. A treatise on dislocations and fractures of the joints. after this attack. Post mortem examination of the seat of injury.—The muscles aboutthe thigh were thin and wasted ; the capsular ligament was thickened,but regular on the outside. On cutting intothe articulation, there was no appearance ofrecent inflammation ; the neck of the thigh-bone was absorbed; just at the edge of thearticular surface was a slight rising of thebone, scarcely visible to the eye, but perfectlysensible to the touch, which indicated the seatof the fracture. When the attempt was made to move theshaft of the bone upon t
. A treatise on dislocations and fractures of the joints. after this attack. Post mortem examination of the seat of injury.—The muscles aboutthe thigh were thin and wasted ; the capsular ligament was thickened,but regular on the outside. On cutting intothe articulation, there was no appearance ofrecent inflammation ; the neck of the thigh-bone was absorbed; just at the edge of thearticular surface was a slight rising of thebone, scarcely visible to the eye, but perfectlysensible to the touch, which indicated the seatof the fracture. When the attempt was made to move theshaft of the bone upon the head, no motionbetween them could be perceived. A verticalsection through the head and neck of the bonewas then made ; the place of the fracture wasthus found to be indicated by a white linerunning across the neck of the bone, and hav-ing the thickness of the third part of a line,or the thirtieth part of an inch. In one of thefractured sections, no motion could be pro-duced between the head and neck of the bone;in the other, slight motion WITHIN THE CAPSULAR LIGAMENT. 171 Remarks.—The appearances about the fracture were rather re-markable, considering all the circumstances of the case. The patientwas advanced in life, of a naturally delicate constitution, and habitsnot of a character the most favorable to health, when he met with theaccident. The fracture was of the kind least adapted for union, beingquite within the capsular ligament, close upon the head of the bone,and the indocility of the patient presented great obstacles to its man-agement. Yet, under all these unfavorable circumstances, a unionsufficient to prevent motion had been accomplished in part, and wouldhave been ultimately completed, had the patient lived long enough. I do not mean to intimate, however, that any apparatus would havebeen useful: my reasons for not proposing its application have alreadybeen given in the beginning of this case. They were three; first,there was no shortening of the l
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1840, booksubjectfractur, bookyear1844
