Process of reduction the same as in the preceding case. It was accompanied by a kind of report, and its completion was clearly announced by the restoration of the natural shape of the limb, and by the freedom of its motions. Compresses wet with vegeto-mineral water were applied to the wrist. This patient remained fifteen days in the hospital, at the end of which, she performed with ease the motions of the wrist and hand. MEMOIR XI. ON THE FRACTURES OF THE THIGH. § I. 1. The os femoris, being in man, a moveable support for the weight of the whole body, appears to be better secured than the other bones, from accidents that might affect its continuity. The numerous masses of muscle that immediately surround it; the thick and compact layers or fasciæ that form its more exterior covering; and an articulation loose, and ready to yield, in every direction, to the motions impressed on it, all seem, on the one hand, calculated for its preservation. 2. But, on the other hand, being visibly curved in its middle, bent at its upper end almost at a right angle, longer in proportion in man than in quadrupeds, placed, in most falls, between the ground which resists, and the weight of the body which presses on it; it would seem, from these latter circumstances, to be less calculated to resist external force. And, if to these considerations be added those of the causes which have an immediate action on it, it will be easy to perceive, that, in a comparative scale of the bones most exposed to fractures, it holds, next to the bones of the leg, one of the highest grades. The proportion which its fractures bear to those of the leg, is, according to the observations of Desault, as one to three; but to that of most other bones it is equal if not superior. 3. The os femoris, being in its body irregularly cylindrical and curved behind, becomes larger towards its lower end, where it terminates in two articulating masses, which rest immediately on two corresponding surfaces of the os tibiæ; changing its direction above, it inclines towards the acetabulum, and inserts into that cavity a round head, supported by a neck which is entirely enclosed in the capsule of the joint. 4. From this different conformation of its different parts, arises such a variety in the fractures which occur in it, that they cannot be treated of under the same head. Hence the division into fractures of the body and of the extremities, which is borrowed from anatomists, and will be followed in the present memoir, where we will consider in order, 1st, The fractures of its body, 2dly, Those of its upper extremity, 3dly, Those of its lower extremity. FRACTURES OF THE BODY OF THE OS FEMORIS. § II. OF THE VARIETIES AND CAUSES.