[p. 294]affected, down to the bone, but not touching the bone itself; if
in the intercostal space, the burning must not extend through it,
nor be too superficial. In sphacelus of the ribs, tents are to be
tried, all other particulars will be stated afterward: but they should
be learned by sight rather than by words, namely, food, drink, heat,
cold, attitude; medicines, dry, liquid, red, dark, white, sour, for
the ulcers, and so with regard to the diet.
Part 37
Displacements (of the vertebrae) from a fall rarely admit of being
rectified, and those above the diaphragm are most difficult to rectify.
When the accident happens to children, the body does not grow, with
the exception of the legs, the arms, and head. Excurvation, in adults,
speedily relieves the individual from the disease he is laboring under,
but in time it renews its attack, with the same symptoms as in children,
but of a less serious nature. Some individuals have borne this affection
well, and have turned out to be brawny and fat. But few of them have
lived to the age of sixty. Lateral curvatures also occur, the proximate
cause of which is the attitudes in which these persons lie. These
cases have their prognostics accordingly.
Part 38
The rule for the reduction and adjustment:-The axle, the lever, the
wedge, pressure above; the axle to separate, the lever to push aside.
Reduction and adjustment are to be accomplished by forcible extension,
the parts being placed in such a position as will facilitate the conveying
of the displaced bone over the extremity of the bone from which it
was displaced: this is to be accomplished either with the hands, or
by suspension, or axles, or turned round something. With the hands
this is to be effected properly, according to the structure of the
parts. In the case of the wrist and elbow, the parts are to be forced
asunder, at the wrist in the line of the elbow, and the elbow with
the fore-arm at a right angle with the arm, as when it is suspended
in a sling. When we want to separate the protruding bones, and force
them into place, in the case of the fingers, the toes, or the wrist,
the proper separation may be made by hands, while the projecting part
is forced into its place by pressing down with the heel or the palm
of the hand upon some resisting object, while something moderately
soft is laid under the projecting part, but nothing
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