[p. 151] contusion of the bone. And there is
most danger that the bone may sustain these injuries, under such circumstances,
when the wound is direct and perpendicular to the bone, whether struck
from the hand or from a throw, or when any object falls upon the person,
or when he is wounded by falling, or in whatever way the bone sustains
a direct wound from this instrument. Those weapons which graze the
bone obliquely are less apt to fracture, contuse, or depress the bone,
even when the bone is denuded of flesh; for in some of those wounds
thus inflicted the bone is not laid bare of the flesh. Those instruments
more especially produce fractures in the bone, whether apparent or
not, and contusions, and inward depression of the bone, which are
rounded, globular, smooth on all sides, blunt, heavy, and hard; and
such weapons bruise, compress, and pound the flesh; and the wounds
inflicted by such instruments, whether obliquely or circularly, are
round, and are more disposed to suppurate, and to have a discharge,
and take longer time to become clean; for the flesh which has been
bruised and pounded must necessarily suppurate and slough away. But
weapons of an oblong form, being, for the most part, slender, sharp,
and light, penetrate the flesh rather than bruise it, and the bone
in like manner; and such an instrument may occasion a hedra and a cut (for a hedra and a cut are same thing); but weapons of this description
do not produce contusions, nor fractures, nor depressions inwardly.
And in addition the appearances in the bone, which you call detect
by the sight, you should make inquiry as to all these particulars
(for they are symptoms of a greater or less injury), whether the wounded
person was stunned, and whether darkness was diffused over his eyes,
and whether he had vertigo, and fell to the ground.
Part 12
When the bone happens to be denuded of flesh by the weapon, and when
the wound occurs upon the sutures, it is difficult to distinguish
the indentation (hedra) of a weapon which is clearly recognized in
other parts of the bone, whether it exist or not, and especially if
the hedra be seated in the sutures themselves. For the suture being
rougher than the rest of the bone occasions confusion, and it is not
clear which is the suture, and which the mark inflicted by the instrument,
unless the latter
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