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[Reprinted from The American Joubnal of Obstetrics and Diseases op
          Women and Children, Vol. XL., No. 2, 1899.]
A NEW HANDLE AND GRIP FOR SCISSORS FOR PLASTIC AND
                 OTHER  DELICATE WORK.
        BY

HOWARD A. KELLY, M.D.,
      Baltimore.
(With two illustrations.)
  I have often been struck, in common, I  suppose, with other
operators, with the awkwardness of the scissors which we have
long been in the habit of using.  The ordinary scissors present
two serious disadvantages when called upon to do accurate
work: in the first place, there is more or less motion imparted to
both blades, which gives the cut surface the familiar  zigzag
Pig. 1.—Scissors for plastic vaginal work.
outline; and in the second place, the manner of grasping the
scissors is awkward,  as  the hand  is held in  a constrained
position and more or less  interferes with the inspection of the
work as it is done.
  In order to obviate these difficulties, I have made the follow-
ing changes in the scissors of which I show two pairs in Figs..' V
1 and 2, designed for plastic vaginal work and  for  delicate^
work upon the bladder and ureters.
  It will  be seen that the  new  instrument is considerably
lengthened, the pair with the Emmet blade curved on the flat
being 24 centimetres long  in place of 16.5 centimetres as usual.
  The handle of this instrument is large and rounded, 13 centi-


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                   I SURrwOH GENERALS ^Tivrj 
2    KELLY: A NEW HANDLE AND GRIP FOK SCISSORS.

metres long and 6.5 centimetres in circumference, and bent at
a decided angle so as to take the operating hand out of the field
of vision.  The upper part of the handle has a thumb latch,
which is twisted at an angle  to the shaft so  as  to insure the
shearing action of the blades.  When in use  the upper blade,
connected with the  handle grasped by the  hand, is free  from
motion, while the  lower blade, manipulated  by the thumb latch,
works up to it as  a  fixed point; in this way the cutting is done
with accuracy and with far greater convenience.
Fig. 2.—Scissors for bladder and ureteral work.
  The little scissors used for bladder and ureteral work are made
21 centimetres long, so that they can be used with accuracy at a
much greater distance from the surface than is possible with
the ordinary seissors; they also permit of a much freer  view
and control of the field when grasped and used in the manner
indicated in the diagram; the handle is held between the thumb
and three fingers while the index finger works the latch as shown.
  These instruments have been made for  me by the Charles
Willms Surgical Instrument Company, of Baltimore. 
 
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