Surgical Experiences in South Africa, 1899-1900: Being Mainly a Clinical Study of the Nature and Effects of Injuries Produced by Bullets of Small CalibreMakins, George Henry
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Surgical Experiences in South Africa, 1899-1900: Being Mainly a Clinical Study of the Nature and Effects of Injuries Produced by Bullets of Small Calibre
Makins, George Henry
Gunshot wounds; South African War, 1899-1902; Surgery, Military
_Arterial haematomata._--(1) Popliteal, treated by local incision. Both
artery and vein completely divided. Ligature of the four ends. Cure.
(2) Traumatic aneurism of upper third of forearm. Treated by rest and
pressure by bandage. On the eighth day pulsation and bruit ceased
spontaneously, and the remains of the sac steadily consolidated until
the man's discharge on the twenty-sixth day.
_Arterio-venous aneurisms._--(1) At junction of brachial and axillary
arteries. Proximal ligature. Cure. (2) Arterio-venous aneurism at the
bend of the elbow. Ligature of the brachial at the junction of the
middle and lower thirds of the arm. Cure.
FOOTNOTES:
[14] The murmur is still present at the expiration of one year, but no
other change.
[15] Lieut.-Colonel Lewtas, I.M.S. See _Lancet_, 1900, vol. ii. p. 1073.
[16] _Lancet_, 1900, vol. ii. p. 1074.
[17] Sir W. MacCormac, _Lancet_, vol. i. 1900, p. 876.
CHAPTER V
INJURIES TO THE BONES OF THE LIMBS
Injuries to the bones of the limbs formed a very large proportion of the
accidents we were called upon to treat, and afforded as much interest as
any class, since they possessed many special features. I shall hope to
show, however, as in some of the other injuries, that these features
differed only in degree from those exhibited by injuries from the old
leaden bullets of larger calibre, although with few exceptions they were
of a distinctly more favourable character.
It is of considerable interest to note that, taking the fractures as a
whole, there was a somewhat striking change in their nature during the
earlier and later portions of the campaign. In the earlier stages I
think there is no doubt that punctured fractures were proportionately
more common than in the later, when comminuted fractures were much more
often seen. There was, I believe, a source of error in this opinion, as
far as I myself was concerned, in that the first cases I saw were at
Capetown and had come from Natal. There is no doubt that the punctured
fractures were earlier fit to travel, and hence a larger number of them
found their way to the Base hospitals at a period when the comminuted
fractures were still in the Field or Stationary hospitals. I do not,
however, rely on the cases seen at Capetown alone for my opinion, as
while at the front I saw the same large proportion of clean punctures in
the early engagements of the Kimberley relief force.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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