Among the wise
men of Egypt, then in her acme of civilization, there was not one
to reduce the simple luxation which any student of the present
day would easily diagnose and successfully treat. Throughout the
dark ages and down to the present century, the hideous and
unnecessary apparatus employed, each decade bringing forth new
types, is abundantly pictured in the older books on surgery; in
some almost recent works there are pictures of windlasses and of
individuals making superhuman efforts to pull the luxated member
back--all of which were given to the student as advisable means
of treatment.
Relative to anomalous dislocations the field is too large to be
discussed here, but there are two recent ones worthy of mention.
Bradley relates an instance of death following a subluxation of
the right humerus backward on the scapula It could not be reduced
because the tendon of the biceps lay between the head of the
humerus and a piece of the bone which was chipped off.
Baxter-Tyrie reports a dislocation of the shoulder-joint, of
unusual origin, in a man who was riding a horse that ran away up
a steep hill. After going a few hundred yards the animal abated
its speed, when the rider raised his hand to strike.
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