When no assistant is at hand, and in cases of emergency, the surgeon provided with this little instrument can tie vessels without the least difficulty; and in operation, when many vessels spring, several of these forceps can be applied; there is besides this great advantage in their employment, that a clumsy assistant can scarcely include the point of the instrument with the vessel. Hemorrhage from the smaller vessels soon ceases; and, before reaction occurs, their orifices have generally become so obstructed as to resist the effusion of blood. The effects of ligature on a vein are somewhat different from those on an artery. The inner coat of the former is more dense and elastic, and remains entire, whilst the external and middle are divided. It is puckered by the ligature, and its opposite surfaces are placed in immediate contact; but there is no breach of surface, and adhesion does not occur till the tunic has been divided by ulceration; then the opposite margins cohere, the vessel is obliterated, and undergoes changes resembling those in an artery similarly circumstanced. The coagulum between the ligature and extremity is of considerable extent, dense, and completely filling the canal of the vein, and consequently, of a cylindrical form. The edges of the wound, in the soft parts, ought not to be approximated till the bleeding has entirely ceased, and the surface become glazed, for the interposition of the slightest quantity of blood prevents union by the first intention. When bleeding has ceased, the divided edges are to be brought together as accurately as possible, and adhesion promoted. The minute vessels assume an action greater than in the healthy state, though not equal to inflammatory action; they effuse coagulating lymph, by which the opposed surfaces are agglutinated, though the union is at first feeble and easily broken up. Soon the lymph is firmly attached, by newly-formed vessels, to the surface from which it was secreted; in effect, it becomes organised, and rendered capable of undergoing, through its inherent powers, the changes necessary for its perfection and stability. Similar processes go on in it as in any sound part of the body; new matter is deposited, and the superfluous is absorbed. The process of nutrition, however, is not the same in all parts of its substance, that is, the new matter deposited is not exactly similar at all points; but, according as the new secreting vessels proceed from the different tissues of which the margins of the recent wound are composed, so, in various parts of the new formation, these vessels assume peculiar modes of action, one set forming muscular, another cellular tissue, and a third a substitute for skin, formations corresponding to the primary tissues from which the secreting vessels proceed.