[p. 236]are to be adjusted fearlessly,
taking care that nothing is omitted, and, subsequently, they are also
to be adjusted with the fingers; more softly, indeed, but still it
must be done; and of all parts of the body the nose is modeled with
the greatest ease. And there is nothing to prevent us from having
recourse to the practice of gluing on the thongs, and drawing the
nose to the opposite side, even if there be a wound or the parts be
inflamed, for these thongs give no pain.
Part 40
In fractures of the ear all sorts of bandages do harm. For one would
not think of applying it quite loose, and if applied more tightly,
it only does the more harm, for even the sound ear, when confined
with a bandage, becomes painful, throbs, and gets into a febrile state.
With regard to cataplasms, the heaviest, on the whole, are the worst;
but almost all kinds are bad, form abscesses, occasion an increase
of humors, and afterward troublesome suppurations; and a fractured
ear stands in less need of such applications than any other part;
the most ready, if required, is the paste of meal, but neither should
it have weight. It should touch as little as possible; for it is a
good sometimes to apply nothing at all, both to the ear and to many
other cases. Attention must be paid to the patient's position during
sleep. And the body must be reduced, more especially if there be danger
lest the ear suppurate; it will also be better to open the bowels,
and if the patient can be readily made to vomit, this may be accomplished
by means of the syrmaism. If the part come to suppuration, it should
not be hastily opened; for often when matter appears to be formed
it is absorbed again, even when no cataplasm is applied. But if forced
to open it, the part will get soonest well if transfixed with a cautery,
and yet it should be well understood that the ear gets maimed, and
is less than the other if burned through. If not burned through, an
incision, and not a very small one, should be made on the upper side;
for the pus is found to be surrounded with a thicker covering than
one would have supposed; and it may be said, in general, that all
parts of a mucous nature and which form mucus, as being all viscid,
when touched, slip from below the fingers to either side; and on that
account the physician, in such cases, finds that he has to pass his
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