[Vision2020] Did you know?

[Ron Force]

Well, if Wikipedia is to be believed:

Catgut
>From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catgut

Catgut is the name applied to cord of great toughness and tenacity prepared
from the intestines of sheep/goat, or occasionally from those of the hog,
horse, mule, and donkey. Those of the cat are not employed, and therefore it
is supposed that the word is properly kitgut ("violin string"), kit meaning
"fiddle," and that the present form has arisen through confusion with kit =
cat.

The substance is used for the strings of harps, violins, and viols, as well
as other stringed musical instruments, for hanging the weights of clocks,
for bow-strings, and for suturing wounds in surgery. Catgut formerly was
also used for stringing racquets.

To prepare it, the intestines are cleaned, freed from fat, and steeped for
some time in water, after which their external membrane is scraped off with
a blunt knife. They are then steeped for some time in an alkaline lye,
smoothed and equalized by drawing out, subjected to the antiseptic action of
the fumes of burning sulphur, if necessary dyed, sorted into sizes, and
twisted together into cords of various numbers of strands according to their
uses. The best strings for musical instruments are reputedly from Italy
("Roman strings"); and it is found that lean and ill-fed animals yield the
toughest gut.

Though catgut was in use for producing strings for many centuries and the
Muslim physician al-Zahrawi utilized it in the 10th century, its use in the
medical field became popular in the West only in the 19th century. It
replaced silk and hemp sutures which caused inflammation and severe
hemorrhage because the body could not absorb them. Sutures made from catgut
are readily absorbed by the human body and are consequently extensively used
for internal stitches. Although synthetic alternatives are available, catgut
sutures are still widely used in hospitals throughout the world.

References

    * This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica
Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.

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Ron Force         Moscow ID USA
rforce at moscow.com
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And, of course, all horses are cold-climate horses, as there is no --
repeat, no -- global warming crisis.
Every horse a potential bow donor, I always say . . .

On another note, are catgut tennis racquet strings made from . . . you know
. . . feline entrails?  I'm beginning to think my old tennis coach might
have been pulling my leg.  Anyone???

keely