_Fractures._--II.--9. In the human body the foot, like the hand, is composed of a number of small bones. As they are not easily broken it may safely be assumed, when such a case of fracture comes under observation, that some pointed or unusually heavy object had caused the lesion, and that the surrounding soft parts must necessarily have been injured at the same time. (Injuries of this nature will be discussed in a later section.) But if any part of this bony framework is pushed out of its natural position--whether this take place in one of the toes, or in one of the tarsal bones, it makes no difference--the dislocated part should be forced back into position in the manner recommended in section XXIV. In its essential features the treatment consists in the employment of wax plaster, compresses, and bandages, exactly the same as is done in the treatment of fractures of the long bones, but without splints. The same rules hold good with regard to the degree of pressure to be applied, and every third day the dressings should be renewed. On each occasion of such renewal the patient should be questioned with regard to the sensations which he feels after the bandages have been applied, and if necessary they should be readjusted in accordance with the nature of the answers which he gives. The great majority of these injuries heal completely in twenty days. The exceptional cases are those in which the fracture] involves a bone that stands in immediate relation with the bones of the leg. It is advisable, however, that the patient should remain in bed during the period mentioned; for, in not a few instances, the persons thus affected, failing to appreciate the gravity of the injury, walk about before the parts have really healed; and then, for an indefinite period of time, they are frequently reminded in a painful manner of the injury which they received. There is nothing astonishing in this when the fact is recalled to mind that the feet support the entire weight of the body. [Forty-eight chapters or sections, some of them of considerable length, are devoted to the subject of fractures. The authorities are almost unanimous in stating that this portion of the so-called Hippocratic writings was written by Hippocrates himself. Malgaigne and Petrequin, two of the most competent French writers on questions relating to surgery, declare that the treatises written by Hippocrates on fractures and dislocations (the two forming in reality one continuous treatise) are the best and most complete books ever written by a physician.]