alphonsin

plural alphonsins

1. alternativeAlternative form of Alphonsin.

   Leroy designed an instrument for grasping the stone using three or four claw-ended arms, an idea he found in the alphonsin of Alphonso Ferri, a Neapolitan surgeon of the 16th century, who used metal arms to seize and extract bullets from wounds.

   2008 August, HW Herr, “'Crushing the stone': a brief history of lithotripsy, the first minimally invasive surgery”, in BJU international, volume 102, number 4

plural Alphonsins · alternative alphonsin

1. countableuncountableA surgical instrument, consisting of three prongs surrounded by a ring, which close when the ring is drawn forward and open when the ring is drawn back.

   It was to be introduced into the wound in its closed state, the ring then drawn back to enable it to lay hold of the substance, pushed forward again to close upon it, and withdrawn. It was named, after its inventor, the Alphonsin.

   1831, The history of medicine, surgery and anatomy, page 52

alternative alphonsin

1. A set of astronomical tables compiled in A.D. 1252.

   He employed his physician, Judah Morea, one of these converts, to draw up the famous astronomical tables, commonly called the Alphonsin; and likewise enjoined upon him the task of translating various Arabian treatises into Castilian.

   1842, James A. Huie, William Jenks, The History of the Jews, page 137