It will perhaps be asked, if it be possible that a ball should enter the cavity of a bone without splitting or breaking it, as seems to have happened in the case I have just mentioned? and where that circumstance will appear still less feasible, when I affirm, that the bones of this man were strong, hard and compact; and that on some occasions, fissures and the other accidents of bones, I have been treating of, are often the consequences of slight wounds, as of more considerable ones. But be that as it may, I treat these kinds of wounds in this manner: I dress the bone partly with dry lint, and partly with balsamic essences, and sometimes I throw in injections: I apply a digestive to the fleshy parts, and moisten all the dressings with spirit of wine, as in § XXI. I check the suppuration a little, preserving, as much as possible, the boney fragments which adhere together, so as to leave room to hope for their coalition, sustaining them in their natural position, and covering them again as much as possible with the flesh and skin: If there be any pointed splinters, I endeavour to promote their separation by proper applications, such as the balsamic essences, and different powders, particularly that mentioned § X. I fix the limb in its natural position, suspending the arm in a sling, or half-cylinder adapted for the purpose. For the leg, I use Mr. Petit's machine, or splints, made of wooden rods covered with straw, and wrapped up in linnen cloth; and in the dressings, my chief aim is to keep them sufficiently tight above and below the wound, to promote the consolidation of the larger pieces of bone, by keeping them firm in their places, and preventing the re-absorption of pus. The diet and medicines are the same as in § XXII. By this method a very great number of wounded men have been restored to health, in two, three or four months; and some not before the expiration of eight. My observations confirm those of Horstius, who remarks, that a man who has lost a great portion of the tibia and fibula, may nevertheless, after his cure, walk with ease, and halt but very little[25]. FOOTNOTES: [24] He was a soldier in the guards, and is doing his duty in the field at the very time I write this. [25] HORSTII _observationes medicæ_, part ii. 1. 4. obs. 10. Mr. de Frengler, captain lieutenant in the regiment of Anhalt Bernbourg, is an instance of a most successful cure of a wound of the leg of this kind. In the sequel of this dissertation may be seen, several striking cases of an extraordinary loss of substance in the bones being again repaired. SECT. XXV.