surgery, is a chord, band, or string; or the binding any part of the body with a chord, band, fillet, &c., whether of leather, linen, &c.

Ligatures are used to extend and replace bones that are broken or dislocated; to tie the patients down in lithotomy and amputations; to tie upon the veins in phlebotomy, or the arteries in amputations, or in large wounds; to secure the splints that are applied to fractures; to tie up the processes of the peritoneum, with the spermatic vessels in castration; and, lastly, in taking off warts or other excrescences by ligature.