[p. 192]
application, applying pitch ointment, or some of the dressings for
fresh wounds, or anything else which they are accustomed to do, and
binding above them compresses wetted with wine, or greasy wool, or
something else of the like nature. And when the wounds become clean
and are new healed, they endeavor to bind up the limb with plenty
of bandages, and keep it straight with treatment does some good, and
never much harm. The bones, however, can never be equally well restored
to their place, but the part is a little more swelled than it should
be; and the limb will be somewhat shortened, provided both bones either
of the leg or fore-arm have been fractured.
Part 25
There are others who treat such cases at first with bandages, applying
them on both sides of the seat of the injury, but omit them there,
and leave the wound uncovered, and afterward they apply to the wound
some cleansing medicine, and complete the dressing with compresses
dipped in wine and greasy wool. This plan of treatment is bad, and
it is clear that those who adopt this mode of practice are guilty
of great mistakes in other cases of fracture as well as these. For
it is a most important consideration to know in what manner the head
of the bandage should be placed and at what part the greatest pressure
should be, and what benefits would result from applying the end of
the bandage and the pressure at the proper place, and what mischiefs
would result from applying the head of the bandage and the pressure
otherwise than at the proper place. Wherefore it has been stated in
the preceding part of the work what are the results of either; and
the practice of medicine bears witness to the truth of it, for in
a person thus bandaged, a swelling must necessarily arise on the wound.
For, if even a sound piece of skin were bandaged on either side, and
a part were left in the middle, the part thus left unbandaged would
become most swelled, and would assume a bad color; how then could
it be that a wound would not suffer in like manner? The wound then
must necessarily become discolored and its lips everted, the discharge
will be ichorous and without pus, and the bones, which should not
have got into a state of necrosis, exfoliate; and the wound gets into
a throbbing and inflamed condition. And they
|
