and that's much worse on hot & humid days (digression, they sound great though... much like nylon). Gold is also malleable, but can take quite a bit more tension before failure and work-hardens where catgut undergoes plastic deformation. The other point I'm less certain of is that the discovery was based on dental calculus... I suspect that this wouldn't have been so pronounced if the thread was replaced frequently.
      - DoreenMichele 5y ago
        Thank you for that very informative comment.

Igelau 5y ago

To make gut, you have to clean it and stretch it and dry it first. By then it's about as clean as anything was back then.

jacquesm 5y ago
Boil it just before use.
- simonh 5y ago
  That might soften it too much.