Boerhaave cites a curious
instance in which a surgeon attempted to stop hemorrhage from a
wounded radial artery by the application of a caustic, but the
material applied made such inroads as to destroy the median
artery and thus brought about a fatal hemorrhage.
Spontaneous fractures are occasionally seen, but generally in
advanced age, although muscular action may be the cause. There
are several cases on record in which the muscular exertion in
throwing a stone or ball, or in violently kicking the leg, has
fractured one or both of the bones of an extremity. In old
persons intracapsular fracture may be caused by such a trivial
thing as turning in bed, and even a sudden twist of the ankle has
been sufficient to produce this injury. In a boy of thirteen
Storrs has reported fracture of the femur within the acetabulum.
In addition to the causes enumerated, inflammation of osseous
tissue, or osteoid carcinoma, has been found at the seat of a
spontaneous fracture.
One of the most interesting subjects in the history of surgery is
the gradual evolution of the rational treatment of dislocations.
Possibly no portion of the whole science was so backward as this.
Thirty-five centuries ago Darius, son of Hydaspis, suffered a
simple luxation of the foot; it was not diagnosed in this land of
Apis and of the deified discoverer of medicine.
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