CASE I. Desault was called, in the month of July, 1781, to visit a mason, who, sleeping at the foot of a wall, with his fore-arm stretched out, received on the anterior part of it, a round stone, of the size of a bowl, which, falling from a scaffold, fractured the radius in its middle, and produced a large contusion, accompanied by an enormous swelling, to which the usual discutient remedies were applied. On the fifth day the swelling had in part disappeared; but then there was discovered a very evident protuberance of the inferior fragment, which, by pointing outwards, separated itself from the superior one, which remained nearly in its place. The interval between the bones was evidently increased below. The fracture was reduced by pressing the lower fragment inwards, and, instead of employing graduated compresses the whole length of the limb, they reached only to its middle, along the part corresponding to the superior fragment. The roller was drawn a little tighter below than above, in order to keep the inferior part of the radius near to the ulna. By being treated afterwards in the usual mode, the fracture was cured. But, in consequence of being over-stretched by the separation of the bones, the ligaments of the wrist became the seat of a tedious lymphatic swelling, which left behind it some degree of stiffness. 27. Examples of this kind occur too rarely to affect the general law relative to the direction of the displacement of a fractured radius, a displacement which, if not properly treated, makes the fragments unite in such a manner as to form an angle pointing inwardly towards the ulna, as is evinced by a perceptible depression under the cuticle. In such a case, from this contraction or narrowing of the interval between the bones, arise the inconveniencies already mentioned (9). § VIII. OF THE SIGNS. 28. The diagnosis of fractures of the radius is in general easy, when they occur at the lower end, or in the middle (25). In these two cases, a depression more or less perceptible, on the external side of the fore-arm; an inability to perform pronation or supination, by the action of the muscles alone; and a severe pain, necessarily resulting from moving the bone in this two-fold direction. Such are the particular signs or appearances which first disclose the existence and the place of the fracture. The reality of the accident is afterwards more fully confirmed by the signs common to all fractures, namely, the flexibility of the bone, the crepitation perceived by moving it in different directions, &c.