Catgut, the name applied to cord of great toughness and
tenacity prepared from the intestines of sheep, or occasionally
from those of the horse, mule and ass. Those of the cat are not
employed, and therefore it is supposed that the word is properly
kitgut, kit meaning "fiddle," and that the present form has arisen
through confusion with kit = cat.
The substance is used for the
strings of harps and violins, 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 imported from Italy ("Roman
strings"); and it is found that lean and ill-fed animals yield
the toughest gut.