A Treatise on Fractures, Luxations, and Other Affections of the BonesDesault, P.-J. (Pierre-Joseph)
Science
A Treatise on Fractures, Luxations, and Other Affections of the Bones
Desault, P.-J. (Pierre-Joseph)
Dislocations; Fractures; Surgery
CASE I. Desault was called to visit a child five years old, supposed to
be labouring under a fracture of the arm. He learnt from the parents
of the child, that, as it was lying in a very low bed, a young man
who was playing with it, had taken hold of its fore-arm, and drawn it
towards him, twisting it forcibly at the same time in the direction of
pronation; that the effort had been accompanied by a report, and the
child had immediately experienced an acute pain throughout the whole
limb, but more particularly along the posterior part of the fore-arm.
When Desault saw the patient, no swelling had as yet supervened; the
arm was removed from the body, and carried a little forward, while
the fore-arm, half-bent, was kept in a state between pronation and
supination. There existed, at its lower and back part, a preternatural
tumour, formed by the head of the ulna carried behind the sigmoid
cavity of the radius. The hand was a little extended, and in a state
of adduction. The patient carefully preserved that position, and, as
soon as it was changed, or the part affected touched, manifested signs
of the most acute pain.
From these appearances, Desault discovered immediately a luxation of
the radius forward, which was reduced in the manner already mentioned
(16 and 17). By this process, the bones, being a little separated from
each other, were replaced with facility. The suffering of the patient
was immediately at an end; the limb resumed its natural state, and
performed its functions as freely as before; lest some congestion might
be the consequence, the injured parts were covered by compresses wet
with camphorated spirits; these were secured by a bandage moderately
tight, and no accident whatever supervened.
CASE II. On the 29th of January, 1789, Madeleine Fuser, a washer-woman,
thirty-four years of age, had the lower extremity of the radius luxated
forward.
Just as she had finished wringing a sheet, another washer-woman, who
was assisting her to wring it, giving it a forcible jerk, did violence
to her left arm, which was at the time in a state of strong pronation.
The woman experienced immediately a severe pain, accompanied by a
sensation as if something had been torn. The sheet dropt from her
hand, and she fell on the ground. Believing that she had received
only a sprain, she neglected to apply for aid, and did not enter the
Hotel-Dieu till the sixth day after the accident.
There was then a little swelling at the lower part of the fore-arm and
at the wrist: the latter was extended and in a state of adduction;
the fingers were bent. This woman suffered but little, when her hand
was supported and kept still; but the pains became severe, when she
attempted to move it. It was plainly perceived that the radius was
placed before the ulna, and that the bones overlapped each other.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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