Mussey describes a boy of sixteen who had his left arm and
shoulder-blade completely torn from his body by machinery. The
patient became so involved in the bands that his body was
securely fastened to a drum, while his legs hung dangling. In
this position he made about 15 revolutions around the drum before
the motion of the machinery could be effectually stopped by
cutting off the water to the great wheel. When he was
disentangled from the bands and taken down from the drum a huge
wound was seen at the shoulder, but there was not more than a
pint of blood lost. The collar-bone projected from the wound
about half an inch, and hanging from the wound were two large
nerves (probably the median and ulnar) more than 20 inches long.
He was able to stand on his feet and actually walked a few steps;
as his frock was opened, his arm, with a clot of blood, dropped
to the floor. This boy made an excellent recovery. The space
between the plastered ceiling and the drum in which the
revolutions of the body had taken place was scarcely 7 1/2 inches
wide. Horsbeck's case was of a negro of thirty-five who, while
pounding resin on a 12-inch leather band, had his hand caught
between the wheel and band.
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