Brass, an alloy of copper and zinc in various proportions, was used as early as the third millennium BC in the Aegean area and the region which currently includes Iraq, the United Arab Emirates, Kalmykia, Turkmenistan and Georgia. In the second millennium BC it was used in the regions currently including West India, Uzbekistan, Iran, Syria, Iraq, and Israel. Zinc metal was not produced on a large scale until the 12th century in India, though it was known to the ancient Romans and Greeks. The mines of Rajasthan have given definite evidence of zinc production going back to the 6th century BC. To date, the oldest evidence of pure zinc comes from Zawar, in Rajasthan, as early as the 9th century AD when a distillation process was employed to make pure zinc. Alchemists burned zinc in air to form what they called "philosophers wool" or "white snow". The element was probably named by the alchemist Paracelsus after the German word Zinke (prong, tooth). German chemist Andreas Sigismund Marggraf is credited with discovering pure metallic zinc in 1746. Work by Luigi Galvani and Alessandro Volta uncovered the electrochemical properties of zinc by 1800. Corrosion-resistant zinc plating of iron (hot-dip galvanizing) is the major application for zinc. Other applications are in electrical batteries, small non-structural castings, and alloys such as brass.
Classically, hemoperitoneum was an indication for emergency surgery to locate the source of bleeding and also to recover spilled blood from the peritoneal cavity and to use it for auto-transfusion if it has not been contaminated by ruptured bowel contents. The method of control depends on the source of blood loss. Vascular bleeding, i.e. from a blood vessel, would be treated by clamping and ligation of the offending vessel, or repair of the vessel in the case of major arteries such as the aorta or mesenteric arteries. Bleeding from the spleen most often requires splenectomy, or removal of the spleen, usually but not always in the form of a total splenectomy. Bleeding from the liver might be controlled by application of hemostatic sponges, thrombin, or more recently, argon beam cauterization.With modern diagnostic aids such as computed tomography (CT) scans, certain injuries such as low-grade lacerations of the spleen may be diagnosed early and observed, with surgical options deferred unless clinical deterioration obligates them. In rare occasions, rupture of an Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm may be repaired via an endovascular technique, though this is generally not performed in the setting of acute rupture. References


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