Israel Moses' Improved Bullet Extractor

[lelliott19]

Bullet extractor (Fig. 254) This instrument is the invention of [Dr. Israel] Moses*, Surgeon U. S. Army, and consists of a tube containing a sliding forceps; when employed, the forceps are withdrawn into the tube; the instrument then becomes a probe, which being introduced into the wound, discovers the ball; when in contact with the body, the forceps are gently pushed forwards, and expanding, embrace the ball, and the whole is withdrawn. The old bullet screw (Fig. 255), now little used, may also be adapted to this instrument, and being guided to the ball by the tube, can readily be made to penetrate it.**

Dr. Moses' improved bullet extractor was marketed by Tiemann through their catalog and was included in some Tiemann surgical instrument sets such as the one shown here http://antiquescientifica.com/articles.htm


*Israel Moses was born in 1821 to a prominent Jewish family. In 1845, he matriculated at the College of Physicians and Surgeons in New York. He was appointed Assistant Surgeon in the U S Army in 1847, and served in Vera Cruz and Toluca during the Mexican War, as well as Fort Crawford, Fort Levenworth, and Texas. In 1855, he resigned and returned to the practice of his profession in New York City, where he performed the first surgical operation at Mount Sinai Hospital. Upon the commencement of hostilities, Dr. Moses was appointed Lieutenant Colonel of the 72nd New York Infantry (Sickles' brigade.) His services as a physician being in demand, he was appointed as Surgeon of the United States Volunteers, where he was placed in charge of camp hospitals for the Army of the Potomac. He subsequently served with General Gordon Granger in the West. He was mustered out of the service in 1865, after receiving the Brevet of Colonel for faithful and meritorious service. He did not return to Mt. Sinai Hospital, but lived out the last five years of his life in Philadelphia, where he was involved in the organization of the American Public Health Association. Dr. Israel Moses died in 1870, at the age of 47. In 1944, the trustees of Mt Sinai Hospital commissioned a painting (from the above image) which hangs in the hospital's Dept. of Surgery.

** Smith, MD, Stephen. Surgical Operations, Fourth Edition, Bailliere Brothers, New York, 1863. pp. 240-241. http://www.medicalantiques.com/civilwar/Images_2/images/Civil_20.jpg
Image credit/source: American Jewish Historical Society, Museum Holdings, Lieutenant Colonel Israel Moses (1821 - 1870) http://search.cjh.org/primo_library/libweb/action/display.do?tabs=detailsTab&ct=display&fn=search&doc=cjh_digitool1226421&indx=1&recIds=cjh_digitool1226421&recIdxs=0&elementId=0&renderMode=poppedOut&displayMode=full&frbrVersion=&frbg=&vl(14296373UI1)=all_items&dscnt=1&scp.scps=scopeAJHS)&mode=Basic&vid=beta&fctV=online_resources&rfnGrp=show_only&srt=rank&tab=default_tab&fctN=facet_tlevel&dum=true&vl(freeText0)=israel moses&dstmp=1524697135986
Other Sources utilized:

• Wolf, Simon. The American Jew as Patriot, Soldier and Citizen, Volume 3., Levytype Company, 1895, p. 281.
• Aufses, Arthur H. and Niss, Barbara. This House of Noble Deeds: The Mount Sinai Hospital, 1852-2002, NYU Press, 2002. p. 127.
• History of Surgery in the United States, 1775-1900, Vol. II, Norman Publishing, 1992, p. 28.

 

[John Hartwell]

Very interesting.
Attached is Israel Moses signed oath (from fold3.com) upon appointment as Surgeon:

 

[lelliott19]

Very interesting.
Attached is Israel Moses signed oath (from fold3.com) upon appointment as Surgeon:

He also designed an ambulance - which will be the subject of a future post.

 

[Podad]

Good stuff!!


Do you get the feeling his parents were devout Jewish folks.

 

[lelliott19]

The Moses Ambulance, named for its designer, Dr. Israel Moses, was built in New York by Brewster & Company. One of the very first ambulances designed for US Army use was the Moses, designed by Dr. Israel Moses, a former surgeon in the US Army. Included in the 1878 report on medical practice during the Civil War, it was also touted in The New York Coach-Maker's Magazine in 1859. The doctor had excellent taste in carriage makers, since the vehicle was built by Messrs. Brewster & Company of New York. It was approved in 1858 by a Board consisting of Surgeons Richard S. Satterlee and C. H. Lamb and Assistant Surgeon General C. H. Crane, but there is no record that any were ever built, except perhaps for this prototype.
Source: The Carriage Journal: Vol 39 No 3 June 2001, p. 215.
https://books.google.com/books?id=M...ge&q="Israel Moses" surgeon ambulance&f=false

 

[Mike Serpa]

Thanks for the posts, Laura. I have difficult time believing "the forceps are gently pushed forwards." Ouch.

 

[Larryh86GT]

That does not look like fun.

 

[Cpl. Smith]

Cool!!